Google Maps’ driving directions just got a lot more accurate, now factoring current traffic into its estimations on how long your drive will take. More »
from Lifehacker
For everything from family to computers…
Google Maps’ driving directions just got a lot more accurate, now factoring current traffic into its estimations on how long your drive will take. More »
from Lifehacker
Okay, it’s only three months ’till your glorious twenty-first birthday, so near, yet technology has to come along and rain on your parade. You might think you look legal, but if claims by engineers at Face.com are to be believed, they’re not having it. Using the firm’s face recognition technology and a new API, they believe it can determine age based on a photo. The technology is open to all developers who might want to add age restriction into their apps, although it’s unlikely that you would want to rely on this as your sole method of verification. The algorithm takes a number of factors into account, such as face shape, and skin smoothness, so at the very least you’ll be able to find out if your t-zone routine is working. Hit up the more coverage link, where there’s a free iOS app to learn the harsh reality.
from Engadget
from Engadget
Filed under: Government/Legal, Safety
Today’s automobiles are more connected than ever, and the National Transportation Safety Board doesn’t seem to approve. The Detroit News reports that NTSB Chair Deborah Hersman is standing behind a recommendation to ban drivers from making hands-free phone calls that aren’t of the emergency variety.
Hersman is battling automakers head-on when it comes to distracting technologies, and there are plenty of those technologies in today’s vehicles. That includes hands-free calling made via Bluetooth, which has long been viewed as a safer alternative to grabbing a phone and calling someone the old-fashioned way. The proposed ban on hands-free calling reportedly doesn’t include OnStar, which integrates calling directly through the vehicle. Hersman reportedly went as far as to suggest that automakers make their number one priority “safety, not sales.”
While we think distracted driving is worth fighting, it’s difficult to see where banning hands-free calling is the answer. And we’re not alone. Even National Highway Traffic Safety Administrator Ray LaHood feels the NTSB recommendation goes too far. If automakers are forced to remove the tech from new vehicles, we’re thinking many drivers will simply revert back to hand-held calling.
The NTSB thinks that hand-held and hands-free are equally dangerous, but it’s difficult to argue that case, especially if integrated technology like OnStar is permitted. Once a phone is paired, what’s the difference between pressing the hands-free button and pressing the OnStar button? We’d argue that having kids in the back seat is far more distracting than hands-free calling, and we don’t see the NTSB calling for a ‘no kids in the car’ policy any time soon.
from Autoblog
Antivirus provider Trend Micro has released a research paper that links breaches against the computers of Tibetan activists and companies in Japan and India to a hacker in the Chinese underground.
An article published on Thursday in the New York Times later identified the intruder as a Chinese former graduate student who now “apparently” works for Tencent, China’s leading Internet portal company, according to online records cited by the news organization. It was one of the few times people investigating espionage-style malware attacks have put a public face on an alleged perpetrator.
from Ars Technica
In a final vote of 236 to 184, the amendment was put to rest