Wikimedia is clear to sue the NSA

A federal appeals court has ruled the Wikimedia Foundation does have grounds to sue the National Security Agency over its use of warrantless surveillance tools. A district judge shot down Wikimedia’s case in 2015, saying the group hadn’t proved the NSA was actually illegally spying on its communications. In this case, proof was a tall order, considering information about the targeted surveillance system, Upstream, remains classified.

The appeals court today ruled Wikimedia presented sufficient evidence that the NSA was in fact monitoring its communications, even if inadvertently. The Upstream system regularly tracks the physical backbone of the internet — the cables and routers that actually transmit our emoji. With the help of telecom providers, the NSA then intercepts specific messages that contain “selectors,” email addresses or other contact information for international targets under US surveillance.

“To put it simply, Wikimedia has plausibly alleged that its communications travel all of the roads that a communication can take, and that the NSA seizes all of the communications along at least one of those roads,” the appeals court writes. “Thus, at least at this stage of the litigation, Wikimedia has standing to sue for a violation of the Fourth Amendment. And, because Wikimedia has self-censored its speech and sometimes forgone electronic communications in response to Upstream surveillance, it also has standing to sue for a violation of the First Amendment.”

The ACLU brought the lawsuit on behalf of Wikimedia and a handful of other organizations, including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch. However, only Wikimedia moved forward with the appeal.

The NSA recently changed its surveillance practices. In April, The New York Times reported the NSA would halt its “about the target” collections because they violated the Fourth Amendment. Essentially, domestic messages unrelated to any investigation were being bundled with suspicious communications and sent off to the NSA. This aspect of Upstream is apparently no longer in practice, but the overall surveillance system is still live.

Today’s appeals court decision does not suggest Wikimedia has proved the NSA is collecting all communication that leaves the US.

“We hold that these allegations, even when supplemented by the Wikimedia Allegation, including that the NSA is conducting Upstream surveillance on at least seven backbone links, are insufficient to make plausible the claim that the NSA is intercepting ‘substantially all’ text-based communications entering and leaving the United States,” the court writes.

Source: ACLU

This little device turns your iPhone into a Polaroid-like instant camera

Why it matters to you

You don’t have to buy a separate camera to get instant prints with this iPhone printer grip.

Instant film cameras are seeing a resurgence — but a little device called the Prynt Pocket aims to merge that trend with the accessibility of an iPhone. Prynt Pocket is a portable, ink-free printer that attaches to an iPhone and doubles as a camera grip, spitting out instant prints that can also be embedded with video data.

Like cases from Pictar, Bitplay and Moment gives the smartphone a grip like a traditional camera, including a shutter release at the top. But that grip also houses a mini printer. The system uses Zink paper, which has embedded ink crystals that are activated by heat. Since the system doesn’t need ink cartridges, Prynt was able to keep the design small enough to sit on the back of an iPhone.

Once the photo is taken, users can edit the image inside the Prynt app using filters and text. That’s where you can also choose to embed a ten-second video inside the photo — anyone with the physical copy can then use the Pyrnt app to scan the image and watch the video. Users can then select and print photos directly from the phone, share on social media or even print photos from linked social media accounts.

The prints are a 2×3 Zink photo with adhesive backing. The inkless paper is smudge and tear resistant, Pyrnt says, ensuring a long-lasting print.

“We are thrilled to bring Prynt Pocket to market after the success we have had with the Prynt Case,” said Clément Perrot, Pyrnt COE and co-founder. “There is nothing cooler than being able to print a photo straight from your phone, and when you add in the augmented reality video feature, that takes photo-sharing to a whole new level. By turning a phone into an instant camera, everyone gets to experience the shared enjoyment of reliving fun and spontaneous moments through a printed photo.”

The Prynt Pocket, available in cool grey, graphite, and mint, is compatible with the iPhone 5 and later, including Plus versions, with Android compatibility expected to launch later this year. The portable printer retails for $149 and is expected to start shipping on May 30.

Buy now from:

Amazon

Google’s Jamboard to begin competing with Microsoft’s Surface Hub in May

Why it matters to you

You now have another option in enterprise collaborative whiteboards with the Google Jamboard.

Microsoft’s Surface Hub collaborative whiteboard has been available for purchase since July 2015, with 55-inch and 80-inch models actually shipping in March 2016. The Surface Hub has sold more units than Microsoft expected, and Google decided to jump into that market with its own whimsically named Jamboard announced in October 2016.

