Lenovo leads $10M investment in 6-legged robot maker Vincross

Vincross, the company behind the six-legged robot Hexa, said on Tuesday that it’s picked up $10 million in a Series A+ funding round led by Lenovo Capital, the startup fund managed by Lenovo Group. Returning investor GGV Capital and newcomer Seekdource Capital also participated. The company declined to disclose its latest valuation but said the […]

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The Face ID ruling is a big win for digital rights. Here’s what needs to happen next.

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Now, if the cops try to force you to unlock your iPhone with your face, the law might actually be on your side. 

Previously, other courts have ruled that the police could make suspects unlock their phones with Touch ID, even though legally they couldn’t force that same suspect to give up their passcode. Digital rights experts hope that a ruling in California, however, is a step toward changing that precedent.

Recently, California magistrate Judge Kanis Westmore denied a request for a warrant to compel suspects to unlock their phones using Face ID and Touch ID. In a written opinion (via Apple Insider) from Jan. 10, she said she made her decision in part because forcing someone to give up a passcode — whether alphanumeric or biometric — would violate their Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.  Read more…

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Facebook is trying to defang a strong law on facial recognition

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We already know Facebook will do pretty much whatever it wants with your data, but a lawsuit shows the lengths it will go to in defending that approach.

On Monday, the ACLU, Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), Center for Democracy & Technology, and Illinois Public Interest Research Group, filed what’s known as a “friend of the court brief.”  The brief takes a stance against what appears to be an argument Facebook is advancing in court that would weaken a strong biometric data privacy law. 

Three Illinois plaintiffs are suing Facebook in a class-action suit, stating Facebook did not comply with an Illinois law that requires informed and written consent for the collection of biometric data — in Facebook’s case, facial recognition. A federal judge gave the case the go ahead in April. Read more…

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Unbiased algorithms can still be problematic

Creating unbiased, accurate algorithms isn’t impossible — it’s just time consuming. “It actually is mathematically possible,” facial recognition startup Kairos CEO Brian Brackeen told me on a panel at TechCrunch Disrupt SF. Algorithms are sets of rules that computers follow in order to solve problems and make decisions about a particular course of action. Whether […]

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The next iPad could have this iPhone X feature

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The next iPad could get a serious upgrade. 

On Monday evening, Apple developer Steven Troughton-Smith tweeted iOS 12 code that he believes shows evidence Apple will be launching an iPad with Face ID. 

New in iOS 12: AvatarKit comes to iPad. Still requires a TrueDepth camera to do face tracking, though, i.e. an iPad with Face ID pic.twitter.com/9TvP2vsP6X

— Steve Troughton-Smith (@stroughtonsmith) July 3, 2018

He discovered AvatarKit, the framework behind Apple’s animated emoji, known as Animoji and Memoji. It’s pretty useless without the TrueDepth camera sensor, which projects and analyzes more than 30,000 invisible dots to create a 3D map of your face. The technology made its debut with the iPhone X.  Read more…

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AssistENT offers an anti-snoring device you stick in your nose

If you sleep next to someone who snores you know that the endless horking and honking isn’t very fun… and it makes the snorer’s life even worse. Some students and doctors in Baltimore, Maryland, however, have created something that acts like an internal breathing strip to help you breathe better and snore less. Called assistENT, […]

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