It isn't hard to think of ways to misuse smart devices. Since cameras were added to phones, privacy concerns have grown in lockstep with technology. The ability to surreptitiously record a conversation, lurk through someone's social content, or slip an AirTag into a purse have all created traps that are far too easy to fall into. Now, new devices are being released that might complicate things even further. One duo of Harvard students has demonstrated how combining artificial intelligence, facial recognition, and wearables like smart glasses can open up a new frontier of abuse, allowing the wearer to access an amazing trove of information on a stranger just by looking at them. Fortunately, their research also focused on combatting these new dangers, and they've shared their findings. via GIPHY The Harvard students behind the project, AnhPhu Nguyen and Caine Ardayfio, built a program called I-XRAY that uses the Meta smart glasses to livestream video to Instagram. AI software monitors the stream, capturing faces and linking them to information from public databases. In seconds, the tech displays individuals' personal information, including names, addresses, phone numbers, and even names of relatives. "The purpose of building this tool is not for misuse, and we are not releasing it." — AnhPhu Nguyen Nguyen explained that the project isn’t designed to exploit this technology but to show how easily it can be accessed and abused. “The purpose of building this tool is not for misuse, and we are not releasing it,” Nguyen and Ardayfio stated in a document detailing the project. Instead, they hope to raise awareness that the potential for misuse is here — not in a distant, dystopian future. The dawning age of smart glasses Since the launch of Google Glass over a decade ago, privacy concerns around smart glasses have been an ongoing issue. New devices like the recently released Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses have reignited the conversation. Google Glass faced significant backlash, and the company ultimately shelved the device partly due to public discomfort with being unknowingly filmed. The form factor has evolved but the idea is the same, all the tech of a smart phone in a new package. Loïc Le Meur While people have grown more accustomed to cameras through social media, the idea of wearable, nearly invisible recording devices still unsettles many. Comments on the demonstration reveal that this discomfort persists: "Guess in the future we will be wearing face-altering prosthetics to not get doxxed." — Leek5 on Reddit Meta has set guidelines for smart glasses users in response to etiquette questions. These include advising people to use voice commands or gestures before filming to ensure others are aware of being recorded. However, as the Harvard students demonstrate, these guidelines rely on individuals’ willingness to follow them — a tenuous safeguard at best. AI’s role in connecting the dots Nguyen and Ardayfio’s project relies heavily on large language models (LLMs), which use AI to identify connections among large data sets. I-XRAY can rapidly retrieve personal details by analyzing relationships between photos and database entries. This capability, combined with real-time video streaming from the glasses, demonstrates how easily AI can connect scattered pieces of public data into a full profile of an individual. College students used Meta’s smart glasses to dox people in real time by u/MetaKnowing inFuturology In a video released to X, the students demonstrate the abilities of their app. Most people identified by the technique react with uncomfortable laughter or astonishment. While Nguyen and Ardayfio emphasize that they have no intention of releasing this technology, their project raises serious ethical questions about the future of AI and facial recognition. The fact that two college students could develop such a tool suggests that the technology is well within reach for anyone with basic resources and programming knowledge. Steps you can take to protect your privacy via GIPHY Fortunately, the creators of I-XRAY have outlined steps you can take to protect yourself from similar invasions of privacy. Many public databases like PimEyes and people-search sites allow individuals to opt out, though the process can be time-consuming and not always fully effective. Additionally, they recommend freezing your credit with major bureaus and using two-factor authentication to prevent potential identity theft. Here are some practical steps to consider: Remove yourself from reverse face search engines – Tools like PimEyes and FaceCheck.id allow users to request removal. While this may not fully protect your privacy, it limits some exposure. Opt out of people search engines – Sites like FastPeopleSearch, CheckThem, and Instant Checkmate allow individuals to opt out. For a comprehensive list, The New York Times has published an extensive guide. Freeze your credit – Adding two-factor authentication and freezing your credit can protect your financial identity from SSN data leaks. "Time to start wearing my Staticblaster foil jacket and my handy EMP-Lite Boombox whenever I get onto public transport." — Just_Another_Madman on Reddit As these technologies evolve, robust privacy protections will be essential to prevent misuse, and awareness of privacy risks can help individuals make informed choices about their digital and physical security. The creators of I-XRAY remind us that awareness and action are our best tools in this era of advancing surveillance tech.

