uForget Fingerprints, Amazon Working On Ear-Unlock Feature For Phonesr

4 4 4 9

• 

  (walkerspace)

  Could answering your phone in the future be as simple as pressing it to your ear? It could be if Amazon’s latest patent ever makes it to the real world.

  The new patent details the tech company’s work to create a system aimed at simplifying the way smartphone owners use and access the technology in their phones, The Next Web reports.

  

  A rendering of the technology from Amazon’s patent shows how certain points of one’s ear might be used under the new system.

  This is Amazon’s attempt to resolve consumers’ dueling desires for increased privacy and advanced ease of use.

  “While various software applications offer differing levels of personalization, many electronic devices such as cellular phones and tablet computers still have fixed inputs for various buttons or other input elements of the device,” the patent states. “Even where some level of personalization is enabled, such as at various levels of a user interface, the user typically must login or enter other identifying information for the device, which can be frustrating if the user needs to repeatedly enter the information.”

  And so, Amazon has created a technology that not only simplifies how users answer their phones, but also automatically adjusts certain preferences such as speaker volume depending on the ear being used.

  The system works by taking a photo of a user’s ear – which is reportedly an equally unique identifier as a fingerprint – with the phone’s front camera and comparing it to a photo previously captured by the user and subsequently stored in a database.

  The ear recognition input would then let owners utilize their device for certain purposes like receiving a call or listening to an audio file without first manually unlocking their phones.

  “In some embodiments, the device analyzes the captured information to determine whether the user is holding the device near the user’s right ear or left ear, and adjusts functionality of the device based at least in part upon how the user is likely holding the phone,” the patent states. “In other embodiments, the device attempts to recognize the user based on ear shape or other parameters, and can provide customized functionality of the device based at least upon that determination.”

  It’s unclear when or if Amazon truly plans to incorporate the new technology into its Fire phones.

  Amazon wants you to unlock your next phone with your ear [The Next Web]

  
• 
  

ribbi

by Ashlee Kieler via Consumerist

uHere’s Why You Shouldn’t Put Your $10K Apple Watch Between Powerful Magnetsr

4 4 4 9

• 

  (TechRax on YouTube)

  It doesn’t matter if we’ve seen a slew of videos showing expensive electronics getting totally [spoiler alert] destroyed at the hands of curious home scientists (in the name of durability testing, of course), put another one in front of us and we’re probably going to watch the destruction footage yet again. Entering the arena: A $10,000 gold-plated Apple Watch.

  In case you were perhaps considering placing your new fancy device between powerful magnets, the kind of magnets that have the power to crush human bones, don’t. That is, unless you’re making a YouTube video showing a new 38 mm 18k gold Apple Watch Edition as the meat in a magnet sandwich.

  The two neodymium magnets equal 650 pounds of force, says YouTube user TechRax, which means the Watch (spoiler alert) doesn’t fare well.

  At first it seems the magnets themselves don’t want to get together… that is, until one of those conducting the experiment nudges one at an angle. With a puff of smoke and a chorus of “Whoa!”s, the Watch meets its fate.

  Previously: What Does A Gold iPhone 5S Look Like After The Blendtec Is Done With It? ;

  
• 
  

ribbi

by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist

uXbox One Getting A Lot More Useful With Backwards Compatabilityr

4 4 4 9

• 

  (Alan Rappa)

  When Microsoft and Sony announced their current slate of gaming consoles in 2013, neither manufacturer included backwards compatibility, meaning all your Xbox 360 and PS3 games still needed the old console to play those games. Today at E3, Microsoft finally announced that the Xbox One will include the ability to play previous-generation games on the current-gen console.

  Details are sketchy, but Microsoft says that Xbox Preview members, those who get to monkey around with new updates ahead of wide release, will get to play a slate of older titles immediately on their Xbox One consoles as of today. The rest of the marketplace will get backwards compatibility by the holiday season.

  Microsoft says that digitally purchased games will be automatically downloaded onto your console when the new functionality is available. And users will insert disc-based 360 games into their Xbox Ones to have the games downloaded onto the new console.

  Availability is going to be based on the publishers working with Microsoft.

  “We won’t charge you for games you already own,” says Microsoft.

  If the company provides more details, we’ll update.

