Hundreds of thousands of police officers are unofficially using apps for face recognition, and gaining access to a wide range of databases, from credit checks to medical records, according to a new report today. The report says that companies aiming to sell these apps to police departments are first offering them to individual cops, hoping that this will then create the demand for official purchases. This approach means there is no oversight to ensure civil rights are protected …...

Archie and the gang at Riverdale have seen quite a few changes in the last few years, from a zombie invasion to a complete redesign of the characters to a planned movie and then a network-hopping TV series. It seems like what was once considered the dorky younger brother of the superhero comics at Marvel and DC has finally come into its own. Archie is, at its heart, a story about an all-American guy who has spent the last 75 years trying to decide between a blonde and a brunette while his goofy friend Jughead primarily concerns himself with the acquisition of hamburger sandwiches....

The new trailer for Arrow season 6 has dropped, along with the news that Michael Emerson will be joining the cast as a mystery character. The trailer dropped at SDCC this weekend, teasing a little of what fans can expect from the upcoming season without revealing exactly who could have survived the dramatic cliffhanger that ended the season 5 finale. Fans are expecting to see some big changes this season, as the show finally gets rid of the ‘island flashbacks’ that have been an integral part of Arrow since season 1, and Oliver Queen (Stephen Amell) becomes more involved in his son’s life....

2019’s Arrowverse crossover will be an adaptation of Crisis on Infinite Earths, according to Arrow star Stephen Amell. The Canadian actor has played Oliver Queen (a.k.a Green Arrow) for seven seasons now. Originally the only member of The CW’s DC-based universe, the show has since spun off The Flash and Legends of Tomorrow. Despite starting life on CBS, Supergirl has since swapped networks, and has also officially joined the Arrowverse fold....

Let’s just address the undead elephant in the room: Ash vs Evil Dead probably deserved a victory lap of some sort before being shuffled off to become part of Starz’s streaming catalogue forevermore, with a high probability of being seen by many more eyeballs when it inevitably makes its way to Netflix. Consolation prize or not, a victory lap would have given the show four, five, or six episodes to play around in the Mad Max-like post-apocalyptic future set in motion by the arrival of the Dark Ones, and it would have given Bruce Campbell the opportunity to act without a gigantic Nintendo Power Glove on his right hand, especially since Campbell says he’s now officially retired from the role of Ash....

AT&T has announced some nice upgrades for its Unlimited Elite customers today. Subscribers to the Elite plan will now see no throttling based on data use, the hotspot allowance increase to 40GB, and the included HBO Max subscription now works with 4K content over cellular. AT&T announced the news in a press release today with all of the upgrades arriving to Unlimited Elite users for free: AT&T notes that there’s nothing Unlimited Elite customers have to do to get the new features, “we’re automatically adding this benefit to the existing plan, so you don’t have to do a thing....

There are some products that can only be described as “for the Apple fan who has everything” – and the Bandwerk Milano Apple Watch band is one of two seen this week. The first was the Nomad Leather Cover for MagSafe Charger, tested by our sister site 9to5Toys … I’d like to poke fun at it; really I would. A leather cover for a charging puck? Who needs such a thing?...

Electronic Arts (EA) is bringing their next Battlefield game to EA Play this summer outside the convention halls of E3 2018. EA used to be one of the biggest publishers at E3, but as E3 has become more consumer-focused in recent years, EA thought it best to hold their own event instead. So, they’ve opted to bring their newest games directly to the consumers, giving them the opportunity to try out the newest titles, in person, months (if not years) before those games hit store shelves....

The Alien: Blackout video game officially exists now, although players might find themselves surprised to learn that it’s a mobile game. Rumors about the game began circulating after 20th Century Fox trademarked its title in November 2018. That led to speculation a new game in the Alien franchise would get announced soon. Although fans expected an official reveal of Alien: Blackout at this year’s Game Awards, an announcement did not arrive then....

Adam McKay reveals that his plot idea for a potential Anchorman 3 would take famed fictional journalist Ron Burgundy and embed him in a combat zone - as real life U.S. reporters did during the Iraq Wars. Will Ferrell played the cocky newsreader in both 2004’s Anchorman and 2013’s Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues. Becoming known for its zany comedy, quick one-liners, and impressive supporting cast, the Anchorman movies have gathered quite a following over the year, so why wouldn’t we want another entry?...

