Verifying a user’s age is one of the biggest challenges that social media platforms face today. To counter that, Meta-owned Instagram is now testing a number of new methods for age verification, including having the user upload a video selfie and then letting their own piece of AI software judge their age.
At present, some users when they update their date of birth on the platform to reflect that they are over 18, are required to show upload an ID. Because Instagram has encountered several cases where teenagers have used fake IDs, they had to come up with a new way to verify their age. Instagram also had to face concerned parents and patrons over the fact that people had to upload IDs, given Meta’s coloured history with collecting a user’s data.
While the ID-based system will stay on for the time being, Instagram is developing a number of other ways to verify the age of a user. In a test run, they are asking users to get three mutual friends who can verify their age. They are calling this “social vouching,” although clearly, there is a lot of potential for abuse here.
The most interesting way that they are going about this age verification business is by using AI. Instagram is asking some users to shoot a selfie video and submit it for verification. An AI bot will then study the footage and check for a number of parameters, and then “judge” whether one is indeed over the age of 18 years.
Instagram is using the services of an online verification company called Yoti, a company that uses AI to verify the user's age.
Instagram says that Yoti trains its AI on "anonymous images of diverse people from around the world who have transparently allowed Yoti to use their data and who can ask Yoti to delete their data at any time." And for people under the age of 13, Yoti collected data with parents or guardians giving explicit consent.
Instagram says that once you upload a video selfie and Yoti uses it to confirm your age, the image isn't used for anything else, and is deleted after your age has been confirmed. However, given Instagram’s parent company Meta’s history of misusing user data, one should be cautious to take this approach.
If you don’t like being limited to a few color options for your smartphone then the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 4 could be the handset for you, as a new leak has revealed some possible colors, and there’s a wide selection of choices.
According to Ross Young – a leaker with a solid track record – the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 4 will be available in a choice of gold, gray, light blue or purple – which is a selection of shades we’ve heard before from another source, so this may well be accurate.
But that’s just the beginning because according to Young you’ll also be able to get the Galaxy Z Flip 4 in versions that have different sections in various colors.
Yesterday's post to my Super Followers... pic.twitter.com/wSd59wumB4June 23, 2022
The options here include one with a black section and two green sections, one with gold, yellow and white sections, one with a gold section and two yellow sections, one with a silver section and two navy sections, and one with a silver section and two white sections.
And those are just the standard retail options – as with the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 3 there’s expected to be a Bespoke Edition which lets you choose your own color combinations, and according to a recent leak from SamMobile there will be even more options for that this year.
So while we’d take these leaks with a pinch of salt, it currently sounds like the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 4 could be far more customizable than just about any other phone – and come in more color options, even if you stick to the standard shades.
Despite the huge number of color options Samsung might offer for the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 4, the company is apparently expecting the gray shade to be the most popular.
This is also according to Young, who claims that gray production is expected to be the highest in the first few months, followed by purple and gold.
The multicolored options and Bespoke Edition meanwhile are expected to be produced in much lower quantities, despite being the most interesting.
It makes sense in a way – boring as gray is, it’s unlikely to be as divisive as, say, purple. But it sure is a shame, as it suggests we might not see many of the best smartphones come in as wide a selection of colors as the Z Flip 4 will apparently offer.
Drowsy or drunken driving is one of the major causes of major traffic accidents. Automakers are applying driver negligence monitoring technologies to prevent it.
Hyundai Mobis, the parts-making unit of Hyundai Motors, has come up with a smart cabin controller that can monitor and analyse various biometric signals such as driver's posture, heart rate, and brain wave in real time to ensure safe driving.
This safety technology is focused on the occupants rather than on vehicle performance, working autonomously from the overall car package and making sure drivers are given the tools to drive as effectively as possible.
The company said that this is the first time a dedicated healthcare controller has been developed that can perform an integrated analysis of various vital signs.