When you were in school, did you ever dread doing group assignments? Did you feel you’d much rather do the work independently than with a committee where there was always one person who wouldn’t pull their weight?Well, even though those assignments may have been uncomfortable, there’s a good reason why your teacher put you in a group to write a report on the moons of Jupiter or to explain the lasting consequences of the Gold Rush. The big reason is that, according to neuroscientists, when we learn with others, we encode the information more deeply and feel more motivated to act.A big reason is that you are discussing the material with others. You are also engaging with the material more actively, and active learning is shown to provide better outcomes.“We work better when we are in a group, and we can share our ideas and refine our ideas with other people,” said Gillian Roehrig, a University professor in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction, told Minnesota Daily. Students working on a group project.via Canva/Photos However, social learning isn’t just something that can benefit us in 3rd-period science; it’s a tactic we can all use to learn anything, whether it’s taking a cooking class in a group setting, going to a Bible study where we exchange ideas with others, or taking flying lessons with a group of future pilots.So, if there is a skill you’d like to pick up, it’d be best to take it in a class, primarily where you work closely with others, rather than an online class where it’s you and the computer screen.Why do humans learn better in groups?NeuroLeadership Institute posits that humans learn better in groups because we have evolved to encode social information automatically. After all, it has always been vital to our survival as individuals and species. “The more we feel connected to the group, the greater our chances of staying safe — and so over time, our brains have become more responsive to what we learn in the presence of a group,” Chris Weller at NueroLeadership Institute writes.Learning within a group also helps us because we associate the new information with the social interactions that occur while working in the group. The new facts are encoded in our brains alongside memories of shared jokes or debates with another group member, which lead to a deeper understanding. A group of people learning how to cook. We are also more likely to go the extra mile in studying the information because of the social pressure to look good in front of the group. That way, social learning works like positive peer pressure, like when people pledge to work on goals together. A study found that you have a 65% chance of completing a goal if you tell someone else you’re committing to it. If you have regular check-ins with a partner, your chance increases to 95%.According to Cornell University, social earning is also good for self-esteem, exposes people to diverse perspectives and improves higher-level thinking, oral communication and leadership skills.In a world where more people are taking classes online and working from home, it’s important to remember how important it is to work together. Humans evolved to collaborate, so let’s be sure that as we embrace modern technology, we don’t forget that human connection is one of our greatest strengths.

Training a family pet can be hard, especially when you have an active breed that needs a certain level of stimulation. Some dogs are good to go after a few training sessions with a local trainer at a pet supply store while others may require more personalized training in home. But there are some pet parents who opt to send their dogs to a sleep away training program that requires the dogs to live at a training facility for several months. Many times these programs are expensive and used as an option when the other training programs aren't providing the dogs with the skills they need to live safely with their family. The decision to send your fur baby off to a facility for months at a time is not an easy one but with your pets' best interest in mind, you put your faith in someone who specializes in the care your pup needs.One family thought they were doing what was best for their Huskies by sending them to a training facility. It's unclear what prompted the family's concern after dropping their four dogs off with their trainer but after months of looking for their dogs with no luck, they contacted Anakin's Trails Stray and Pet Recovery Team. Oakley after being trappedCourtesy of Anakin's Trails Stray and Pet Recovery TeamThe dogs are from Ohio where their owner, Andrea lives and were entrusted to an unnamed animal training facility in Greenville County, South Carolina. It is suspected that the training facility dumped the dogs in in the woods without contacting the family to request them to retrieve their beloved pets. Anakin's Trails Stray and Pet Recovery Team uses drones and other techniques to help locate lost dogs and give them an idea of where to place their traps. The first of the Huskies, Oakley, was recovered by the organization and reunited with Andrea after having spent a whopping five months surviving in the wilderness. When Oakley first spots her human she's clearly unsure of the situation. It almost appears that she's not sure if he will be in trouble or welcomed into Andrea's arms. Anakin's Trails refers to this as "lost dog syndrome," but after a few seconds of uncertainty, the pooch fully recognized her human mom and could not contain his excitement. @anakinstrailsdogsearch One of four pet Siberian Huskys that were dumped by a training facility in the southern part of Greenville county farmland , was found by the Anakin’s Trails Stray and Pet Recovery team and reunited with her owner