Facebook is raising the game with a new "smart speaker"/video phone
Say hello to Portal
Here’s an interesting choice – given the company’s recent issues with privacy: Facebook is jumping into the "Smart Speaker" competition…with a video twist. The social media giant has unveiled "Portal," a Facebook branded device that's equipped with a screen and a camera to emphasize video calling.
Portal connects through Facebook's Messenger app, so it can connect calls with people not using Portal. There will be two sizes, a model with a ten-inch horizontal screen for 199 – and a "plus" version with a 15-point-six-inch screen that can go vertical or horizontal. It also has a ‘smart camera’ that can follow whoever 's speaking. That’ll set you back by $349.
- Both models also have an internet-connected speaker that utilizes Amazon's voice assistant Alexa. Facebook says it will not store Portal video. The device offers several privacy features, including a simple cap to place over the camera.
Source: CNBC
A woman in the United Arab Emirates was sentenced to jail time for going through her husbands phone without his permission.
Obviously a little behind the times!!
(Odditycentral.com)
A court in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) recently sentenced a woman to three months in jail after her husband sued her for looking through his phone without his permission.
In a statement made against his wife, the unnamed husband claimed that she would access his phone while he was asleep, copying all the data, including pictures and chat conversations to her own smartphone so she could look through all the information at a later date. The man also complained that his wife would share some of his private information with her siblings. Although the woman defended herself by saying that her husband had given her the password to his phone and permission to look through it, because she had previously caught him chatting with other women, a court in Ras Al Khaimah found her guilty.
The husband filed a complaint against his wife, and police called her in for questioning. A case was then filed against her for violating the UAE’s strict privacy law, which states that married couples are forbidden from accessing each other’s personal phones without permission, even if one of them suspects the other of cheating.
This case was originally reported on October 1st, and has since sparked a heated debate on social media. While some feel that the woman got what she deserved for breaking the law, others think that it was morally wrong for the husband to send his wife to jail for several months, even if she did look through his phone without his permission.