Chinese ‘gait recognition’ tech IDs people by how they walk
Chinese authorities have begun deploying a new surveillance tool: “gait recognition” software that uses people’s body shapes and how they walk to identify them, even when their faces are hidden from cameras.
TECH TALK
• A NASA spacecraft has made its first close approach to the sun, just 2 1/2 months after liftoff.
NASA conducts quiet sonic boom tests near Texas Gulf Coast
NASA is monitoring how residents living near the Texas Gulf Coast react to quiet sonic booms as the space agency works on an experimental aircraft that could significantly reduce commercial flight times.
A softer side to AI?
Google to give $25m to fund humane artificial intelligence projects
Google will give away $25m to projects that propose ways to use the artificial intelligence of computers to help create a more humane society.
iPads, Macs get new screens as Apple pushes creativity
Apple’s new iPads will more closely resemble its latest iPhones as they ditch a home button and fingerprint sensor to make more room for the screen.
Microsoft co-founder, philanthropist Paul Allen dies at 65
Paul G Allen, who co-founded Microsoft with his childhood friend Bill Gates before becoming a billionaire philanthropist who invested in conservation, space travel, arts and culture and professional sports, died Monday. He was 65.He died in Seattle f
Google Pixel 3 phone aims to automate more daily tasks
There’s not much about the physical details of Google’s new Pixel 3 phone that you can’t find elsewhere. That bigger display and curved design? Apple and Samsung phones already have that.But the Pixel doesn’t intend to wow people with its hardware an
TECH TALK
• Google plans to start charging smartphone makers to pre-install apps like Gmail, YouTube and Google Maps on Android handsets sold in Europe, a response to a record $5bn antitrust fine imposed by the European Union. The US tech company’s announceme
Google brings camera twists, bigger screens to Pixel phones
Google’s new Pixel phones mirror an industry trend toward lusher, bigger screens and add twists on the camera for better pictures. The third generation of Pixel phones unveiled yesterday at an event in New York features screens that span from one ed
SpaceX satellite launch lights up night sky, social media
When SpaceX launched a rocket carrying an Argentine Earth-observation satellite from California’s Central Coast, both the night sky and social media lit up.People as far away as San Francisco, Sacramento, Phoenix and Reno, Nevada, posted photos of th
Facebook wants people to invite its cameras into their homes
Facebook is launching the first electronic device to bear its brand, a screen and camera-equipped gadget intended to make video calls easier and more intuitive.But it’s unclear if people will open their homes to an internet-connected camera sold by a
Spaceport Colorado sells the future
There was a time we would have marveled at flying to 380,000 feet to experience the curvature of the Earth, weightlessness, and the darkness of space.
Using AI, immersion to teach students Chinese
To learn Chinese in this room, talk to the floating panda head.
Tech Talk
• NASA technology designed to protect spacecraft from heat and pressure when entering a planet’s atmosphere will be launched from Spaceport America in New Mexico as part of testing.
Airbus Perlan Mission II glider reaches 76,000 feet to break own altitude record
For the third time in a week, Airbus Perlan Mission II has set a new world altitude record for a glider, this time soaring the engineless Perlan 2 to 76,124 feet, in the process collecting vital data on flight performance, weather and the atmosphere.