after FIVE months of surviving in the wild on the run ! ##anakinstrails##animalrescue##fromthestreettothesofa##fyp##sc##trustthetrap##lostdog##animaltrapping##laurenssc ♬ original sound - AnakinsTrailsstray&petrecovery Oakley quickly becomes overwhelmed with relief and excitement as she jumps into the chair with Andrea. The newly reunited dog can't stop licking her human and doing full body tail wagging. The sweet Husky mix probably thought things couldn't get much better but Anakin's Trails had more up their sleeves. Just a few days after Oakley was reunited with her family, her sister Marley was captured.Ashley Raymond, Founder and Director of Anakin's Trails tells Upworthy, "The dogs were dumped/released into the wild about 4-5 months ago," Raymond recalls. "We got involved after the owners found out about them being dumped about a month and a half later [after entering the training facility]. For about a month ,we hung flyers , set food stations with high quality bait with surveillance cameras , and strategically placed them where we got sightings. Before long, we began getting sightings." Andrea with Oakley after being reunitedCourtesy of Anakin's Trails Stray and Pet Recovery TeamThings were looking up for the agency after the sightings but that's when the south east experienced a beast of a hurricane. Hurricane Helene was massive, hitting Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia making the rescue of these four beloved family pets a bit more difficult. The animal recovery organization didn't give up hope though. "Then, the hurricane happened and pushed them 16 miles down the road to another town. We basically had to start from scratch in an entire town, and that’s just what we did. After about 2 weeks of that, we finally nailed down the yard where they kept coming," Raymond shares. "This time, we set our custom made kennel trap up. After they came once to it, we set it live the very next night. Around 10:30 that evening, Marley and Oakley walked in! Oakley got trapped, Marley ran off. Two nights later, Marley came back and we trapped her. We called the owner and she came down for the reunion for both on 2 different evenings." Your browser does not support the video tag. Marley going into the trap to be reunited with family roar-assets-auto.rbl.ms According to Anakin's Trails, the third dog, Juno who is the sister of Marley and Oakley is still missing. Their dog mom, Nova Jo has been found but has still not been reunited with her human. "There is a fourth dog. She was dumped with the other three, but she ran up to someone days after being dumped and was picked up," Raymond says. "SC has a 5 day stray hold unfortunately. So any dog that you find in the state of SC and no one comes forward in 5 days, it’s technically yours. So they are fighting that in court." Nova JoCourtesy of Anakin's Trails Stray and Pet Recovery TeamThe work Anakin's Trails does isn't easy and since it's a nonprofit, they rely on donations, which is how they were able to help provide Andrea a hotel room when she came to be reunited with her dog. Hopefully, all four dogs will be under one roof again and this will be a story that has a book worthy happy ending. If you'd like to donate to Anakin's Trails Stray and Pet Recovery Team so they can continue their work, you can do so here.

It's a good news/bad news situation for parents of young kids.The good news? Everyone wants to spend time with the kids! Grandparents, aunts and uncles, friends. They all want a relationship and lots of special moments with the little ones.The bad news? One phrase: "When are you bringing them over?"Parents have been frustrated by the expectations of orchestrating stressful visits for generations — loading the kids in a car or on an airplane only to spend hours chasing them around in an un-baby-proofed environment and watching routines go to hell.Now they're sounding off on social media and airing their grievances.Why visiting grandparents and other relatives is so challenging for parentsA mom recently took to Reddit to vent about everyone in her life wanting her to "bring the kids to them.""My parents live 30 mins away and always bug me about not coming to visit them," she writes. They constantly ask, "Why don't you bring our granddaughter to come see us?"The fascinating discussion highlights a few things that make arranging visits with young kids a potential nightmare for parents.Grandparents' houses are rarely childproofedGrandparents love their breakable decor! Ceramic doo-dads, glass vases everywhere. They can't get enough. And while they should be able to decorate their house however they see fit (they've earned the right!) that doesn't make it a good environment for toddlers and babies. The breakable decor found in every grandparents' houseozalee.fr/Flickr"Last week was the last straw, I took my daughter to my parents and of course she went EVERYWHERE! flooded their toilet, broke a vase, and tried multiple times to climb their furniture," the Reddit mom writes.Parents in a foreign environment are on constant safety duty and can rarely sit downLet's be honest. Sometimes these "visits" are hardly worth the effort. After all, it's hard to get much catch up time when you're dutifully chasing your kid around."They don’t understand that my 3 yo ... is absolutely wild," writes another user in the thread. "She has no self preservation and nothing we do works. She doesn’t listen, she throws, she bites, she refuses to use the potty. It’s exhausting and then ... they expect us to entertain them, when I’m trying to just keep my kid from jumping off the stairs and into an ER visit."Even just putting the kids in the car for a 20-minute drive is more work than it seemsTaking the kids out of