  
• 
  

ribbi

by Chris Morran via Consumerist

uChoosing The Wrong Prepaid Debit Card Can Cost You Up To $500/Year In Feesr

4 4 4 9

• 

  (frankieleon)

  While prepaid debit cards have long been criticized for having too many fees (and for being less than transparent about those fees), the impact of those fees will largely depend on how you use a particular prepaid card. Choosing one that’s ill-suited to your needs could cost you hundreds of dollars a year in fees that you didn’t need to spend.

  According to CardHub’s latest prepaid card survey, the annual fees you’ll pay for using a card can range from as little as $0 to $500 depending on the card and your usage habits.

  The report looked at four different types of consumer who might need a prepaid card:

  1. Someone Looking For A Replacement Checking Account
  For this type, CardHub assumed the user earns a monthly paycheck of $2,000, can use direct deposit for their wages, makes once-weekly cash withdrawals from the ATM, makes 5 purchases a week with their prepaid card, and pays two monthly bills using online bill pay.

  Of the 40 cards surveyed in the report, four of them had an annual usage fee cost of $0 when used under those conditions, and another three had costs below $10.

  On the other end of the spectrum, 14 different cards had annual fees totaling more than $100, with eight of those costing you more than $200. The most expensive card for replacing your checking account, according to the survey, was the Vision Preferred Prepaid Visa Card at $360.

  2. A Parent Giving Their Child A Card To Manage Their Allowance
  Here, the survey looks at a teen with a monthly allowance of $100 — coming from a bank account or through PayPal — who withdraws cash from the ATM twice per month and makes two prepaid card purchases per week.

  Only two cards came in at $0 in this scenario, with another two cards running up only $12/year in fees.

  Of course, because of the requirement that the card allow minor users, 15 of the surveyed cards simply wouldn’t work in this case.

  In terms of high-end fees, 12 cards will run up more than $100/year in fees but only two crossed the $200/year mark. The card with the highest fees for this category of user was the Wired Plastic Prepaid Card at $237.

  3. People Looking For An Affordable Alternative To Check Cashing Stores
  In this scenario, CardHub looked at the fees for a user who earns two monthly paychecks of $800 each, but who can not use direct deposit, and so must deposit their checks directly to their prepaid card. The survey figures no purchases, but one weekly cash withdrawal.

  These unbanked consumers are a big market for the prepaid card companies, but it’s also a category where you could pay dearly for using the wrong card.

  Here again, the number of cards available is limited because of the requirement for being able to load paychecks directly onto the card, but there are three cards that won’t cost you anything additional in fees in this situation, plus another that will only cost $3/year.

  Yet there are seven cards that will cost you more than $100, including one card — the NetSpend Prepaid Card – FeeAdvantage — that could cost you up to $500/year in fees.

  4. Consumers Seeking Access To Electronic Transactions
  This is for the person who gets paid primarily in cash and needs to put it on a card without using a bank. For the purpose of the survey, CardHub figures a person earning $2,000 per month in cash who makes two cash deposits of $250 each onto their card account every month. In terms of usage, this scenario includes two uses of online bill pay each month and two prepaid card purchases per week.

  The person in this case has the fewest $0 options (2) and three $3/year options.

  They also have the most number of expensive options, with 18 cards charging more than $100/year in fees for this sort of behavior. Six of those are above the $200 line, with the most expensive — the READYdebit Platinum Visa Prepaid Card — coming in at $298/year.

  
• 
  

ribbi

by Chris Morran via Consumerist

uColorado Supreme Court Rules Workers Can Be Fired For Using Marijuana Off-Dutyr

4 4 4 9

• 

  (DEARTH !)

  Although it’s legal under state law to use marijuana, the Colorado Supreme Court ruled today that employers can fire workers who smoke/ingest/otherwise partake in pot when they’re off the clock.

  A former employee of Dish Network who had a medical marijuana card and consumed marijuana while off-duty to control muscle spasms was fired in 2010, reports the Denver Post. He then challenged Dish and its policy, claiming because his use was legal under state law, he shouldn’t be fired.

  But the firing was upheld in both trial court and the Colorado Court of Appeals before today’s 6-0 decision [PDF]from the state Supremes.

