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San Francisco becomes the first US city to ban government facial recognition
Tech hub San Francisco has become the first US city to ban the use of facial recognition technology by local government and law enforcement agencies, although that doesn't cover federal agencies operating in the region (The Register).
The new Surveillance Technology Policy also requires agencies to produce transparency reports about any technology they use to "collect, retain, process or share" a person’s data, "audio, electronic, visual, location, thermal, biometric, olfactory or similar." Personal and private sector use and development of such technologies will not be affected.
Lenovo is making a folding-screen laptop
Lenovo has revealed a prototype folding-screen laptop, scheduled for release in 2020 (Tom's Guide). It's to be part of the ThinkPad X1 family, with an Intel CPU and Windows operating system alongside a 13.3in folding OLED display, made by LG, with some serious looking hinge protection to hopefully avoid the mistakes of Samsung's Galaxy Fold. Unfolded, it's a 13in tablet with a 2K resolution that can be connected to a hardware keyboard. Folded, its screen becomes a pair of 9.6in displays, one of which you can use to type on as needed.
Psychadelic microdosing: smart drug or placebo?
Microdosing psychedelic drugs such as LSD and 'magic' fungi is a growing trend, with users reporting improved mental health and cognitive function. But do tiny doses of psychoactive drugs really do anything, or is it all down to the placebo effect? WIRED's Victoria Turk visited a Netherlands microdosing workshop coordinated by Psychedelics Society of the Netherlands, Microdosing.NL and a Leiden University research group that hopes to establish just that.
Microsoft patches Windows XP and 7 to avoid another WannaCry
Microsoft has issued a critical warning to users of its older Windows desktop and server operating systems, asking them to patch a vulnerability that could be used to propagate malware in a similar way to 2017's catastrophic WannaCry worm (The Verge).
As the operating systems no longer receive updates under normal circumstances, users will have to manually download them from the Microsoft update catalogue. An unrelated set of patches is being rolled out to protect all modern operating systems from a newly announced Intel CPU vulnerability known as ZombieLoad.
Exxon predicted current climate conditions in 1982
Oil giant Exxon accurately predicted this month's record-breaking 415ppm atmospheric CO2 levels and ongoing average global temperature increases as early as 1982 (Gizmodo). The data predicting the consequences of a high use scenario for fossil fuels was among internal memos uncovered by InsideClimate in 2015 and highlighted in a recent tweet by Bloomberg reported Tom Randall, and shows exactly how long oil producers were secretly aware of the risks their industry posed to the planet.
Jeff vs Elon: the billionaires' space race is heating up
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This article was originally published by WIRED UK