Cheon Jae-seung, head of the R&D division, Hyundai Mobis, said: "Based on the unique vital signs database we've built up, we will upgrade this technology further to provide more features, including carsickness prevention, stress management, and the blocking of drunk driving."
Mobis, which has christened the new tech as Smart Cabin Controller, said it is equipped with four sensors: a 3D camera to capture the posture of occupants, an ECG sensor mounted on the steering wheel will keep a tab on the heart of the driver, an ear-set sensor will measure the brainwaves flowing around ears and an HVAC (heating, ventilation, and air conditioning) sensor will measure the temperature / humidity and carbon dioxide level of the cabin.
The controller analyzes various vital signs collected from these sensors in real time to help with safe driving.
Based on such information, an alarm can ring or be displayed on any of the digital display systems in the vehicle.
If the ECG sensor detects a high stress level in the driver, it can recommend switching to the autonomous switching mode or even stop the vehicle, if need be.
It can open windows or switches to the outside-circulation mode if the CO2 level is too high. "This technology is expected to further evolve to be able to guide the vehicle to an emergency room in case of an emergency, such as cardiac arrest," Cheon Jae-seung added.
Last year, Hyundai Mobis unveiled 'M.Brain', a brainwave-based driver monitoring system, and 'M.VICS', an autonomous driving cockpit system equipped with various new healthcare technologies, including an ECG sensor, driver monitoring camera, and carsickness reduction technology.
The driver’s attention is assessed by combining the driving data such as lane departure, steering wheel control, acceleration and deceleration, and the other data of driver status such as eye blink detection.
The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, the prequel to megahit franchise The Hunger Games, has confirmed a slew of new additions to its cast.
The prequel, which is taken from Suzanne Collins' novel of the same name, takes place a great many years before the adventures of Jennifer Lawrence's Katniss Everdeen and centers on young Coriolanus Snow, who would go on to become the tyrannical president of Panem and the role played by Donald Sutherland in the original movie series.
Production on the prequel has been underway for a while, and a teaser clip has been released (which you can see below), but only the movie's two leads had been confirmed formally.
The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes will star Rachel Zegler, the rising star who played Maria in Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story and will play Snow White in Disney's lavish new live-action retelling of its animated classic Snow White and the Seven Dwarves. She takes the role of Lucy Gray Baird, while English actor Tom Blyth, star of the recent reboot of Billy The Kid, has been cast as the young Coriolanus Snow.
Joining Zegler and Blyth will be Euphoria star Hunter Schafer. Schafer, who stars as Jules Vaughn on HBO's hugely successful teen drama, will play Tigris Snow, the cousin and confidante of Coriolanus Snow.
As well as Schafer, Mackenzie Lansing, who had a supporting role in Mare Of Easttown has joined the cast, as has Laurel Marsden, who is currently on screen in Marvel's new show, Ms Marvel, and Lily Cooper, who portrayed Murta in The Witcher's first two seasons.
The official synopsis for The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes reads as follows: “Years before he would become the tyrannical President of Panem, 18-year-old Coriolanus Snow is the last hope for his fading lineage, a once-proud family that has fallen from grace in a post-war Capitol. With the 10th annual Hunger Games fast approaching, the young Snow is alarmed when he is assigned to mentor Lucy Gray Baird, the girl tribute from impoverished District 12."
It continues: "But, after Lucy Gray commands all of Panem’s attention by defiantly singing during the reaping ceremony, Snow thinks he might be able to turn the odds in their favor. Uniting their instincts for showmanship and newfound political savvy, Snow and Lucy’s race against time to survive will ultimately reveal who is a songbird, and who is a snake.”
Francis Lawrence, who directed three of the four Hunger Games films (Catching Fire, Mockingjay Part 1 and Mockingjay Part 2), is back to direct the prequel, which is booked to hit theaters on November 17 in 2023.
Want more on Euphoria? We've written about the show's future here.
