The statute was meant to standardize how companies disclose their consumer data-mining practices. So far, not so much. What Does California’s New Data Privacy Law Mean? Nobody Agrees Source: NY Times Tech
Read MoreIf you want to build a small robot with a motor, you are likely to reach for an L298N to interface your microcontroller to the motor, probably in an H-bridge configuration. [Dronebot] has used L298N chips like this many times. In the video below, he uses a TB6612FNG instead, taking advantage of the device’s use
Read MoreSomething’s been missing in my life lately. Cash? No. I work in media, I’m rich. Power? Sure, I could always use more of that. But that’s not it. Beauty? Fuck no, I’m gorgeous. Yet I still feel like a loser. Because my house lacks a certain… Instagrammableness. (Disclaimer: this review is a piece of satire, but the
Read MoreNicholas Vinocur / Politico: Since GDPR became law in May 2018, the only substantial privacy-related action against a major tech company happened in the US, where Facebook was fined $5B — The world’s toughest privacy law proves toothless in the eyes of many critics. — More than 18 months after the European Union began implementing
Read MoreCatalin Cimpanu / ZDNet: IoT device vendor Wyze says a server leak exposed data, including email addresses, camera user IDs, and WiFi SSIDs, of ~2.4M customers from Dec. 4 to Dec. 26 — Details for 2.4 million users were exposed online for 22 days. — Wyze, a company that sells smart devices like security cameras
Read MoreA concise, comical explanation of Moiré patterns, via XKCD. Moiré patterns are interference patterns created when grids of different size or alignment are placed over each other. You’ve probably seen these when photographing a TV screen or looking through a pair of windows screens at the same time. [ChrysN] put the effect to work with
Read MoreJosh Constine / TechCrunch: Snapchat will launch Bitmoji TV, a personalized cartoon show featuring a user’s avatar and their friends in regularly-scheduled adventures, starting in February — Snapchat’s most popular yet under-exploited feature is finally getting the spotlight in 2020. Snapchat will launch Bitmoji TV, a personalized cartoon show featuring a user's avatar and their
Read MoreKaren Hao / MIT Technology Review: How a difference between Chinese and English languages helped Baidu make an important advancement in natural language processing — Inspired by a difference between Chinese and English, it shows how AI research benefits from diversity. — MS Tech / Source: Unsplash How a difference between Chinese and English languages
Read MoreLIDAR has gained much popularity as a means for self-driving cars to survey the space around them. At their most basic, LIDAR is a surveying method that uses lasers to paints the space around the sensors and assembles the distances measured from reflected light into a digital three-dimensional representation. That’s something that has quite a
Read More“With amputations being reported on a daily basis, India’s vast rural hinterland is comparable to a warzone,” says Abhit Kumar, who makes practical, affordable prosthetic devices designed to get amputees back into the workforce. More than two thirds of India’s 1.3 billion inhabitants live in low-income rural areas, where accidents resulting in loss of limbs
Read MoreYahoo News: Internal Pentagon memo warns service members against using consumer DNA testing kits from 23andMe and others, citing security risks — WASHINGTON — The Pentagon is advising members of the military not to use consumer DNA kits, saying the information collected by private companies could pose … Internal Pentagon memo warns service members against
Read MoreWhere was the evolutionary birthplace of modern humans? The East African Great Rift Valley has long been the favored contender – until today. Our new research has used DNA to trace humanity’s earliest footsteps to a prehistoric wetland called Makgadikgadi-Okavango, south of the Great Zambezi River. Our analysis, published in Nature today, shows that the
Read MoreHave you ever wrapped up a nice blinky project only to be disappointed by the predictability of the light or the color patterns? When it came to lighting this LED candle, so was [fungus amungus]. But there’s a better way, and it involves noise. Perlin noise was created in the early 80s by Ken Perlin
Read MoreSam Dean / Los Angeles Times: An overview of the CCPA, set to go into effect Jan. 1, and the confusion surrounding it due to its technical complexity and rushed timeline — A sweeping new law that aims to rewrite the rules of the internet in California is set to go into effect on Jan.
Read MoreAdopt Baby Yoda … in cat form. Rescue cat that looks like Baby Yoda needs a new home – CNET Source: CNet
Read MorePolice are called to investigate possible home intruders and find a hard-working robotic vacuum instead. Roomba mistaken for a burglar by spooked homeowners – CNET Source: CNet
Read MoreKoch was also part of the duo that completed the first ever all-woman spacewalk, back in October. Longest spaceflight by woman logged by NASA astronaut Christina Koch – CNET Source: CNet
Read MoreJay Mazoomdaar / The Indian Express: Sources: New Delhi police are now using facial recognition software to screen protesters; police acquired the software in 2018 to search for missing children — Following a Delhi High Court order in a case related to missing children, the Delhi Police had acquired Automated Facial Recognition System … Sources:
Read MoreInspired by the good old days when your computer would boot directly into BASIC, [Le Roux Bodenstein] has created a handheld device he calls “DumbDumb” that can drop you into a MicroPython environment at a moment’s notice. If that doesn’t interest you, think of it this way: it’s a (relatively) VT100 compatible serial terminal with
Read MoreIf you’ve been waiting seemingly forever for your Global Entry renewal to go through, you’re not alone. U.S. Customs announced this week that it has more than 350,000 Global Entry applications to get through. Read more… Keep Using Global Entry, Even if Your Renewal is "Pending" Source: Life Hacker
Read More{$inline_image}When a jury decides the fate of a person, they do so based on the evidence presented to them in the courtroom. Evidence obtained from forensic analysis, such as DNA analysis, is often interpreted as strong evidence by jurors. This perception of forensic evidence is enhanced by popular TV shows like CSI: Crime Scene Investigation,
Read MoreWhen a jury decides the fate of a person, they do so based on the evidence presented to them in the courtroom. Evidence obtained from forensic analysis, such as DNA analysis, is often interpreted as strong evidence by jurors. This perception of forensic evidence is enhanced by popular TV shows like CSI: Crime Scene Investigation,
Read MoreMark Ledwich: A new study finds that YouTube’s late 2019 algorithm actively discourages users from watching radicalizing content, directing them to more mainstream videos — In 2018, Kevin Roose published a piece in the New York Times in which Caleb Cain, a liberal college dropout, described his experience … A new study finds that YouTube's
Read MoreI work alone at home now, which is glorious. Before I did; however, I worked in an office like most people, and like most people, I had coworkers that I would prefer to not have elongated conversations with. Read more… When You're Stuck in a Conversation at Work, Try Standing Up Source: Life Hacker
Read MoreAs more and more electric cars go on sale, here’s a look at every one you can buy in 2020 and how far it’ll go on a single charge. Here's every electric vehicle on sale in the US for 2020 and its range – Roadshow Source: CNet
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