With cameras and face-detection software everywhere these days, what's a privacy-loving citizen supposed to do? Anti-virus software maker AVG has a proposal: eyeglasses that thwart those technologies, thanks to infrared LEDs that are invisible to the human eye, but interfere with cameras' ability to see your face. (Want to see a simple version of this in action? Press a button on your TV's remote control while pointing it at your smartphone's camera.)
When it comes to flying, one of the ways to become a better pilot is through flight simulations, but these can often feel unrealistic.
Acting as cheap flying cameras, drones already raise a lot of questions about privacy. But it's not just aerial photography people should worry about with drones. Earlier this month, AdNear, a Singaporean marketing company, flew drones with sensors that could detect cell phone signal strength and WiFi over part of Los Angeles. The drones identified and located people by the devices in their pockets, so that businesses could send highly-specific ads to their smartphones. The company praised this cyberpunk dystopian idea in a blog post, saying:
For us average folks, smartphones have already merged several gadgets into one: our phones, our media players, even our computers. Now they may be taking over a more specialized field: the doctor's bag. We've already seen smartphone accessories that work as ophthalmoscopes and otoscopes; now a Kickstarter campaign wants to add a personal thermometer to the mix.