TechCrunch
Sen. Feinstein Claims The NSA Does Collect Phone Call Location Information, Contradicting The NSA
Today Senator Feinstein stated that the NSA phone metadata program that collects records on the telephone calls of American citizens includes location information.
Previously, head of the NSA, General Keith B. Alexander, stated that the NSA was not currently collecting call location data under the authority of Section 215 of the Patriot Act. It was left open that other authorization could allow for, and be currently used to, collect location data. It was revealed today that in the past a program at least tried to collect this data.
Here’s the Senator, as quoted by McClatchy:
“I’ve listened to this program being described as a surveillance program. It is not. There is no content collected by the NSA. There are bits of data – location, telephone numbers – that can be queried when there is reasonable and articulable suspicion.” [Emphasis: TechCrunch]
So there’s that.
The NSA refused to admit that it had never collected call record data. It was later forced to admit that a program had existed. Now, it claims that under one element of the Patriot Act that it is not still doing so.
Following, Senator Feinstein, chairwoman of the Senate Intelligence Committee (giving her likely an expanded knowledge set compared to other Senators), directly stated that the NSA does track location data.
What odds would you lay that more is going to come out concerning the NSA tracking the location of our every phone call?
In other news, Senator Feinstein today vowed to crush a reform bill in the Senate that would end the phone metadata surveillance program.
Top Image Credit: David Lee
“Piano Hero” Concept Video Makes Me Want To Try To Learn The Piano For The 500th Time
Take a piano. Strap a projector above it. Build a Guitar Hero-esque interface that shows upcoming notes, and project it down onto the Piano’s top surface and keys. What do you get?
The piano instructor of the freakin’ future. Or, at least, a piano instructor that won’t yell at you and make you wish you decided to stick with soccer after all.
Highlighted in a video by NewScientist this morning, the Projected Instrumented Augmentation System is a project built by a team out of Germany’s Ulm University. Combining the aforementioned projection setup with logic that detects what you’re playing, the system is able to illuminate mis-pressed keys, and can move the song’s notes along at your pace.
Yeah, yeah. This might not teach you to actually play the piano — at least, not without lugging a big ol’ projector with you everywhere or memorizing everything you want to play. It certainly won’t teach you how to read sheet music. But it would help you get more comfortable poundin’ away at the old ivories, and help you learn to contort your hands into the many crazy shapes that piano playing requires. Plus, it probably feels pretty awesome to play along with.
This certainly isn’t the first time we’ve seen piano playing gamified, with companies like Konami (with Keyboard Mania), Harmonix (with Rock Band 3) and to some extent Smule (with Magic Piano for iPad) having toyed with the concept in their own ways. But this is the first time I’ve seen it mashed up directly onto the piano — and man, does that look rad.
If you’ve got a MIDI keyboard and are looking for something sort of similar (albeit without the crazy projection setup), check out Synthesia.
Google Acquires YC-Backed Flutter, A Gesture Recognition Technology Startup
Google’s Glass, Android and other products may soon be picking up more Kinect-style gesture features: the company has bought Flutter, a Y Combinator-backed startup that focuses on gesture recognition technology. Its first and only product — an app that provides gesture detection and recognition from standard webcam devices — will remain live and operational, the company says.
Flutter confirmed the news on its site, where it said it will continue to offer its app — it currently has a Mac app — while it also works on research at Google. “We are thrilled to announce that we will be continuing our research at Google. We share Google’s passion for 10x thinking, and we’re excited to add their rocket fuel to our journey,” Navneet Dalal, one of the co-founders, writes. (Nice gaming reference, Navneet!) The full note follows below.
That Mac app clearly struck a chord, with downloads in more than 90 countries, reaching the top-five apps in the Mac App Store in its first two weeks of launch in some 30 of those, and number 1 in 14.
The company had been planning to launch a new product in August, we understand, but that plan abruptly got delayed. Today’s news gives us a clue why. What was that product? Likely a Windows version, which was already in private alpha; or an enhanced Mac version with more features — which was also in the works.
Flutter was in the YC winter class of 2012, and had raised $1.4 million in seed funding from Andreessen Horowitz,NEA, and Spring Ventures, along with Start Fund and a handful of individual angel investors.
Gesture technology is a big area these days, with services such as those from Microsoft and the Kinect, along with other products like the Leap Motion sensor bringing the concept into the mainstream. Others that are also investing further in gesture technology include Intel’s acquisition of Omek. Apple, meanwhile, has yet to make a move here but there have been rumors that it will, too.
It’s unclear if Google will keep Flutter working on standalone apps, or whether the technology will get integrated further into its own software and hardware.
We’re reaching out for more information on price and other details and are updating the post.
For now, here’s the full note announcing the sale and a video of Flutter from its launch:
When we started three years ago, our dream to build a ubiquitous and power-efficient gesture recognition technology was considered by many as just “a dream”, not a real possibility. Since then, we have strived to build the best machine vision algorithms and a delightful user experience.
Even after we launched our first app, we didn’t stop our research; your enthusiasm and support pushed us to continue to do better. We’re inspired everyday when we hear, for example, that Flutter makes you feel like a superhero — because any sufficiently advanced technology should be indistinguishable from magic, right?
Today, we are thrilled to announce that we will be continuing our research at Google. We share Google’s passion for 10x thinking, and we’re excited to add their rocket fuel to our journey.
We’d like to extend a special thank you to all of our users; your feedback and evangelism inspire us every day. Flutter users will be able to continue to use the app, and stay tuned for future updates.
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