GREENGROUND.IT

The New York Police Department (NYPD) is implementing a new security measure at the Times Square subway station. It’s deploying a security robot to patrol the premises, which authorities say is meant to “keep you safe.” We’re not talking about a RoboCop-like machine or any human-like biped robot — the K5, which was made by California-based company Knightscope, looks like a massive version of R2-D2. Albert Fox Cahn, the executive director of privacy rights group Surveillance Technology Oversight Project, has a less flattering description for it, though, and told The New York Times that it’s like a “trash can on wheels.”K5 weighs 420 pounds and is equipped with four cameras that can record video but not audio. As you can guess from the image above, the machine also doesn’t come with arms — it didn’t quite ignore Mayor Eric Adams’ attempt at making a heart. The robot will patrol the station from midnight until 6 AM throughout its trial run that’s running over the next two months. But K5 won’t be doing full patrols for a while, since it’s spending its first two weeks mapping out the station and roaming only the main areas and not the platforms. It’s not quite clear if NYPD’s machine will be livestreaming its camera footage, and if law enforcement will be keeping an eye on what it captures. Adams said during the event introducing the robot that it will “record video that can be reviewed in case of an emergency or a crime.” It apparently won’t be using facial recognition, though Cahn is concerned that the technology could eventually be incorporated into the machine. Obviously, K5 doesn’t have the capability to respond to actual emergencies in the station and can’t physically or verbally apprehend suspects. The only real-time help it can provide people is to connect them to a live person to report an incident or to ask questions, provided they’re able to press a button on the robot. NYC is leasing K5 for around $9 an hour for the next two months. The mayor sounds convinced that’s worth what the robot can do even though, as The Times notes, he recently ordered several agencies to reduce spending by 15 percent. “This is below minimum wage,” he said. “No bathroom breaks, no meal breaks.” Adams has a history of supporting the use of machines as police tools. Earlier this year, the mayor also announced that the NYPD will acquire two Digidog robots for $750,000 each for use in hostage and other critical situations. That’s quite a reversal from the NYPD’s decision in 2021 to cancel its lease on what was then known as Boston Dynamics’ Spot after facing backlash for its use.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/an-nypd-security-robot-will-be-patrolling-the-times-square-subway-station-130029937.html?src=rss

PhonePe launched the Indus AppStore Developer Platform on Saturday, promising no platform fee or commission on in-app purchases as the Walmart-backed fintech races to win Android developers in Google’s largest market. The Bengaluru-headquartered startup, which has amassed over 450 million registered users on its payments app, said developers can start registering and uploading their apps

Software spending is now the third-biggest expense for organizations, right after employee and office costs.

The startup’s smart mailers are reusable dozens of times, reducing the carbon footprint by 90% compared with cardboard boxes.

The Federal Trade Commission looks set to drag Amazon into another legal battle between the two sides. The agency is preparing to file an antitrust suit against Amazon as soon as next week, according to Bloomberg. Reuters reports that the FTC has sent a draft complaint to attorneys general in an attempt to get as many states as possible on board with its case.
The details of the long-awaited legal challenge are not known as yet. It’s anticipated that the FTC will take aim at Amazon Prime, as well as claims that Amazon pushes third-party sellers to use its logistics and advertising services. The FTC is also said to believe that Amazon has rules to prevent products from being sold for less on rival platforms, which could be a factor in the suit (California has sued Amazon over that alleged practice).
The FTC has been scrutinizing Amazon for several years. If it files suit next week, that will mark the fourth action it has taken against the company this year. In May, the agency sued Amazon over children’s privacy concerns related to Alexa and claims that it was snooping on Ring users. Amazon paid a total of $30.8 million to quickly settle charges in both cases.
The following month, the FTC filed another complaint against Amazon, this time claiming that the company coerced people into signing up for a Prime subscription then making it difficult for them to cancel. That case is still ongoing. This week, the agency added three Amazon executives as defendants. It claims those individuals rebuffed pleas from Amazon employees to stop using deceptive tactics to trick people into signing up for a recurring payment through Prime.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-ftc-may-file-an-antitrust-lawsuit-against-amazon-as-soon-as-next-week-194524903.html?src=rss

Unity has done a 180 on a controversial new pricing scheme that users of its cross-platform game engine almost unanimously disparaged. A new pricing policy is still incoming, but it’s far less fraught for independent developers, many of whom threatened to leave the engine and platform behind rather than pay. The changes were announced only