Author Archives: Carol Edwards

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is set to expand the use of facial recognition tech to identify just about every person leaving the United States on a commercial flight.

As Quartz reports, the CBP already uses facial recognition technology at 15 U.S. airports. The system works by capturing a photo of a passenger as they approach their airport departure gate. The image is then compared to visa and passport applications for a possible match so as to create an “exit record.” No match flags the individual for closer inspection by the CBP.

In the Fiscal Tear 2018 Entry/Exit Overtstay Report released by Homeland Security, it’s stated (on page 11) that CBP intends to expand the use of this so-called biometric exit over the next four years to, “97 percent of departing commercial air travelers from the United States.” The reason? The technology is highly reliable and therefore very good at detecting individuals who are classed as overstays on a visa. Read more…

More about Airport, Facial Recognition, Tech, and Cybersecurity

Read more…More about Samsung, Mashable Reels, Tech, Smartphones, and Consumer Tech

As Elon Musk made clear Monday, the technology most of his competitors in the self-driving car space use to help vehicles detect what’s around them is lame. 

And his option is way better. 

“LiDAR is a fool’s errand,” he quipped about the laser-emitting tool that, in the simplest terms, acts as eyes for autonomous cars. “Anyone who is relying on LiDAR is doomed.”

That’s pretty much most of the businesses testing self-driving cars, including Waymo and Uber who went to court over LiDAR technology last year.

Musk let his strong opinions about LiDAR fly at Tesla’s Autonomy Day, an event that gave investors at the company’s Palo Alto headquarters and 50,000-plus livestream viewers an inside look at self-driving tech.  Read more…

More about Tesla, Autonomous Vehicles, Lidar, Tech, and Elon Musk

If you’ve ever had the misfortune of swiping on men on Tinder, you can probably relate to this video. 

A skit by writers Jon Foor and Luke Strickler poked fun at the overplayed trend of everyone on Tinder having exactly two personality traits: Liking The Office and loving dogs. 

“Where’d you grow up?” Strickler asks his hypothetical match, jabbing at the repetitive, surface-level conversations people on the app have before either meeting up or ghosting each other entirely. “Real though, if you’re racist, sexist, homophobic, or not hot, this will not work out.” 

But when confronted with the fact that women have multi-dimensional personalities and even worse, opinions, things take a turn. Read more…

More about Dating, Viral Videos, The Office, Culture, and Web Culture

Look out, Uber. Tesla CEO Elon Musk plans to turn the electric car company’s fleet of vehicles into a massive autonomous ride-hailing network. 

Musk laid out his vision for the self-driving Tesla network — which he expects to be in operation as early as next year — at a Monday investor event focused on autonomous driving. It’s not the first time he’s floated the idea; he tweeted about Tesla robotaxis earlier this month.

But his timeline, and much of the other details about the service, should be taken with huge helpings of salt. Competitors that have been testing self-driving taxis for awhile couldn’t pull off what Musk is suggesting in the same timeframe.  Read more…

More about Tesla, Self Driving Cars, Autonomy, Robotaxi, and Tech

Can we just take a moment to appreciate how well these gorillas know their angles?

Ndakazi and Ndeze, two orphaned gorillas who were raised at Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo, posed for a selfie that went viral over the weekend. 

Standing upright behind ranger Mathieu Shamavu, the gorillas served nothing but face for the camera. That over the shoulder smize! That slight squat, just subtle enough to show off the gorilla’s figure! These girls take better selfies than any influencer can.

It’s stunning. 

More about Animals, Selfie, Gorillas, Culture, and Web Culture

The world is awash in ’90s nostalgia — and it’s even showing up in our passwords.

A new study from the UK’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) has revealed the world’s most easily hacked passwords, CNN reports. The top no-brainer passwords overall are impersonal number combinations, like 12345. But in the category of “bands,” the most breached password is the name of the popular ’90s pop-punk outfit, Blink-182. 

That means that if you’re part of the apparently enormous group of people who use their passwords to pay homage to the spirit of teenage rebellion, you’re at risk of getting hacked.  Read more…

More about Passwords, Blink 182, Tech, Music, and Cybersecurity

April showers bring May flowers — as well as lots and lots of Broadway show openings, as productions rush to premiere before the Tonys eligibility cutoff (end of April).

Happily, that means plenty of new shows to choose from right now if you’re looking for a Broadway night out. There’s something for everyone, whether you want a classic revival or a thought-provoking new work. 

That’s where this guide comes in. Here’s the show to watch if you want to…

… think differently about current events: What the Constitution Means to Me

More about Theater, Broadway, Entertainment, and Movies Tv Shows

Facebook’s latest attempt to crack down on election interference just hit a major obstacle.

The social network might be willing to exempt some European political parties from its rules about political advertising, the Financial Times reports. The concession came in a letter from Facebook’s head of global affairs Nick Clegg to European Parliament president Antonio Tajani.

Ahead of next month’s European Parliament elections, Facebook instituted a new policy requiring political ad buyers to register in each individual country where they want their ads to be shown. This was a problem, considering there are 28 member states in the EU. Read more…

More about Facebook, Europe, Eu, European Union, and Facebook Election

A stunning video shot during Monday’s earthquake in the Philippines shows water cascading down the side of the building like an urban mega-waterfall.

The water reportedly sloshed out of a rooftop pool of the residential Anchor Skysuites in the Binondo district of Manila as the building swayed during the earthquake.

Accoring to the U.S. Geological Survey, the quake registered as a magnitude 6.1, with the epicenter reported to be about 50 miles from Manilla. At least eight people have died, according to CNN.

The video was originally shared by Michael Rivo on Facebook and picked up by local media outlets, including the Filipino Times and the Manila Bulletin.  Read more…

More about Science, Earthquake, Philippines, Manilla, and Anchor Skysuites