Kalakshar US

One of the most recognizable police forces is joining Ring’s Neighbors app. The New York Police Department has announced that it will participate in Ring’s neighborhood watch tool. Officers won’t look for posts “around the clock,” but they will respond to users’ crime and safety concerns, post notices and ask for help with “active police matters.”

The move potentially gives the NYPD another way to interact with the community. It may also obtain footage of criminal activity that it wouldn’t otherwise have, with maps and timelines that could help pinpoint crime sprees and trends.

There’s already opposition to the NYPD’s participation, however. The New York-based Surveillance Technology Oversight Project (STOP) is concerned support for Neighbors will lead to more police violence, racial profiling and vigilantes. The technology “isn’t keeping people safe” and even puts people in danger, Executive Director Albert Fox Cahn claims. He cites an incident in October where a father and son shot at a woman in response to a Ring doorbell notification. The woman delivered a package sent to the wrong address.

Ring has previously stressed that device users aren’t required to share footage, and it has addressed some worries about enabling police surveillance by requiring public, narrowly focused requests within 12 hours of incidents. There are still fears Ring cameras and doorbells are collecting footage of innocent passers-by, though, and that Neighbors users may be racially biased when reporting suspicious behavior. The company has also grappled with a number of security flaws, including a bug that exposed precise locations.

 

Meta is expanding its support for NFTs in a major way. The company is now allowing some creators to make and sell digital collectibles directly on Instagram, Meta announced during its Creator Week event.

The platform has been experimenting with NFTs on Instagram and Facebook since last year. But up until now, Instagram users have only been able to show off their digital collectibles. Now, Instagram will have an “end-to-end toolkit” so creators can make NFT collections and sell them to their fans and followers.

While Instagram has been ramping up commerce features for creatures for some time, this update is the first time Instagram has tried to compete directly with existing NFT marketplaces. Notably, Meta so far hasn’t disclosed how much of a cut it plans to take from NFT sales from Instagram. Creators can, however, set a commission rate for resales of their work, ranging from 5% to 25%.

The new tools are only available to a “small group” of creators in the United States for now, but Meta says it plans to expand to more people and countries “soon.” But the company is updating other NFT features that are more widely available. For collectors, Meta is adding support for the Solana blockchain and Phantom wallet, and enabling video NFTs in Instagram profiles. The app is also adding OpenSea metadata for “select collections.”

The expansion of NFTs on Instagram is part of a broader push by Meta to increase money-making features for the creators in its apps. The company is also expanding Instagram’s subscriptions, and “professional mode” for Facebook. Meta is also bringing Facebook Stars to more places, including photo and text posts, and adding in-app gifting to Reels on Instagram.

 

New Yorkers are used to ads dotting the landscape, but now they can’t even look to the skies for refuge. As Gothamistreports, mobile developer King and show organizer Pixis are flying a swarm of at least 500 LED-equipped drones over New York City’s skyline on November 3rd to advertise Candy Crush. They’ll take off from and remain in New Jersey for the 10-minute presentation, but you’ll spot them if you’re within a one-mile radius of Battery Park.

This isn’t the first drone light show aimed at NYC. In June, Pixis orchestrated a swarm that promoted the NBA draft by flying over the Hudson River. Company general manager Jeff Kaplan characterizes the Candy Crush promo as the “next wave,” however, and it’s safe to say this will be hard to avoid if you’re in the area. The largest drone show to date came from Hyundai’s Genesis brand, which flew 3,281 drones over Shanghai in March 2021.

Pixis is jumping over multiple legal hurdles to make the campaign happen. New York City’s Avigation Law bans drone flights altogether, so any aerial sales pitches have to remain within New Jersey’s borders. The company also had to obtain both a Federal Aviation Administration waiver (to fly in federal airspace) and a special permit from New Jersey (to operate from Liberty State Park).

The planned flight is already angering critics. New York State Senator Brad Hoylman, for instance, says it’s “outrageous” to fill the sky with drones and is considering legislation to ban such ads. New York City’s Audubon is also concerned the drones might interfere with bird flight patterns. There is a history of crackdowns on this kind of behavior — both the state and city kicked out a billboard-carrying boat in 2019.

Unless that happens, though, the drones will become harder to escape. A future robotic flier will be viewable within 3 miles, potentially covering a large swath of Manhattan and even significant parts of western Brooklyn. Like it or not, these tech-driven marketing spiels may soon be difficult for NYC residents to escape.

 

AI-powered image generators have been getting most of the press recently. But musical machine learning models have quietly been making great strides in recent years. Holly Herndon has been at the forefront of that revolution. She co-developed (along with partner Mat Dryhurst) Spawn, a singing neural network, for her last album Proto and released Holly+ (in partnership with Never Before Heard Sounds) to the public last year, which allows anyone to use a model of Holly’s voice. Now she’s released a new single, where the only vocals come her digital twin.

