Technology is useful to create stupid gadget for stupid people

Milkmaid is the new creation of GE and Quirky; It is a bottle to put your milk in and it is connected in wifi to your smartphone, it tells you whether you milk are still good to be consumed or not.

It is equipped with sensors, GSM radio, an antenna, a SIM card, and a rechargeable battery, all that equipment for a bottle of milk.

Thanks to an integrated Iphone app, you can know very any statistics about the milk which is in your fridge, vital date like the temperature of the milk, expiration date, the quantity remaining…

That’s a good example of a perfectly useless domotic object, if domotics goes that way, it will for sure be another gadget that won’t improve at all the living experience at home.

Awaiting for new domotic stuff, let’s enjoy you “milk connectivity.

http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/

Benjamin Stora

“Flame” The most powerful Virus discover in the Near East.

A new computer virus that appears to have been deployed five years ago was recently discovered in Iran and cyber security experts suggest it could have been built by the same entities that ordered the 2010 Stuxnet attack, according to Reuters. The presence of the virus — dubbed “Flame” — was announced by the Russian-based Kaspersky Labs last week. BBC reports that this newly discovered virus is being called “one of the most complex threats ever discovered”!!

 

What flame can do :

Flame can gather data files, remotely change settings on computers, turns on PC microphones to record conversations, take screen shots and log instant messaging chats.

The main activity of Flame is currently concentrated in Iran, the U.S. and the Israeli-Palestinian region. But according to Laurent Heslaut, Head of Symantec security technologies, Flame’s traces were detected in Russia, Hungary and Austria.

According to experts, this tool is used for targeted attacks; that means that normal home computers most likely are not threatened. Long story short, the malware must be dangerous but there is perhaps no reason to worry.

By Borges Emmanuel

Napster’s creators launching a chateroulette 2.0?

The new service providing by napster’s inventors, Shawn Fanning and Sean Parker, is a video chat service that will allow facebook users to chat with friends or…with unknown people. That new service is making a huge buzz at the Silicon Valley. By forcing users to use Facebook and therefore their true identity, Airtime promises meetings much more serene than before with chateroulette (avoiding exhibitionism sessions) ... The managers state that they have a policy of "zero tolerance against inappropriate behavior."

However, there is already an issue! As noted by Kashmir Hill at Forbes, the site reserves the right effect to record conversations of members. As it is written black on white in the privacy policy: "By using our service, you consent to have your picture and your conversations recorded by Airtime. If the goal is laudable, not sure those users will agree, indeed they are more and more concerned about their privacy.

By Emmanuel Borges

AnyTouch and the world become tactil

AnyTouch, a tactile objects prototype, by Digitas and Ayotle, is a very innovative way to control the information on a screen. By using a good camera, a Kinect lookalike sensor and a projector, it allows everyday object to become a control for the screen.

Check out the video. This is pretty impressive!

http://vimeo.com/43108191  



By Emmanuel Borges

Private data : Facebook encourage users to vote on privacy policy changes

Could this be a true sign of changing policy or a simple demagogic move? Facebook has recently surprised everyone by offering its 900 million users the possibility to provide their feedback by voting concerning facebook’s privacy policy. Actually, the parameters of private data have been modified on May 14^th just before its IPO.

The vote will be considered binding if more than 30 percent of Facebook’s active members take part, communications vice president Elliot Schrage said in a blog post. The polls opened at a “Facebook Site Governance Vote” page at the social network and will close June 8 at 900 am (1600 GMT).

The site currently has nearly 70,000 voters only. 51,000 voted in favor of documents from last year.

                                                          

 By Emmanuel Borges

 Software developed in United-States make possible the facial recognition accessible for all

Some people of Chicago have a pretty scientific method to decide where they will spend their night. With their Smartphone, they use the application SceneTap, which provide them real time information into their local bars in terms of frequenting, atmosphere, average age and male-female ratio with 90 % margin of error! 

The startup SceneTap uses facial detection and people counting cameras to scope out your local bar, coffee shop or lounge to tell you “what is going on over there”. What is the male to female ratio at your favorite club? Who is buying drinks? The way it works is that there is a camera facing the door and analyzes what type of people are coming in, what they are buying and when they come and go. 

Each human face are analyze and those images are immediately sent to a server coupled to a database containing nearly 500,000 faces of anonymous volunteers, men and women of all ages and all ethnic groups. A pretty interesting concept, however, SceneTap is submitted to controversy because the information is collected without people’s consent, it does bring the issue of personal privacy. 

So do you think this is a brilliant idea or a potential security risk?

By Emmanuel Borges