May 23
Millions of eBay users have already changed their passwords after the auction site was hacked, eBay has confirmed, updating its homepage to finally make clear to visitors that their information … Continue reading
Apr 22
A civilian drone aircraft with high-resolution video capability was reportedly used by the police to conduct surveillance on the entire city of Compton, California at the same time. Compton is … Continue reading
Apr 21
Facebook plans to eventually use its new “Nearby Friends” feature to power new location-based adverts and marketing, the social network has conceded, potentially souring what was generally seen as a … Continue reading
Apr 21
It would appear that Kim Dotcom does not trust United States-made electronics. He suggests this week that the world should “never trust US tech”, using #NSA to point out a … Continue reading
Apr 18
Nest expects selling thermostat usage data to energy providers to eventually bring in more cash for the smart home brand than the hardware itself, though chief exec Tony Fadell still … Continue reading
Apr 18
Facebook is a powerful tool when it comes to connecting with people that you’ve met, as well as being arguably the most important social networking site on the planet. This can be both good and bad, and while I’m not sure if I want to share my location at all times on my timeline, I’m sure that it could be useful in some cases.
Facebook’s new Nearby Friends feature is disabled by default. It allows you to get alerts when some of your FB friends are nearby. It could definitely makes things easier when you’re out on the town, in the same general area, but have trouble actually locating your friends, something that actually happened to me today.
While I can also see the possible problems of such a feature, when it comes to stalkers, etc, at least it’s fully optional, and defaults to being switched off. The problem is that a lot of people aren’t going to remember to switch back off when they don’t want it running. They’ll just leave it on once they set it and forget it. At least you can choose who you do and don’t share your location with, so that should help some.
What do you think of this feature? Are you going to enable it on your phone?
[via Facebook]
Apr 16
Google’s big Glass free-for-all has come and gone, but whether or not anyone actually bought the damn thing
Apr 16
If you’re committed to avoiding the gaze of the ever-growing number of cameras recording our every move, Google Glass hardly seems like a sensible purchase
Apr 16
Many people are worried about the government being able to monitor whatever they are up to. Now, there is a new kind of system that will be able to surveil America’s cities from above – with incredible precision. And no, it’s not “The Machine” and it won’t acquire sentience anytime soon.
Created by Persistent Surveillance Systems, the Hawkeye system is currently being tested out in Baltimore, Dayton, and Compton. Footage captured from the system can be real time, or played back at any time. It uses a plane that has been equipped with an array of high resolution cameras, flying a dozen hours for each shift. It’s capable of surveying a 25 square-mile patch of city for up to six hours. Its creator touts it as “a live version of Google Earth, with a full TiVo capability.” While the system has yet to achieve high enough resolution to make out individual people or license plates, data can be combined with street-level cameras to get that level of detail.
While it seems like science-fiction, it may be implemented in more cities to reduce crime.
Apr 16
Let’s just imagine we could transport an Internet-connected laptop back to the 1790s, when the United States was in its infancy. The technology would no doubt knock the founders out of their buckle-top boots, but once the original patriots got over the initial shock and novelty (and clearing up Wikipedia controversies, hosting an AMA and boggling over Dogecoin), the sense of marvel would give way to alarm as they realized how electronic communications could be exploited by a tyrant, such as the one from which they just freed themselves.
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