The Jamboard was originally expected to cost $6,000 for a 55-inch model when it shipped sometime in 2017. Google announced at its Google Cloud Next ’17 event that the Jamboard will arrive in May 2017, and will actually be priced at $5,000, as Engadget reported. Today, May 23, 2017, Google announced that the Jamboard is available for purchase in the U.S. for $4,999.

Google’s whiteboard uses a 55-inch display at 4K (4,096 x 2,160) resolution, with a soft-touch plastic touchscreen panel capable of picking up 16 touch points at once with support for an optional Bluetooth rubber-tipped stylus. That’s a higher resolution than the 55-inch Surface Hub’s Full HD (1,920 x 1,080), but Microsoft’s product supports 100 touch points at a time. The Jamboard is available in three colors; cobalt blue, carmine red, and graphite grey.

The Jamboard connects via HDMI and sports a built-in camera, speakers, and wheeled custom stand for customers who don’t opt to mount the whiteboard. Google has also packed in Chromecast support, meaning the Jamboard can easily mirror a remote device’s screen or stream content from YouTube, Netflix, and other Chromecast-enabled apps and services. Customer feedback compelled Google to add additional secure Wi-Fi network configurations, and Google implemented the Nvidia Jetson TXI embedded computer to ensure a more responsive touchscreen experience.

Android is at the heart of the Jamboard, although it’s a highly customized version that’s been optimized for the whiteboard’s large display and collaborative features. Add-on functionality includes “jam session” whiteboard spaces allowing users to sketch, draw, type, and scribble with handwriting recognition on or off. Images can be imported, a miniature web browser is available, and Jamboards can connect and communicate to enable multiple users to sketch from multiple locations.

Of course, collaboration is at the heart of the Jamboard. Google Hangouts provides chat capabilities, and iOS and Android apps let coworkers view sessions as well as add photos, drawings, and sticky notes. The G Suite productivity apps area also integrated, and a G Suite plan is required to use the Jamboard.

Google is offering some add-ons for the Jamboard as well. There is an annual management and support fee that is $300 a year if purchased before September 30, 2017 and $600 a year afterward. A rolling stand accessory is also available to make the Jamboard a more portable solution, and that has a promotional price of $1,199 through September 30, 2017 and then $1,349 thereafter. The Jamboard will be available to G Suite customers in the U.S. first and then will roll out to the U.K. and Canada over the summer with other countries getting the solution over time.

With cloud services growing by leaps and bounds, and organizations obviously attracted to digital whiteboard solutions that allow teams to work together across global distances, whiteboard solutions like the Jamboard and Microsoft’s Surface Hub are becoming popular. Now, Google will be able to take Microsoft on directly in this increasingly lucrative space.

Updated on 5-23-2017 by Mark Coppock: Indicated that the product is now available for purchase in the U.S. and clarified a few technical points.

Forget faces and hands — the binary City Clock uses windows to display time

Why it matters to you

This Paris-inspired binary clock isn’t just attractive to look at, it’ll also give your brain a workout when you use it to tell the time.

While certainly not as familiar as regular analog or digital clock faces, our inner geek has always dug binary clocks — clocks that display numbers in binary fashion,musing only 1s and 0s. Yes, they’re impractical in the sense that they require more than a quick glance to read, but they’re also neat, nerdy fun — and their use of on/off lights can make for some eye-catching timepieces.

That’s certainly the case for The City Clock, a beautiful binary decorative clock that just arrived on Kickstarter. Resembling the kind of classic Parisian building you’d spot on a stroll along the Seine, it cleverly employs the use of light-up windows to indicate time. From the impressive levels of detail, you can almost imagine the tiny French inhabitants switching lights on and off as they enter or exit rooms.

The first floor of the house equals 1, the second floor equals 2, the third equals 4, and the top floor equals 8. Using this system, it’s possible to create every digit from 0 to 9 by adding one number to another. All that’s needed is a spot of mental math!

“What is exciting in this project is that this is the first object of its kind,” co-creator Claire Protin told Digital Trends. “It’s the first time a binary clock has been put inside a little house; in this case with a Parisian style. We are also planning to develop more of them, for other cities and monuments. What is exciting also is that this is a little brain game. Children love it, and it’s a fun way to learn how to calculate.”

Designing the clock took two years of hard work, including 50 hours of laser cutting and a total of eight prototypes. The City Clock is currently available for pre-order, with pricing set at around $100 for a USB cable, the electronics kit, and instructions. A slightly cheaper version includes just the electronics kit, while a pricier version can feature a custom-engraved message of your choosing.

