Saturday, August 12, 2023

A look at Amazon One palm scanning tech, being used for payments, age verification, and more at US retailers, stadiums, and other venues, amid privacy concerns (Christopher Mims/Wall Street Journal)

Christopher Mims / Wall Street Journal:
A look at Amazon One palm scanning tech, being used for payments, age verification, and more at US retailers, stadiums, and other venues, amid privacy concerns  —  It's also a potentially massive play to make Amazon the central ID system for your whole life—from banking and loyalty programs to tickets …



Some Cruise car riders say they've had sex in the driverless vehicles in SF over recent months; Waymo and Cruise permit eating in their cars but not drinking (Liz Lindqwister/The San Francisco ...)

Liz Lindqwister / The San Francisco Standard:
Some Cruise car riders say they've had sex in the driverless vehicles in SF over recent months; Waymo and Cruise permit eating in their cars but not drinking  —  An Illustration generated by the artificial intelligence program Midjourney depicts two people making out in an autonomous vehicle.



How SCOTUS overturning the sports betting ban in 2018 transformed the sector into a high-growth tech business; many fear a surge in gambling addiction is coming (Oliver Barnes/Financial Times)

Oliver Barnes / Financial Times:
How SCOTUS overturning the sports betting ban in 2018 transformed the sector into a high-growth tech business; many fear a surge in gambling addiction is coming  —  Americans have bet $245bn on sporting events since restrictions were loosened in 2018.  But many fear a surge in gambling addiction is coming



Amazon is removing or reducing packaging to speed up deliveries, cut costs, and meet climate goals, amid concerns that visible products could lead to issues (Sebastian Herrera/Wall Street Journal)

Sebastian Herrera / Wall Street Journal:
Amazon is removing or reducing packaging to speed up deliveries, cut costs, and meet climate goals, amid concerns that visible products could lead to issues  —  The retail giant is reducing packaging on millions of deliveries  —  Millions of Amazon orders are arriving on doorsteps across the U.S. without any extra packaging.



Pixel 8 may come with an Audio Magic Eraser: What it can mean for users

Google is set to release the Pixel 8 series in October, with rumours circulating about the Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro. Reports have emerged that the Pro variant may come in blue and feature a new tool called "Audio Magic Eraser". The feature, expected to be available in Google Photos' video editor, will locate sounds and offer sliders for "Noise," "People," and "Music," allowing the user to reduce sound by adjusting the appropriate slider. https://ift.tt/02f1GkE

ISRO congratulates Russia's successful moon mission launch

Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) applauded Russia for the successful launch of Luna-25 into space. The unmanned craft is anticipated to join India's Chandrayaan-3 in exploring the water-rich area near the south pole of the Moon. Luna-25 is equipped to detect scientific findings such as plasma and dust contents found in the lunar polar exosphere. https://ift.tt/a06KIO9

The US NLRB rules that Amazon must negotiate with the Amazon Labor Union, which represents ~5K workers at its Staten Island warehouse; Amazon plans to appeal (Greg Bensinger/Reuters)

Greg Bensinger / Reuters : The US NLRB rules that Amazon must negotiate with the Amazon Labor Union, which represents ~5K workers at its ...