Gone are the days when we thought governments could only access our phone calls through official, naive-sounding procedures like “warrants.” Nevertheless, it’s only now, after the whole Snowden / NSA blow-up, that companies like Vodafone are trying to be more transparent. In a 40, 000-word “disclosure report, ” the multinational carrier says that “a small number” out of the 29 countries in which it operates demand to have “direct access to a phone operator’s network, ” thus “bypassing” any control the operator might otherwise have had over the privacy of its customers. Needless to say, Vodafone doesn’t call out any of the culprit nations by name, since doing so would breach the same laws that it agreed to uphold in order to business with them in the first place. This isn’t the first time Vodafone has faced controversy due its dealings with various governments. During the Egyptian revolution of 2011, for example, it sent text messages to all its Egyptian subscribers, supporting the dictatorship of President Mubarak and describing protestors as “criminals.” Even today, Egypt is one of six countries that refuses to let Vodafone publish any information about government wiretaps, alongside India, Qatar, Romania, South Africa and Turkey. (Note: We can’t necessarily infer that these are same countries that insist on having direct eavesdropping access.) To be fair, Vodafone wasn’t the only operator to send dodgy text messages in Egypt, and the company’s new disclosure report emphasizes that it’s simply obeying national laws that other carriers are also forced to stick to. In other words, many phone companies may have sold to their souls, it’s just that Vodafone is now brave enough to give us a glimpse at the receipt. Filed under: Cellphones , Internet , Mobile Comments Via: Reuters Source: The Guardian

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Vodafone admits some governments have free rein to eavesdrop on calls

Amazon’s June 18th event is still mostly shrouded in mystery, but general consensus is that the e-commerce giant is releasing a phone of its own with an interactive 3D interface. Now, TechCrunch claims to have identified the technology behind that feature, and it’s supposedly Omron’s Okao Vision face-sensing system. The Amazon team reportedly customized the Japanese company’s creation so that it can be used to show 3D effects on an ordinary LCD screen without special glasses. Instead of relying on accessories, the software depends on four front cameras embedded on the device’s corners to track the user’s face, as well as on the phone’s accelerometer and gyroscope. For instance, if you tilt your face to one side, the interface shows you a hidden panel you wouldn’t see if you look at the screen from another angle. Besides being able to track faces, Okao Vision (or “Face Vision” in Japanese) can also recognize facial features and determine the user’s gender and ethnicity, though we’ve yet to find out whether Amazon has also integrated those features. We’ve reached out to both Omron and Amazon for confirmation, but in case we never hear back, you can always just start counting down the days until the 18th. Filed under: Cellphones , Mobile , Amazon Comments Source: TechCrunch

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TechCrunch: Amazon’s first phone uses ‘Okao Vision’ for 3D effects

With the sale of Oculus Rift to Facebook for $2 billion , virtual reality has officially become very interesting for developers. One of the companies trying to ride that wave is Control VR , which is ready to launch its gesture control gloves on Kickstarter. Though VR gloves have been around for a long time , so far they’ve been prototypes, DIY projects or very pricey devices used for surgery, robotics and other specialized fields. Control VR is aiming wider, however, with an early backer price of $350. It believes it can hit that number using DARPA-designed microsensors which detect small inertial changes in order to finely track your arms, hands and fingers. That’ll let you control virtual objects like game characters and 3D animations, or even physical devices like robots or military hardware. The development kit will come with 20 free demo apps, and support Windows, Android and Mac operating systems. In addition, the team will supply an open-source SDK to create software for the Oculus Rift , Google Glass and even the Parrot AR drone . As with Oculus, Control VR is targeting consumers as much as it’s targeting businesses. Potential uses include 3D motion capture (including the difficult-to-animate fingers), music composition, design, a control interface for Google Glass and Oculus Rift, a controller for games and apps like Google Earth, and even a drone control interface. While all of this sounds pretty ambitious, the company believes there’s no similar tech that’s close to the same state of readiness. As such, they’re seeking $250, 000 (the same sum originally sought by Oculus) on Kickstarter (update: now live ). A $350 pledge will get you on the early backer’s list and net you a one-arm system with a 7-sensor glove, a one-sensor chest piece, an arm sensor, 20 app demos and the SDK. $600 will get you a two-arm system. If you’re among the first 500 backers of either package, Control VR says you’ll receive it sometime in December of this year, while later backers will receive theirs in January 2015. You can now pledge at the Kickstarter page right here . Update: Control VR’s Kickstarter page is now up after a delay, complete with a new video embedded above. The price for a two-arm kit is $600, not $699 as originally stated. Filed under: Wearables Comments Source: Kickstarter

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These VR gloves will let you control Oculus and more for $350 (updated)