Hasta La Gadget!

At the start of a class, roll calls are usually taken to track who is in attendance at the class. This is important as a student that frequently skips classes might be required to drop the class, or could be a cause for concern for teachers. This is typically done manually where teachers mark down attendance on a sheet of paper.

However, the University of Missouri has recently come under fire for tracking student attendance using an app. This app, which was previously only used for athletes at the school, has since expanded to cover all students, where apparently it is mandatory for all students to install the app on their phones.

Following the report from the Kansas City Star, the university has issued a statement claiming that participation in the use of the app is completely optional. “The University of Missouri is conducting a pilot of the SpotterEDU app with approximately 20 courses this semester. Participation in the pilot, offered to fewer than 2% of MU students, is completely optional. If a student does not want to use the app to track their attendance, they will be required to check in with their professor through an alternate method, such as signing an attendance sheet.”

The university also pointed out that the app uses Bluetooth instead of GPS, meaning that it’s not as if they will be able to track the students’ whereabouts even after they leave campus. However, as some have pointed out, this is a slippery slope and raises some privacy concerns.

University Comes Under Fire For Using An App To Track Student Attendance , original content from Ubergizmo. Read our Copyrights and terms of use.

When it comes to stealing car parts, the wheels are probably one of the easier and more accessible parts that can be stolen, especially the rims which can either be resold or smelted down to be used for something else. However, it seems that Ford might be working on a way to try and prevent that from happening by using 3D printing.

How does this work? While locking nuts for your wheels aren’t exactly new, it isn’t exactly a 100% foolproof solution. How Ford plans to get around this problem is by creating custom locking nuts that are 3D printed that are based on the driver’s voice. By taking a recording of the driver’s voice, Ford can then 3D print a custom locking nut that is completely unique to the driver.

This in turn creates a design and a key that in theory, only the driver will possess, meaning that thieves will have even greater difficulty trying to steal your wheels. The nuts and key will be 3D printed using acid and corrosion resistant stainless steel, and to prevent thieves from making an imprint, each nut will also contain unevenly-spaced and widening ribs and indentations, which will break any wax that is applied to it.

According to Ford researcher engineer Raphael Koch, “It’s one of the worst experiences for a driver, to find their car up on blocks with all four wheels gone. Some alloy wheels can cost thousands to replace, but these unique rim nuts will stop thieves in their tracks. Making wheels more secure and offering more product personalisation are further proof that 3D printing is a game-changer for car production.”

Ford Turns To 3D Printing To Help Prevent Your Wheels From Being Stolen , original content from Ubergizmo. Read our Copyrights and terms of use.

Patent lawsuits are a matter of life for any tech company and the bigger you are, the bigger the target painted on your back. Many of these lawsuits go unnoticed, especially when filed against giant companies that can make them disappear. Apple, however, wasn’t able to win one against the California Institute of Technology and now has to pay the … Continue reading

There’s something very DC/CW-niverse-y about the idea that Arrow—the show that started it all as a grounded and (occasionally) self-serious comic book adaptation—got the inspiration for its very last scene from someone who was mid-tranquil-state. You could almost say it appeared as a vision.

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A Maryland jury found Higgs guilty of attempted voluntary manslaughter, first-degree assault and other crimes.