  While using medical marijuana is in compliance with Colorado’s Medical Marijuana Amendment, the justices had to consider whether it’s still lawful under the state’s Lawful Off-Duty Activities Statute. That term includes activities lawful under both state and federal law, the justices said.

  “Therefore, employees who engage in an activity such as medical marijuana use that is permitted by state law but unlawful under federal law are not protected by the statute,” Justice Allison H. Eid wrote in the opinion.

  It’s up to employers in Colorado to set their own policies on drug use, so this means that anyone using marijuana legally under state law could still find themselves in trouble with their bosses under federal law. This could have implications for other states that allow marijuana use, as well, as companies figure out what to do when facing both state laws and federal law.

  Everything could be different in the future, however, if the federal law regarding marijuana use ever changes. Until then, better check that employee handbook.

  Colorado Supreme Court: Employers can fire workers for off-duty marijuana use [Denver Post]

  
• 
  

ribbi

by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist

uUber’s Petition Website Hacked To Redirect To Lyft Homepager

4 4 4 9

• 

  A security researcher says he was able to hack Uber’s petition website to display a joke petition and rival Lyft’s homepage.

  It’s no secret that ride-sharing companies Uber and Lyft have enjoyed a spirited rivalry in recent years. Over the weekend, a security researcher inserted himself into the crosshairs of the two ride-hailing services by exploiting a vulnerability in Uber’s petition website that allowed him to showcase and redirect visitors to Lyft’s homepage, while also changing the content of some petitions. Now he’s warning the company – and others like it – to take precautions when using petition and contest websites, as they might prove to be a welcome mat for malevolent hackers.

  Business Insider reports that security researcher Austin Epperson used a flaw in Uber’s online petition site to show how easy it can be for a hacker to takeover a website through simple content forms. He says Uber customer information was never at risk.

  In a post to his blog “This Should Be Fixed,” Epperson says that the prank began after he started researching “popular petition and contest websites that have zero security for preventing fake entries.”

  After discovering that an Uber petition to convince San Francisco to allow the company to operate on Market Street would accept input other than digits in the ZIP code field, he decided to find out what else he was capable of doing to the site through the contact form.

  In the end, he determined that the form would accept just about everything, including an iframe that allowed him to direct Uber’s petition visitors to Lyfy’s website.

  Epperson was also able to create a script that automatically entered signatures on the petition at a rate of about 1,000 per minute and changed the wording of the petition to include turning Market Street into a slip and slide, Business Insider reports.

  According to Epperson’s blog post, the hack was live for about two hours. He says he contacted Uber about the issue and the company eventually removed all petitions for the time being.

  While both the hacker and Uber say that the safety of customer information was never at risk during the prank, Epperson says that someone with more sinister intentions could have caused serious damage to the site and its visitors.

  “Thanks Uber for making it so easy to manipulate your website,” he says in the post. “It’s been a great educational experience, but please don’t do this again. Whoever wrote your script was in a hurry to get home. Whoever developed your webpage literally copied and pasted code from an online tutorial that promotes itself as being very simple code. I’m serious.”

  Uber did not immediately return Business Insider’s request for comment on the situation.

  Uber’s website was hacked to display an ad for rival company Lyft [Business Insider]
  I broke Uber [This Should Be Fixed]

  
• 
  

ribbi

by Ashlee Kieler via Consumerist

uWalmart Marks Defunct Multiplayer Game Down To Only $15r

4 4 4 9

• Back in 2010, we pointed out something kind of silly and unfair that happened at one reader’s local Walmart: there was an old computer game on the shelves. This happened to be a multiplayer game, which required access to servers to play. Those servers were shut down in 2009, making the game completely useless if purchased in 2009, or in 2013, and it’s just as useless now.

  Yet reader Kristen, brave explorer for the Raiders of the Lost Walmart, reports that her local Walmart found six copies somewhere in their warehouse, dusted them off, and marked them down to $15. While the game box itself has some value to collectors, it’s not $15.

  The problem is that someone could theoretically buy this game off the clearance shelf, take it home, and try to actually play it. Imagine their reaction when they learn that their new game has been shut down for six years.

  That scenario is pretty unlikely, though, since we have trouble imagining that anyone would buy this game at all. Even at 50% off.

  
• 
  

ribbi

by Laura Northrup via Consumerist