This cover of Dolly Parton’s “Jolene” plays it pretty straight at first listen. Yes it’s slower and quieter, but Ryan Norris, who handles the instrumentation, doesn’t take any extreme liberties with the arrangement or sound palette. It simply swaps frantic desperation with plaintive resignation. 

What makes it so arresting is that every vocal sound, right down to the sharp inhales before the harmonies kick in, was generated by Holly+. (That’s right, it “breathes”.) There isn’t a human in sight of a vocal booth here. Some of the phrasing is a little stilted and there are occasional digital artifacts, if you listen closely for them. But on the whole this digital model of the real Holly Herndon’s voice is impressive in its ability to imitate its creator.

Until now, most major artistsexperimentations with AI have focused on creating generative soundscapes or synth melodies. This is (as far as I know) the first time a machine learning model has taken the mic solo in a pop song. 

Herndon previewed the track way back in March at Sonar Festival, but it largely flew under the radar until it received a proper release this week. (BTW: Go watch the presentation from Sonar for some truly wild real-time demonstrations of Holly+ and Never Before Heard Sounds’ technology.) You can attempt to recreate the performance above by recording your own performance of Jolene and uploading it to Holly+, but don’t expect the same fidelity of results through the web app. While it’s definitely a fun diversion, artists who are serious about using AI to further their craft should explore Spawning, an organization launched by Herdon and Dryhurst earlier this year.

 

Elizabeth Warren is calling for more federal oversight of Big Tech. In a letter (PDF link) the Democratic senator sent on Tuesday, she asked the Federal Trade Commission and Department of Justice to look into Google, Apple and Amazon’s expansion into the automotive industry.

Warren claims the three companies are using their positions in mobile and cloud computing to become dominant players within the sector. “This expansion has potentially alarming implications for developers, workers, and consumers,” Warren states. She’s urging FTC Chair Lina Khan and Jonathan Kanter, the head of the Justice Department’s antitrust division, to act decisively before it’s too late. “As Chair Khan has written, ‘it is much easier to promote competition at the point when a market risks becoming less competitive than it is at the point when a market is no longer competitive.’ This market finds itself at exactly such a juncture,” Warren warns.

Specifically, the senator calls out the companies for employing “all-or-nothing” bundling tactics. As one example, she points to the terms of Android Automotive. Google’s operating system doesn’t come with Maps or Assistant included. To access one of those services, automakers must purchase a bundle that includes all of them. Warren argues that tactic allows Google to leverage its dominant position in one area to obtain market share in another. In this specific case, she suggests the company is using Maps to grow Assistant.

“These tactics are reminiscent of past Big Tech bundling controversies,” Warren states, drawing a parallel to cases like the Justice Department’s 2001 lawsuit against Microsoft. Apple and Amazon did not immediately respond to Engadget’s request for comment. “Carmakers choose to partner with tech companies to improve the experience for their customers,” a Google spokesperson told Engadget. “There is enormous competition in the connected car space – including Apple CarPlay, Amazon Alexa, Cerence, TomTom, ChargePoint and many others – and carmakers continue to invest in their in-house solutions simultaneously. At Google, our goal is to enable carmakers and developers across the auto industry to develop software solutions at scale.”

As Vox points out, automakers are partly to blame for the current state of the market. One reason platforms like CarPlay and Android Auto are so popular is that first-party options from car companies have historically failed to meet consumer expectations. In 2019, Ford paid $17 million to settle a class-action lawsuit related to its MyFord Touch infotainment system. The platform was known for freezing and crashing while in use.

Warren says ensuring there’s fair competition in the automotive sector should be a priority for the FTC and DOJ. “The FTC and DOJ don’t have to wait until there’s a problem to take action,” she writes. “Now is the time to prevent Big Tech from strangling competition in the automotive industry before it’s too late.”

 

You might not have to jump between your email client and a web browser just to find out if a holiday gift will arrive on time. Google is updating the Gmail app with simple package tracking. If your order email has a supported tracking number (more on that in a moment), you’ll see the shipping status at the top of the message. If your must-have item arrives tomorrow, you may know without having to plug digits into a web link or dedicated app.

The feature will be available in the US in the “coming weeks,” and will support most large shipping providers. It’s strictly opt-in, so Google won’t look up your tracking numbers unless you want it to. In the months ahead, Gmail will also watch for delays and surface the order email with a label indicating the problem. You may know about a delivery setback before you’ve even received an official notification.

The timing is convenient, of course. Google is hoping to get ahead of the holiday shopping rush and make Gmail your go-to app for tracking packages. That could help keep you in the company’s ecosystem. All the same, it should be a genuinely useful feature — particularly if you shop smaller stores that don’t always have their own apps.