the house requires packing a bag, bringing extra clothes, loading up on snacks, etc.It seems easy to "pop over" but it actually absorbs the majority of the day between prep, visit, and aftermath.Naps and routines go to hellParents with babies and toddlers know all too well — there is a price to pay for taking the kids out of the house for too long.Chances are, the baby won't nap in a strange environment and then you're stuck with a cranky kid the rest of the night.Kids with special needs require even more consistencyKids with autism or ADHD can really struggle outside of their zone of safety. They might become severely dysregulated, have meltdowns, or engage in dangerous behaviors.Explaining and mediating the generational divide Photo by Tim Kilby on Unsplash Why is this a conflict almost all parents can relate to?Is this a Boomer vs Millennials thing?Some experts think that generational values and traditions might play a role."Many Boomers were accustomed to more traditional, hierarchical family dynamics, where visiting grandparents was a way for the younger generation to show respect," says Caitlin Slavens, a family psychologist.But that's not to say this is a new problem. I can remember my own parents driving me and my brothers over an hour to visit my grandparents seemingly every other weekend, but very few occasions where they came to visit us. It must have driven my parents nuts back then!Plus, it's easy to forget that it's hard for older people to travel, too. They may have their own issues and discomforts when it comes to being away from their home."But for today’s parents, balancing careers, kids’ routines, and the demands of modern parenting is a much bigger undertaking. Grandparents might not always see how childproofing their space or making the trip themselves could make a huge difference, especially considering how travel and disruption can impact younger kids' moods and routines," Slavens says. "So yes, this divide often comes down to different expectations and life experiences, with older generations potentially not seeing the daily demands modern families face."Is there any hope for parents and grandparents coming to a better understanding, or a compromise?"First, open conversations help bridge the divide—explain how much of a difference it makes when the kids stay in a familiar space, especially when they’re very young," suggests Slavens."Share practical details about the challenges, like childproofing concerns or travel expenses, to help grandparents see it from a parent’s perspective. You might even work together to figure out solutions, like making adjustments to create a more child-friendly space in their home or agreeing on a shared travel plan."Ultimately, it's a good thing when grandparents, friends, and other relatives want to see the kids. We all have the same goal."It’s helpful to approach the topic with empathy, focusing on everyone’s goal: more quality time together that’s enjoyable and low-stress for everyone involved. For parents, it’s about setting boundaries that work, and for grandparents, it’s about recognizing that flexibility can really show the parents that you are ... willing to make adjustments for their children and grandchildren."Enjoyable, low-stress quality time — that's something everyone can get behind.

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Call me quaint or “weird,” but I miss Election Day. No, not specifically this Election Day, but that one singular day on which all of America has to go to specific locations in their community, look their neighbors in the eye, and cast their ballots. Looking each other in the eye matters. Go ahead. Call me old-fashioned. But it’s harder to rob, cheat, and generally vote pain upon your neighbor when you’re forced to look them in the eye while checking the box. All this cycle, I’ve tried to remind people that politics is not something academic, it is something you do to other people. Voting is not just some glorious act of “choosing leaders” or “exercising your right.” Voting is a declaration of the types of laws you wish to inflict on other living, breathing people. Why not look your neighbor in the eye while you vote to “make him pay his fair share,” or whatever other slogan is used to strip rights away this election cycle. Of course, there are the EMTs who work 72 hours straight, families traveling, students abroad, and any number of valid reasons why we should allow for absentee ballots. We need to make allowances for these cases. I vote in Mississippi, where, for a full month prior to an election, anyone can cite any number of reasons to vote absentee. I’ll be honest, I probably vote absentee as often as I do in person. According to MIT’s election lab, over 40 percent of Americans voted either early or by mail in 2016, and 50 percent did so in 2022. (We’ll exclude the anomalous 2020 COVID election). There are actually states that just mail out ballots en masse. Voting is — and should be — a secret ballot, but it is still a public act with public consequences. It is a community act with community results. Part of democracy is realizing that your vote has consequences for your neighbor. And while we can’t decide everything by a show of hands at a town hall meeting, the community forum aspect of voting is so important that I’ll go out on a limb and say that mail-in voting and early ballots are, quite frankly, undemocratic. Want to make rhetoric in America more civil? Let’s start by having one Election Day. Make people look each other in the eyes at the polling precinct. It won’t solve everything, but it would be one glorious step. The post Why Voting In Person Matters for America’s Civility appeared first on The American Spectator | USA News and Politics.