The cast of Ant-Man and the Wasp continues to grow, with Sean Kleier joining the film. The sequel to 2015’s debut outing for the shrinking superhero is going to be the MCU’s first film after Avengers: Infinity War, so will naturally be of a fittingly smaller scale. Although that doesn’t mean it’s not being more ambitious than the original. Indeed, the film has already vastly expanded its cast. As well as Michael Douglas, Michael Peña and Judy Greer returning to back up Paul Rudd and Evangeline Lilly’s titular heroes, there are high profile additions including Michelle Pfeiffer as the original Wasp, Walton Goggins as Sonny Burch, Laurence Fishburne as Goliath and Randall Park as Jimmy Woo....

With the number of COVID-19 cases increasing around the world due to the Omicron variant, some companies are once again closing their retail stores. Now Apple has decided to close all of its stores in New York City after having temporarily shut down other stores across the US and Canada. As first noted by Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, all Apple Stores in New York City were partially closed on Monday. The stores will remain open for in-store pickup of online orders, but customers can no longer visit the locations....

COVID-19 contact tracing apps built on the joint Google/Apple exposure notification API have saved thousands of lives in some countries, but have largely proven ineffective in the US. A report examining data from the apps finds that many states didn’t even get as far as creating one; take-up was low; and very few users bothered to log infection in the app, rendering it useless … None of the blame rests with Apple or Google, who both played their part by making it a trivial task for US states and countries around the world to build their own privacy-respecting apps....

[December 13, 2021: iOS 15.2 is now available, bringing the more affordable version of Apple Music to potential subscribers. Apple Music Voice Plan works on iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, Apple TV, and HomePod. Support was first spotted on December 7.] Apple announced its new Voice Plan for Apple Music in October with a release date of later this year. Now ‘later this year’ has arrived, and the new tier for Apple Music memberships is making its first public appearance....

A new report from Bloomberg today says that Apple is planning to open the iPhone up to third-party app stores for the first time. The report, however, also says that Apple hasn’t made a decision on “how it may open iMessage and its Messages app to third-party services.” Like the App Store changes, this is something that would be required under the new Digital Markets Act in the European Union....

Following the release of the first betas of iOS 16 and macOS 13 earlier this week, Apple has now released a new AirPods beta firmware to developers. While this is not the first time Apple has released beta software for AirPods, it has only happened once in the past. Apple has provided instructions for installing the new firmware through its Developer Portal. Basically, what developers have to do is pair AirPods to the iPhone and then use Xcode 14 beta on a Mac to enable the “Pre-Release Beta Firmware” option under the “AirPods Testing” section....

When Warner Bros. had decided to pursue a shared universe of their own with their DC characters, the narrative amongst general audiences was that they were copying Marvel Studios - but, as it turns out, there’s something that Marvel can learn from DC, specifically from Aquaman’s release. James Wan’s Aquaman comes more than a year after Justice League hit theaters, and it sees Jason Momoa’s Arthur Curry become the true king of Atlantis....

Sponsored by Kolide: With Kolide, you can make your team into your biggest allies for endpoint security. Solve problems, right within Slack. Learn more here. Stories discussed in this episode: Xcode corroborates always-on display coming to iPhone 14 Pro Apple preps Android switchers for iPhone 14 [Video] Secret Service blames iMessage for losing January 6 texts Enjoy the podcast? Follow Chance: Twitter: @ChanceHMiller Listen & Subscribe: Apple Podcasts Overcast RSS Stitcher TuneIn Google Play Don’t miss out on our other daily podcasts:...

We still don’t know what the actual title of Avengers 4 is, but we do know several things it isn’t. Back when Marvel Studios officially announced their Phase 3 slate, the film was known as Avengers: Infinity War - Part 2. Plans changed, though, and that title was soon dropped. Marvel has so far refused to reveal the actual title, with Kevin Feige suggesting that it would serve as some kind of spoiler....

According to a recent trademark filing, American Horror Story season 8 might be set to explore some type of post-apocalypse scenario. Ever since the strategy of holding back details on a season until late in the game worked so well for drumming up interest in American Horror Story season 6, the hit FX anthology series has remained slow to reveal information about further seasons. Season 7’s Cult title and theme weren’t revealed until a mere two months before it premiered, and currently, almost nothing is known about this fall’s season 8....