 

Last week, Elon Musk officially completed his $44 billion deal to buy Twitter. But Musk’s path from Twitter super-user to Twitter owner and CEO was anything but straightforward.

While he’s long been known as a prolific tweeter, it was a surprise to most that he was interested in exterting an even bigger influence on the platform. After quietly acquiring a majority stake in the company, he offered to buy the whole thing — even though it wasn’t for sale.

Twitter’s board seemed hesitant at first, but Musk’s money was hard to turn down. In a matter of days, the company agreed to alter its path entirely. Then Musk changed his mind… multiple times. First, the deal was “on hold.” Then, he wanted out entirely. Twitter sued, kicking off a massive legal battle in a Delaware court. But just before the trial was scheduled to begin, Musk said he would honor the deal after all.

Now, there are fresh questions about what exactly Twitter will look like under Musk. He’s proposed numerous changes, including changing Twitter’s moderation rules and reversing permanent bans. He also has a new plan to charge for verification. These decisions are only just beginning to play out, but have already caused massive upheaval both within the company and on the platform itself. Watch the video above for the full story.

 

Google Play Games has arrived on PC in more countries, including the US, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia and Singapore. The app, which is available in beta, allows you to play a selection of Android games on your PC with a mouse and keyboard. Google started testing the app in Hong Kong, South Korea and Taiwan in January (and later in Australia and Thailand) after promising at the tail end of last year that Google Play Games would come to PC in 2022.

To try the app, Google says you’ll need a rig with Windows 10 or later, a solid state drive with 10GB of free space, at least an Intel UHD Graphics 630 or comparable GPU, a CPU with four physical cores and 8GB of RAM. Your progress will sync between Android and PC, so you can continue playing your game on another device.

There are 85 titles on Google Play Games, as The Verge notes, though Google plans to add more. The lineup includes Cookie Run: Kingdom, WWE SuperCard and Just Dance Now. Those are somewhat notable games, but you’ll perhaps find heavier hitters on Apple Arcade and Netflix.

Bringing Google Play Games to Windows is a separate effort from Microsoft’s push to offer Android apps on Windows 11 (which features apps from the Amazon Appstore). For one thing, Google built the Google Play Games app. Perhaps this gaming effort will go more smoothly for Google than Stadia has.

 

Workers at an Apple Store in Glasgow, Scotland, voted on Wednesday to unionize. The vote came after “several” months of negotiations that eventually saw Apple agree to recognize the ballot voluntarily. According to The Herald, employees at the company’s Buchanan Street location, one of two stores Apple operates in Scotland’s most populous city, voted “overwhelmingly” in favor of joining the GMB Union. With the historic vote, the retail location is now on track to become the first unionized Apple Store in the United Kingdom.

Apple did not immediately respond to Engadget’s request for comment. “We have long been committed to providing an excellent experience for our customers and teams,” the company told The Herald. “Apple is one of the highest paying retailers in Scotland and we’ve regularly made enhancements to our industry-leading benefits as a part of the overall support we provide to our valued team members.”

The outcome is expected to prompt Apple Store workers at other retail locations across the UK to push forward with their own labor drives. “This is an absolutely historic vote and is a tribute to the hard work of activists and workers in Apple Glasgow,” said GMB Organizer John Slaven.

According to The Herald, organizers in Glasgow described negotiations with Apple as “consistently positive.” In the US, the company has been accused of employing union-busting tactics. In October, the National Labor Relations Board issued a complaint against the company, saying it had found merit in claims from the Communications Workers of America. The union accused Apple of interrogating staff at its World Trade Center store in New York City and subjecting them to mandatory anti-union meetings. More recently, organizers at the company’s Towson Town Center location, the first Apple Store in the US to unionize, said the company was withholding benefits from its I AM CORE members.

 

Say hello to Xumo, the new branding for Comcast and Charter’s recently announced joint streaming venture. It’s an evolution of the previous Xumo, the ad-supported streaming service Comcast bought two years ago, that’s aiming to be “an entire entertainment ecosystem inclusive of streaming devices, content, and a platform for partners to reach audiences at scale,” according to the companies. Comcast’s Flex streaming device will now be called Xumo Stream Box, while XClass TV, the company’s push to bring its technology into Hisense-made televisions, will be rebadged as Xumo TV. You can expect to see the first Xumo devices distributed by Charter, Comcast and Walmart next year.

While it may seem a bit late to launch an entirely new streaming company, the joint initiative could be a smart way for Comcast and Charter to modernize their technology and reach consumers outside of their normal regions. The focus on free, ad-supported content (or FAST, in industry terms), is also a clear shot against Roku’s offerings. Even though we’re being inundated with increasingly expensive streaming services, it turns out many people don’t mind watching a few ads to see some of their favorite shows. And that’s easy money for any company offering ad-based content.