Shipping is set for November 2017. (No, we’re not to going to work out what that would be in binary units!)

Revolutionary wheelchair lets users move in both sitting and standing modes

Why it matters to you

A standing wheelchair lets users look their peers straight in the eye during conversations.

As much as we love covering cool tech that has the ability to make life more fun, there are few things more awesome than technology that can be used to fundamentally alter people’s lives for the better.

That is what engineers at Chicago’s Center for Bionic Medicine may have achieved with the creation of a manual standing wheelchair that does not limit its users to being stuck sitting down the whole time.

“This is the first manual wheelchair that allows users to move while in both standing and seated positions,” Dr. Todd Kuiken, who led the research, told Digital Trends. “It’s an incredibly exciting innovation that expands users’ workspace and, most importantly, enables them to look their peers straight in the eye during interaction. It offers a number of physical benefits as well.”

The wheelchair’s unique hand drive mechanism lets users manually drive the wheels while sitting or standing, along with any position in between. While they do so, they are safely secured in place using a lap belt and knee restraint to protect against falls. “This wheelchair will be transformative for people who haven’t stood in many years and have only looked up at the world,” Kuiken continued. “It will give them the opportunity to converse, directly and at eye-level, with their peers.”

While most of us take for granted simple acts like looking a coworker in the eye when we speak to them, or reaching overhead cabinets and grocery store shelves, for the 1.7 million Americans who rely on wheelchairs or scooters for mobility, things aren’t so straightforward. As a result, a wheelchair like this one could prove to be a life-changer.

“The wheelchair is ready to be commercialized and we are currently in talks with potential commercial partners,” Kuiken said. “In the meantime, we’re working to continually refine the design.”

Snapchat’s custom Stories are the newest way to share and show off

Why it matters to you

If you were getting bored from Snapchat’s current features, a new way to create custom, exclusive Stories may draw you back in.

Snapchat wants to help you make your Stories a bit more exclusive. On Tuesday, the social media platform introduced “a new way to create custom Stories,” which can revolve around just about anything. So whether you want to Snap a wedding, your vacation, or just your afternoon with friends, create a custom Story just for the ones you love.

The new Story format is meant to make sharing around specific events a more seamless process. Starting Tuesday, iOS users can create global, geofenced stories with specific friends. Just tap the “Create Story” icon in the upper righthand corner of the Stories screen, name it, and then invite the folks you want to take part in your Story. The app will automatically create a one-block geofence around your current location,

To create a custom Story, tap the new “Create Story” icon in the top-right corner of the Stories screen. Give your Story a name and then invite the friends you want to participate — no matter where in the world they live. You can choose to either geofence or story or keep it open — if you opt for the former, only your friends (or friends of friends) within a one-block radius can contribute to your story. This could be useful in aggregating all the action happening at a specific event, like a birthday party.

Alternatively, you can create a non-geofenced custom Story, in which you simply invite the people you want to be able to view and contribute content. And don’t worry — those groups can be mutually exclusive (though they don’t have to be). While you can only create up to three custom Stories on your own, there is no limit to the number in which you can participate.

If no one contributes to a custom Story within 24 hours, however, it will disappear, maintaining Snapchat’s trademark ephemerality. So if you’re in search of new ways to share your experiences, custom Stories just may be the tool you have been waiting for.

Digital Extremes is working on a free-to-play shooter that relies on card decks

Why it matters to you

Digital Extremes is taking a new spin with online multiplayer first-person shooters by introducing a card deck-based strategy.

Seems like it was just yesterday when developer/publisher Digital Extremes teamed up with Epic Games to create the ground-breaking first-person shooter Unreal and the multiplayer-only shooter Unreal Tournament. The studio’s most recent shooting effort for the PC, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4 is the free-to-play cooperative third-person shooter Warframe. Now Digital Extremes has another free-to-play shooter in the works called Keystone.

Launching as a closed alpha on Friday, the game cleverly combines first-person shooting action with building a deck of cards. This deck is fully customizable, providing players with weapons, abilities, and gameplay benefits. And because Keystone will be a free-to-play title, we suspect that it will offer the ability to purchase in-game currency, cards, and specific card decks in exchange for real-world money.

