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Leon, Mexico to use biometric scanners in 'all aspects of life'
First it was CCTV surveillance, and now a Mexican security firm called Portoss is teaming up with biometrics manufacturer Global Rainmakers, Inc., to make the city of Leon in Guanajuato the most potentially oppressive in the world. The secure city initiative will provide "unparalleled iris identity fusion" by wrapping the city in miles of fiber optic cable, creating a central database that will contain of all convicted criminals (as well as any good citizens who wish to "opt in"), and a network of iris scanners. As you can imagine, the man in charge of selling this stuff -- Global Rainmakers CDO Jeff Carter -- is something of a "true believer." Fast Company attributes the following quote to him: "Every person, place, and thing on this planet will be connected [to the iris system] within the next 10 years." Great! There's also this one: "If you've been convicted of a crime, in essence, this will act as a digital scarlet letter. If you're a known shoplifter, for example, you won't be able to go into a store without being flagged. For others, boarding a plane will be impossible." And how about embittered bloggers? Will we be prevented from accessing the Internet to point out how unbelievably frightening this is? PR after the break.
Time, Inc., Apple at odds over App Store subscriptions
Remember this video demonstrating Time, Inc.'s vision for a tablet-based version of Sports Illustrated (SI)? It preceded the iPad's release and got many fans excited for the future. The real thing isn't quite so impressive, but the demo demonstrates the publisher's enthusiasm for the emerging platform. Unfortunately, that enthusiasm is turning into frustration. All Things Digital is reporting on Time's trouble with getting a mutually-agreed upon subscription model past Apple. Writing for All things D, Peter Kafka notes that Time wanted to launch a subscription-based version of SI on the App Store, only to have it rejected by Apple. Time would have users download the app from the store and then pay them directly for future issues. Apple didn't like the idea, and Time was forced to sell single copies of the magazine. Right now when you launch the app, you're presented with a number of issues that can be bought, in-app, one at a time. All of the magazines I've read on my iPad, like WIRED, Outside and Popular Science, use in-app purchases. We'll see what happens as this new union of publisher and distributor grows.
Fusion Garage files to dismiss CrunchPad lawsuit
It looks like Fusion Garage is out to remind people that there's more than one $499 tablet in the world today: CEO Chandra Rathakrishnan is talking up the Joojoo tablet's pre-orders, and the company's lawyers have filed a delightfully snippy motion to dismiss TechCrunch founder Michael Arrington's lawsuit over the device formerly known as CrunchPad, saying his claims are "legally barred, facially flawed, and fatally imprecise." As we predicted from the outset, the argument boils down to the fact that there was never any contract between Fusion Garage and Michael Arrington or TechCrunch -- and Fusion Garage also points out it can't have stolen an idea that Arrington posted "all over the Internet." Snap. It's a little more complicated than that, though -- we've broken it down after the break, grab the PDF and follow along.
