GoKawiil
Tech News
President Trump has publicly backed automated license plate reader systems made by Flock Safety, aligning himself with the surveillance technology as the midterm elections near. His support also extends to data center expansion and policies aimed at accelerating AI development without regulatory slowdown.
The Verge editor Sean Hollister, who spent three weeks beta-testing Valve's new Steam Frame headset, hosted a live subscriber Q&A answering questions about the device, its controllers, accessory kit and the Arcturus Vision Camera. He also confirmed the headset left no red mark on his face despite extended wear during a photoshoot.
CNET compared Apple's newly announced iPhone Duo foldable against Samsung's Galaxy Z Fold 8, finding the two devices closely matched given their similar passport-style shape and near-identical pricing. Samsung's phone is thinner both folded and unfolded and charges faster over a wired connection, while Apple's Duo offers full dust and water resistance versus the Fold 8's more limited IP48 rating, plus MagSafe wireless charging that Samsung's device lacks.
President Trump told reporters he supports Flock Safety, the company operating a nationwide network of over 120,000 AI-powered license plate cameras used by law enforcement. He acknowledged critics view the technology as an infringement on privacy but said he personally favors it for helping police.
University of Florida sophomore Maddie Kowalski learned a sexually explicit video of her, filmed inside a Phi Delta Theta fraternity house known as 'Fort,' was circulating online. The footage spread rapidly across Snapchat, the anonymous app YikYak, and was posted publicly on X by an anonymous account that named her and her sorority, prompting a wave of mockery and harassment from students.
Local governments nationwide, from Florida to Washington state, are terminating contracts with Flock Safety amid public backlash over its AI-powered license plate readers. However, ending these agreements doesn't guarantee immediate camera removal or deletion of previously collected data, since contract terms vary widely on data retention after termination.
IMAX's signature camera noise stems from its 15/70 film format, which uses a 65mm negative running horizontally across 15 sprocket holes per frame instead of the standard five, producing images roughly three times larger than conventional film. At 24 frames per second, this means 360 sprocket holes—about 5.6 feet of film—pass through the camera every second, requiring a powerful motor and mechanical components that create audible rattling during shooting.
An InvestigateTV reporter, Brendan Keefe, filmed a Flock Safety technician installing surveillance cameras on a public road while wearing press identification and a safety vest. The technician packed up and left, then called 911 claiming to be harassed and followed, prompting three police cars to stop Keefe's vehicle for about 17 minutes before releasing him without charges. InvestigateTV notes this was not the first time a Flock employee has called police over being filmed while installing cameras this summer.
A hobbyist developer building Quicktake for Apple II, a program that lets vintage Macs and Apple IIs pull photos off old digital cameras, is now adding support for the so-called 'Sierra-class' camera protocol used across more than 80 models, including Sanyo, Epson and Sierra Imaging devices. The work follows earlier support for the Kodak DC-50 and relies on a newly modular driver system so each camera's code loads separately without bloating the floppy-disk-limited software.
Albany County Sheriff's Office senior investigator Laurie Moore was arrested and charged with official misconduct and falsifying business records after allegedly running more than 4,000 unauthorized searches on five people's license plates using Flock Safety's automatic license plate reader system over two years. One target, her ex-girlfriend, was reportedly searched roughly 3,000 times, while four other plates were queried hundreds of times each. A second, unnamed employee has been placed on leave pending an internal investigation.
Apple has started taking pre-orders for the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max, which feature a variable aperture camera, a shrunken Dynamic Island capable of showing three Live Activities, and the new A20 Pro chip with faster GPU and memory performance. The phones start at $1,199 and $1,299 respectively, with storage up to 2TB, and ship beginning September 18.
A veteran smart-home tester outlines ten practical adjustments homeowners can make to limit data collection from cameras, speakers and displays, including physically closing camera shutters and muting microphones when not in use. The piece also cites cybersecurity attorney Laurie Selkowitz, who warns that many users fail to disable opt-in data-sharing settings on devices like Ring cameras.