“Keystone originates from our roots in the FPS world and mixing genres like we have done with Warframe,” said Sheldon Carter, studio head at Digital Extremes. “We believe there’s room to expand the confines of what defines a good FPS and hope our community will see the potential and get on board for the ride.”

According to Digital Extremes, the studio formed a second internal team just to work on Keystone. This team will work heavily with the community to shape the game’s eventual form much like what Epic Games and Roccat are doing with their current free-to-play alpha-stage multiplayer shooters for the PC, Unreal Tournament 4 and Sick City, respectively.

Unfortunately, the Keystone website reveals nothing about the game’s content. However, the artistic style will borrow from the 1970s’ retro-pulp era and the seven characters displayed on the website’s splash page appear to be pulled straight out of campy sci-fi movies and TV shows from the 1950s and 1960s. The site also defines Keystone as a free team-based shooter “where each move transports you into an epic battle.”

Players begin each match on a starting square of what Digital Extremes calls an “intriguing, mystical board game.” Spanning across a multiverse, each match will push players to remain resourceful and timely when using their cards, as they give each player a unique approach to the current battle, and each team a different strategy given the different cards held by every team member.

Interested PC gamers wanting a shot at the upcoming closed alpha this Friday can head over to the Keystone website now and sign up for access. The chosen participants will be notified on Thursday and provided with a link to download the client. This will be the first wave of Keystone’s closed alpha program, which will conclude on Monday. Bethesda did something similar with its closed alpha for the Quake Champions multiplayer-only shooter for the PC, offering weekend-long play tests.

The studio’s current free-to-play shooter, Warframe, first launched on the PC in March 2013. It then appeared on the PlayStation 4 in November 2013 followed by the Xbox One in September 2014. The game generates revenue by selling in-game credits called Platinum. Players can also purchase weapons, equipment, Warframes, and blueprints using real-world cash.

iPhone 9 rumors and news

Apple has yet to release the successor to the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus, but rumors of future iPhones have already begun to swirl — including tidbits about the iPhone 9.

The iPhone 9 could be years away, but a few of the details are starting to come into focus. Here is everything we know about Apple’s next-generation iPhone.

Specs

Samsung might supply the iPhone 9’s screen. That is according to The Bell (via The Investor), which reported that the Seoul, South Korea-based company will supply 5.28-inch and 6.46-inch OLED panels for Apple’s upcoming phone.

“[The] iPhone 9 is expected to come in two OLED models — 5.28- and 6.46-inch display sizes,” The Investor reported. “Samsung’s OLED shipment is also likely to be more than double at 180 million units.”

Assuming details are not adjusted down the line, the iPhone 9 could look radically different from the iPhone 7 and the rumored iPhone 7S. The iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus have 4.7-inch and 5.5-inch LCD screens, respectively, and the iPhone 7S and 7S Plus’ displays are expected to retain those dimensions.

The iPhone 9 will have a screen that is more vibrant and colorful than the iPhone 7’s. OLED, or organic light-emitting diodes, creates light depending on how much electric current you send it and dims black in the absence of a charge. That is in contrast to LCD panels, which have a persistent backlight that never switches off.

The iPhone 7S and 7S Plus are rumored to debut alongside a high-end iPhone — the iPhone 8 or iPhone X — with a 5.8-inch OLED panel. If the rumors are true, it seems that Apple will equip all future iPhones models with OLED.

Design

Alushta, Russia – November 21, 2014: Man holding an iPhone 6 Space Gray with social networking service Twitter on the screen. The iPhone 6 was created and developed by Apple.

The iPhone 9’s design remains a complete mystery, as of now, but there is a chance it will look something like iPhone 8.

According to the latest rumblings, the upcoming iPhone 8 will boast a stainless steel body, a bezel-less curved touchscreen, a Touch ID fingerprint sensor that is concealed beneath the display and vertically oriented dual rear cameras. The front shooter is expected to be oriented along the phone’s center (in contrast to the iPhone 7’s off-center selfie camera), and the iPhone 8 is likely to ditch the home button for a digital, software-based alternative.

Naming, release date and price

Historically, Apple has followed predictable iPhone release schedule: Minor “S” models follow major upgrades. The iPhone 4S came after the redesigned iPhone 4, and the iPhone 5S came after the Touch ID-enabled iPhone 5. But Apple might switch things up this year.

Rumor has it that Apple will release three iPhone models in fall 2017: The iPhone 7S, 7S Plus, and 8. If that happens, the iPhone 9 could launch as soon as next year. But if it doesn’t — if Apple sticks to its guns and releases the iPhone 8 next year — the iPhone 9 could be as many as two years off.

