D G

submitted by fuckedchildhood
[link] [181 comments]

This past weekend, someone noticed that Samsung reserves the right to record things we say near our TVs and upload them to a third party, and for some reason this freaked people out. Samsung has solved the problem by removing the problematic sentence from their privacy policy, replacing it with an expanded explanation of what uploading your speech to a third party really means.

The original phrasing, as you may remember, simply said:

Please be aware that if your spoken words include personal or other sensitive information, that information will be among the data captured and transmitted to a third party.

“Wait, what spoken words?” Samsung smart TV owners and the general public asked. “Everything I say in my living room? Everything I say in my house?” The policy wasn’t clear, which is why Samsung updated it to spell out exactly what’s going on. It’s quite clear, so we don’t even need to clarify and summarize it. Take it away, Samsung:

In addition, Samsung may collect and your device may capture voice commands and associated texts so that we can provide you with Voice Recognition features and evaluate and improve the features. Samsung will collect your interactive voice commands only when you make a specific search request to the Smart TV by clicking the activation button either on the remote control or on your screen and speaking into the microphone on the remote control.

See? That’s all we wanted: to be assured that our TVs aren’t recording all of our conversations and uploading them to an unnamed “third party.”

There are two types of voice commands that a smart TV understands: stock commands like “TV off” and more complex commands: Samsung uses the example “Find me a sci-fi movie to watch.” Like the voice recognition software in phones and tablets, for more complex phrases, the TVs upload the recording to a server for translation into text.

More importantly, they explain that the TV only records you when a button on the remote is pressed. Even if all of your mundane conversations are with your cat, you still don’t want those recorded.

Samsung Edits Orwellian Clause Out Of TV Privacy Policy [TechCrunch]

submitted by Em_has_a_Secret [link] [278 comments]

submitted by lindsrae [link] [528 comments]

Charlie the famous Venus flytrap (previously) recites a spicy Valentine's Day poem.

[kluna tik]

Freddie Wong is as entertaining as ever in his latest short film where his vacation in London takes a rather unexpected turn…

[RocketJump]

The post Freddie Wong Fights Group of Villains with Weaponized Umbrella [Video] appeared first on Geeks are Sexy Technology News.

No matter how unhappy you are with someone or something, violence is never the answer, people. A Walmart customer seen on video head-butting a Walmart employee during an argument, setting off an all out brawl, has been told by police not to come back to the store.

A video taken by a fellow shopper shows a tax worker and a customer arguing inside a Texas Walmart, a fight that soon turns violent after the customer head butts the other woman.

According to ACB13, the employee is a Jackson Hewitt tax worker. The two allegedly got in a verbal spat the day before, when the shopper and her husband visited the Jackson Hewitt tax booth inside the Walmart to file their taxes.

The woman in the video wasn’t their tax worker, but the customer says she was “very rude to us” as she was clocking in to work.

The customer claims she went back to Walmart yesterday to shop, and ran into the worker, who she says uttered a profanity.

“I turn around and said, ‘Excuse me,'” the customer tells ABC 13. “I did say something back. She came out of her cubicle and followed me to the entrance.”

After a few heated words, the customer is seen hitting the worker in the face with her head. Though the employee did not press charges, police are now investigating. They’ve issued the customer a criminal trespass notice, saying if she returns to that Walmart location she’ll be arrested, reports Click2Houston.com.

WALMART FIGHT CAUGHT ON CAMERA IN LA PORTE [ABC 13]
Fight at Walmart in Deer Park caught on camera [Click2Houston.com]

In Thailand, when an abandoned mall lost its roof, it filled with water, which attracted mosquito larvae, and then neighbors stocked it with fish. In Akron, Ohio, an abandoned mall lost its glass skylights, which meant that in the winter the building filled with snow. Here is your post-apocalyptic winter wonderland.

These photos were taken by Johnny Joo, a local photographer who explores and takes pictures of abandoned spaces. The snowscape is at Rolling Acres, a dead mall that has made some appearances here on Consumerist before. Another photographer kindly granted us the use his photos, which we’ve featured in Flickr Finds and in a post about dead malls, appropriately enough.

The last anchor store at Rolling Acres closed in 2013, but the main part of the mall closed in 2008.

This mall is entirely abandoned: the Akron Beacon Journal reports that it’s up for a sheriff’s sale next month since the owners stopped paying taxes years ago. That is planned for March 17, in case you’ve always wanted your own indoor snowboarding park.

Photographer captures images of snow in Rolling Acres Mall; city officials say mall is secure [Akron Beacon Journal]
Architectural Afterlife [Blog]
Empty Spaces [Book]

Food Stamp Beneficiaries Exceed 46,000,000 for 39 Straight Months...


(Third column, 15th story, link)

---

Related stories:

BOOM: APPLE BECOMES FIRST $700 BILLION COMPANY...

Smosh Games and Screen Junkies present an honest trailer for the newly released sci-fi cooperative/competitive shooter game, Evolve.

Previous honest game trailers: Resident Evil, The Sims, Super Smash Bros., World of Warcraft

[smosh games]

Yes, we use free range urban homesteader bok choi

Photo courtesy of Christopher.
Menu found at Beijing restaurant. 

Ladies and gentlegeeks, let me introduce to you Spot, Boston Dynamics’ new highly mobile four-legged robot. Now watch the video and then imagine yourself being chased by a pack of these things.

Spot is a four-legged robot designed for indoor and outdoor operation. It is electrically powered and hydraulically actuated. Spot has a sensor head that helps it navigate and negotiate rough terrain. Spot weighs about 160 lbs.

[Boston Dynamics]

The post Introducing Spot: Boston Dynamics’ New Highly Mobile Four-Legged Robot appeared first on Geeks are Sexy Technology News.