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Revolut is piloting facial recognition at store checkouts in the UK

Engadget

Revolut is trialing a new facial recognition system in the UK that could be convenient but controversial, the company announced. The company says its Pay with Smile system is the UK's first in-store facial recognition system and has no processing fees for merchants. It's only being offered at select Kiss the Hippo coffee locations in London, to start with. Pay with Smile will run on Revolut Register, the company's new hospitality point-of-sale (POS) hardware system. It's a two-screen system designed to combine payments, banking and floor operations for merchants.


'This gap opens up of doubt and scepticism about everything': Jess and Morgs confront the politics of deepfakes

The Guardian

'This gap opens up of doubt and scepticism about everything': Jess and Morgs confront the politics of deepfakes I t appears the interviewer has got him on the ropes. "For the record, I did not take part in a pagan ceremony with minor members of the royal family in which we daubed ourselves in paint," states the beleaguered politician, caught outside Buckingham Palace with his flies undone and forced to defend himself. This is a fabrication, of course - I'm watching the scene play out in an east London dance studio - but it doesn't feel miles away from something that could be true. And how do we know what's the truth anyway? The pair tell modern stories with ambitious tech - film and live camera work - and often techy themes, too.


Meta's 1,300 VR Glasses look like the Vision Pro sequel Apple should be making

Engadget

After a few leaks, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg finally revealed the company's next-generation Meta VR Glasses at its Connect event tonight. Arriving in Spring 2027, they look like oversized sunglasses (similar to display frames from Xreal and other), paired with an external power and computing pod, like the Apple Vision Pro. The Meta VR Glasses also have onboard cameras to detect the wearer's hands for gesture-based controls. And at first glance, they look exactly like how I'd imagine a true successor to the Vision Pro -- a pair of unobtrusive and lightweight VR glasses at a more palatable price. Meta is pitching the VR Glasses as an all-in-one entertainment and productivity device.


New UK agency will tackle 'information warfare' from likes of Russia, Burnham says

The Guardian

New UK agency will tackle'information warfare' from likes of Russia, Burnham says PM aims to'stem poisonous tide' of disinformation and deepfakes with National Centre for Information Defence Security chiefs will set up a new national centre to tackle disinformation and deepfakes from hostile states such as Russia, Andy Burnham has announced, saying the government had a duty to "stem the poisonous tide" from damaging British interests. The National Centre for Information Defence will "detect, attribute and disrupt" information attacks by foreign powers, many of which are enabled by AI, bringing together the intelligence agencies, law enforcement and social media companies. It will be tasked with making sure the UK has the defensive capability necessary to combat information warfare and build national resilience by helping communities to identify and combat disinformation, preventing a "distorted and untrue" narrative about the UK. Burnham said the country would have to go into the next decade "eyes wide open" about "insidious" campaigns, many of which had been orchestrated by Russia, which "twisted" what people at home felt about their own country and community. In eye-catching remarks, the prime minister suggested that Britons who were struggling with the cost of living and young people not in education, training or employment may be particularly susceptible to foreign influence online, underlining how inequality further undermined society.


Is a Home Security System Subscription Worth It? (2026)

WIRED

Just about every home security system has paid options, but with a little effort and a focus on local storage, you can build your own without the recurring costs. No one wants to worry about a break-in. But no one wants to end up paying fees every month just to check their video doorbell feed or find out their window was broken, and most smart security systems (even the original ones that weren't touted as smart!) rely on your fear to have you paying month after month for the promise of catching burglars and stopping intruders for you. These systems do work, and they can give you a lot of peace of mind. This comes with a hefty price tag, though, and plenty of people would be more than happy with a system they build themselves sans monthly fees.


Oversight Board says Meta's rules for AI deepfakes are 'consistently and fundamentally inadequate'

Engadget

The Oversight Board is once again pushing Meta to address the flood of AI-generated content on its platform. The group published its two latest decisions dealing with the social media company's handling of AI content. The cases show that Meta's rules are "consistently and fundamentally inadequate to address the rapid rise of AI-generated content on its platforms," the board said in a statement. Both cases were related to posts with AI-generated videos. One depicted a Scottish politician saying "refugees are welcome here, even if they rape our women, because white people do that too."


Google's latest Pixel drop will keep you more connected to your VIPs

Engadget

Google has revealed the new features coming to its Pixel devices this month, including an update to VIPs that will make them easier to reach. On Pixel 6 phones and newer, you can now see expanded widget options that you can use to quickly send a text or call your VIPs or favorite contacts straight from the home screen. You'll also get new notification badges where you can see if you've received an urgent message or if you have an unread one from a VIP in a glance. The company is expanding Scam Detection in-app and inside Messages, as well. In the US, UK, Australia, Canada, Singapore, India, Germany, Mexico, Japan and France, Scam Detection can now alert you if it spots potential fraudulent messages across chat apps in your notifications.


'I Felt Super Violated': Men Wearing Meta Glasses on Dates Is an Instant Red Flag

WIRED

'I Felt Super Violated': Men Wearing Meta Glasses on Dates Is an Instant Red Flag As anxieties over surveillance tech grow, unsuspecting singles are sharing stories of being covertly filmed on dates by Meta smart glasses. Courtney McAnuff was out of a year-long relationship in the summer of 2024 and starting to date again when she agreed to grab drinks with a potential suitor. They met at a bar in midtown Manhattan . He arrived wearing a baseball cap pulled low and sported a pair of black-framed glasses, she says. As conversation flowed, from discussions about navigating life in New York to past relationships, he mentioned that his glasses were Meta Ray-Bans.


New York Seizes a Dozen Celebrity Deepfake Websites

WIRED

In the biggest-ever legal action against harmful deepfake websites, the Manhattan District Attorney's Office has seized 12 sites that collectively targeted around 1,200 victims. For the best part of a decade, abusive deepfake "pornography" websites have published thousands of nonconsensual videos depicting women, including high-profile celebrities, politicians, and public figures, into sexual situations. Now, in what is likely the largest takedown of explicit deepfake websites to date, officials in New York have seized more than a dozen of the harmful sites. On Monday, the Manhattan District Attorney's Office announced the seizure of 12 domains which it says have been used for "unlawfully" sharing, publishing, and selling celebrity deepfake videos. Around 1,200 people--overwhelmingly women--were depicted in nonconsensual sexual images and videos on the websites, the office says.


Meta Sued Over Training Data for Its AI and Face-Recognition Systems

WIRED

The proposed class action alleges Meta illegally harvested people's Facebook and Instagram photos to train its AI image-generation models and to build its unreleased "NameTag" face recognition feature. A set of parents and their children in Illinois and California filed a lawsuit last week in federal court in Chicago alleging that Meta illegally used their Facebook and Instagram photos to build NameTag, an unreleased face-recognition system for its smart glasses, and to train generative AI models including Emu and Muse Image . The proposed class action alleges that Meta violated Illinois and California privacy laws by extracting biometric information from people's photos without notice or consent. WIRED reported in June that code for NameTag had been secretly embedded in the Meta glasses AI companion app, which had been downloaded more than 50 million times. While the feature had not been enabled for users of the app, the analysis found that the system was designed to turn faces captured by the glasses into biometric signatures and compare them with so-called faceprints stored in a database on the user's phone.