If the iPhone 9 is priced anything like the iPhone 8, it will be expensive — analysts at Goldman Sachs estimate that the 128GB and 256GB iPhone 8 will cost $1,000 and $1,100, respectively. But it could be in line with the iPhone 7S, which is expected start at $650 for the 64GB model and $750 for 128GB —  the same as the iPhone 7.

Beekeepers think AI that targets mites can save us from the ‘beepocalypse’

Why it matters to you

We depend on bees for our survival, and a new AI app may just save them from extinction.

Bees are in mortal danger. Last year, more than 40 percent of colonies disappeared in the United States alone. And that’s a big problem for humans as well as for bees. About a third of our diet comes from plants that depend on insect pollinators. Without bees, we’ll be in big trouble.

One of the insect’s worst enemies — and a significant contributor to colony collapse — is a small mite called Varroa destructor that’s as devastating as it sounds. They latch onto bees and brood, sucking the life out of them.

A handful of solutions have emerged over the past few years, including hot hives that kill the mites and robobees that replace natural pollinators.

Now, a concerned team of beekeepers and software developers from Sweden have proposed another plan. They want to build an AI-powered app called BeeScanning that would analyze images of beehives to spot the mites, then alert keepers so they could rid their hives of the mites.

“I’ve been taking pictures of my bee colonies to learn how to foresee their development,” Björn Lagerman, a BeeScanning founder who’s been beekeeping for 45 years, told Digital Trends. “Last summer, I started taking pictures of frames with brood to learn the capacity of different queens. Examining the stills, I discovered mites, which I didn’t see on the moving bees when I first took the pictures.”

The mites appear as little red dots on the backs of bees. The more pictures Lagerman took, the more mites he found. He realized he could develop a tool that could scan the images much faster and more accurately than his own eyes.

Lagerman got together a small team and took to Kickstarter to seek funding. Initially, they plan to launch a tool to help keepers around the world collaborate by uploading images of their own hives.

The images these keepers upload will help the BeeScanning team train an AI to identify individual mites in a picture full of bees. By the end of 2017, Lagerman hopes to compile a database of 40,000 images from 10,000 hives, which would be used to train an algorithm to efficiently spot the mites. They want to raise money on Kickstarter to fund the app’s software development and distribution.

“If you don’t monitor varroa and treat accordingly, your bees will die,” Lagerman said. “That’s the motivation driving beekeepers to examine their colonies in all ways they can think of!”

The project reached its goal of 50,000 Swedish krona ($5,745) within the first 10 days of the campaign. That money will help fund the database. The team has now added a number of stretch goals to enable features such as offline mode and a community-focused web interface.

Infltr is the first app to edit stills, video, GIFs, and Apple Live Photos

Why it matters to you

If you want to edit your GIFs, Apple Live Photos, photos and videos in a single app, Infltr is currently the only one that can manage all four.

Love them or hate them, the moving photos called GIFs and Apple’s Live Photos are here to stay — and now there’s an iOS program that can edit them all. Photo editing app Infltr’s latest update makes the app the first program that can edit GIFs and Live Photos right alongside regular photos and videos.

Version 2.8 of Infltr allows users to edit GIFs and Live photos, which makes the app the only one capable of handling the four most popular media types, according to the developer. The update includes 10 new tools that work across all four file types, including the ability to adjust saturation, brightness, contrast, filter intensity, crop, rotate, straighten, flip horizontally, flip vertically and change perspective both horizontally and vertically. All of the edits are saved in the photo’s history, which allows any of the custom edits to be undone later.

Infltr gets its name from the infinite filter possibilities available with a swipe, navigating through a seemingly limitless number of filters that now number surpasses 7 million. The new GIF and video tools can be used alongside the platform’s original filters, which are applied in real time, to further customize the look. Adjustments can also easily be applied to more than one image at a time and favorite filters can be saved for easy access later.

Along with allowing users to edit GIFs, Live Photos, images, and video after the fact, the app’s camera mode allows users to shoot Live Photos and still photos with filter effects already applied, showing the results in real time while still saving an original unretouched file. The developer says the saturation, brightness, contrast, vignetting, and filter intensity can all be previewed in real time in the app’s camera mode.

Infltr is an iOS-only app that has received Editor’s Choice and Apple’s Best New App award in more than 150 countries. Infltr is available from the App Store for $2 for the iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch.