A number of states already have laws preventing the police from snooping on your phone’s location history without a warrant, but they just got another big boost from a court ruling. A California-based federal judge has determined that cops need those warrants because you have a reasonable expectation that your position data will remain private, even if it’s vague info like the whereabouts of cell towers you’ve used. Cellphones can follow you anywhere and transmit a lot of information, the judge says. That location data may reveal much more about your life than you’d willingly share, especially at home and other private places where you have plenty of constitutional protections. This isn’t the first ruling of the sort and isn’t legally binding, so there’s no guarantees that officers across the US will ask nicely before trying to find out where you’ve been. However, it could have the police thinking twice about playing fast and loose with surveillance technology. They may not be so quick to track your phone if they know that they risk losing their case. Filed under: Cellphones , Mobile Comments Via: Motherboard Source: US Courts (Archive.org, PDF)

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California court says cops need warrants to get phone location data

Apple’s new smartwatch might be the focus of its ‘Spring Forward’ event, but the company still had time to surprise us with updates to its MacBook lineup. The all-new ‘Retina’ MacBook with its pressure-sensitive trackpad might get all the attention, but older MacBook Air and MacBook Pro models also got a few tweaks under the hood. They now boast Intel’s latest Broadwell Core i5 and i7 processors, more powerful graphics and improvements in the battery department, which means you can eke out over 10 hours with most of its new models. The new MacBook won’t be the only notebook to get Apple’s new Force Touch trackpad, either. The 13-inch MacBook Pro will enjoy the same tactile controls as its counterpart, allowing you to “feel” what’s happening on the screen. You’ll be able to pick up the 2.7 GHz Intel Core i5 model with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of SSD storage today for $1, 299, rising to $1, 799 for for the 3.3 GHz version with 512GB of flash storage. The 11-inch MacBook Air can also be ordered today starting at $1, 099, rising to $1, 199 for the top-end model. Filed under: Laptops , Apple Comments

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Apple boosts MacBook Air and MacBook Pro lines with faster chips