Pixel 4 Face Unlock vs. Apple Face ID: How they're different and how Google's might be better

Welcome to the age of Soli. Google has shown us how the Soli Sensor will do a couple of neat tricks in the Pixel 4, and while waving your hand like a Jedi to change what song is playing is pretty self-explanatory (and honestly, not that exciting), using it in tandem with dedicated hardware to unlock your phone with your face is something we haven't seen before. This isn't the face unlocking you're used to seeing. Facial unlocking, however, is something we've seen before. First debuting on Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich with the Galaxy Nexus, using your phone's selfie camera — or, in newer iterations, infrared cameras— to unlock your phone is an incredible experience. It's also fairly fast, easy to use, and until Apple developed Face ID on the iPhone X, extremely insecure. Face unlock that only uses a camera to capture data on a two-dimensional plane is easy to fool with a photo. That made it more of a convenience feature, one even Google said shouldn't be used if you value security.

Real estate platform Compass raises another $370M on a $6.4B valuation en route to an IPO

The real estate market regularly goes through ups and downs, but today comes big news for a startup in the space that has built a platform that it believes can help all players in it — buyers, sellers and those who help with the buying and selling — no matter what stage of the cycle we happen to be in. Compass — a company that has built a three-sided marketplace for the industry, along with a wide set of algorithms to help make it work — has raised a $370 million round of funding, money that it plans to use to continue expanding geographically (within existing markets in the U.S. such as New York, Connecticut, Philadelphia, Washington, Atlanta, SF and LA and other areas), as well as for more tech and product development. Sources tell me that it’s also now eyeing up an IPO, likely sometime in the next 24 months.

CannTrust’s CEO didn’t just lose his job, he likely lost $8.2 million in stock options

Peter Aceto didn’t just lose his job as head of CannTrust Holdings Inc.: he likely lost out on about $8.2 million in stock options, among the highest pay packages in the pot sector. CannTrust fired Aceto, and chairman Eric Paul was asked to resign Thursday after a Globe and Mail report cited internal emails showing the executives were aware that pot was being grown in unlicensed rooms about seven months before Health Canada unearthed the breach. Aceto’s stock options will likely be canceled, as typically happens when an executive is fired with cause. Even if they’re not canceled, the options remain well under water following the recent stock plunge related to the licensing scandal.

MacGyver Is Coming to VR Escape Rooms, Complete With 3D Holograms (EXCLUSIVE)

Location-based virtual reality (VR) startup Imverse has teamed up with MacGyver creator Lee David Zlotoff and “Lawnmover Man” director Brett Leonard to launch a MacGyver-themed VR escape room. MacGyverWorld, which is being produced by Mark Rickard from Leonard’s Studio Lightship outlet, is expected to debut in 2020. The experience will make use of Imverse’s 3D capture technology, which scans participants before they enter MacGyverWorld. “When you look at your friends, you can see their holograms,” explained Imverse CEO and co-founder Javier Bello Ruiz in an interview with Variety this week. “In virtual reality, you need to have presence.”

Apple contractors 'regularly hear confidential details' on Siri recordings

Apple contractors regularly hear confidential medical information, drug deals, and recordings of couples having sex, as part of their job providing quality control, or “grading”, the company’s Siri voice assistant, the Guardian has learned. Although Apple does not explicitly disclose it in its consumer-facing privacy documentation, a small proportion of Siri recordings are passed on to contractors working for the company around the world. They are tasked with grading the responses on a variety of factors, including whether the activation of the voice assistant was deliberate or accidental, whether the query was something Siri could be expected to help with and whether Siri’s response was appropriate.

New York Governor Signs Marijuana Decriminalization And Expungements Bill

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) signed a bill on Monday further decriminalizing marijuana possession and enabling those with prior cannabis convictions to have their records expunged. The law, which takes effect in 30 days, will make it so that possession of up to two ounces of marijuana is punishable by a $50-$200 fine with no jail time. Cuomo said the state’s existing cannabis policy has disproportionately impacted communities of color and, with the signing of the legislation, “we are ending this injustice once and for all.” “By providing individuals who have suffered the consequences of an unfair marijuana conviction with a path to have their records expunged and by reducing draconian penalties, we are taking a critical step forward in addressing a broken and discriminatory criminal justice process,” he said in a press release.

FACEBOOK Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg On Oculus Quest: ‘We’ve Delivered An Experience That People Keep Using Week After Week’

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg delivered some comments about virtual reality as part of the company’s quarterly earnings report. Some comments about the Oculus Quest standalone VR headset are included in the broader update covering Facebook’s performance over the last three months. You can read the full document posted to Zuckerberg’s Facebook page. The $400 all-in-one VR console started shipping in May — just about five years after the acquisition of Oculus VR. The head-mounted display includes everything needed to have a wireless VR experience with dual hand controllers and access to some of VR’s most popular games, like Superhot and Beat Saber.

Apple Suppliers See Demand for New IPhones Stabilizing This Year

Apple Inc.’s suppliers are preparing to produce components for up to 75 million new iPhones in 2019’s second half, roughly the same number as a year earlier, according to people familiar with the matter. The volumes planned for the next iPhone launch cycle would signal steady demand for the company’s most important product, despite U.S.-China trade tensions and a decline in the overall smartphone market. The Cupertino, California-based technology giant stopped divulging iPhone shipment numbers in the holiday quarter last year as unit growth turned negative and started providing metrics to highlight the growth of services such as Apple Music. Analysts estimate Apple sold 70 million to 80 million new iPhones in the second half of last year.

Mortgage rates fall, reaching nearly three-year low

Mortgage rates dipped slightly to a nearly three-year low because of concern about a potential global economic slowdown and some weak home sale news. According to the latest data released Thursday by Freddie Mac, the 30-year fixed-rate average fell to 3.75 percent with an average 0.5 point. (Points are fees paid to a lender equal to 1 percent of the loan amount and are in addition to the interest rate.) It was 3.81 percent a week ago and 4.54 percent a year ago. The 15-year fixed-rate average declined to 3.18 percent with an average 0.5 point. It was 3.23 percent a week ago and 4.02 percent a year ago. The five-year adjustable rate average dropped to 3.47 percent with an average 0.4 point. It was 3.48 percent a week ago and 3.87 percent a year ago.

CannTrust Management Shakeup Likely, Jefferies Analyst Says

(Bloomberg) -- A Wall Street bank analyst is calling for a management shakeup at CannTrust Holdings Inc. after a report executives were aware the company violated pot rules before regulators unearthed the breach. The company’s shares plunged 22% to C$2.68 in Toronto on the Globe and Mail report which cited internal emails showing Chairman Eric Paul and Chief Executive Officer Peter Aceto were informed the company was growing pot in unlicensed rooms about seven months before Health Canada raised the issue.