Voting machines, and paying together with your palm

For the previous 19 years, laptop science professor Juan Gilbert has immersed himself in maybe probably the most contentious debate over election administration in america—what position, if any, touch-screen ballot-marking gadgets ought to play within the voting course of.

Whereas advocates declare that digital voting methods might be comparatively safe, enhance accessibility, and simplify voting and vote tallying, critics have argued that they’re insecure and must be used as sometimes as attainable. 

As for Gilbert? He claims he’s lastly invented “probably the most safe voting know-how ever created.” And he’s invited a number of of probably the most revered and vocal critics of voting know-how to show his level. Learn the total story.

—Spencer Mestel

Would you pay together with your palm?

On October 14, a Chinese language tech publication reported that Tencent had quietly launched a function in WeChat that enables customers to pay by verifying their palm prints. However whereas it rapidly made headlines in China, there’s solely a handful of registered emblems to indicate Tencent has in truth been growing such a know-how.

Enter Chinese language social media. On widespread video apps there are a handful of movies proving that Tencent has been testing palm-print cost gadgets in cafes, bakeries, and supermarkets since not less than July. 

Their existence reaffirms how onerous it’s to know what’s occurring in China from the surface, but additionally how video platforms are changing conventional websites to turn out to be the place the place individuals categorical themselves and doc their lives. Learn the total story.

—Zeyi Yang

This story is from China Report, Zeyi’s new weekly e-newsletter overlaying the newest comings and goings in China. Signal as much as obtain it in your inbox each Tuesday.

Zeyi is one in all MIT Expertise Overview’s reporters and editors taking to the stage immediately at EmTech, our annual convention overlaying rising know-how and international tendencies.

Observe together with our liveblog, which is able to cowl all the newest bulletins and information from the MIT Media Lab in Boston at EmTech. It’s additionally not too late to register for a web-based ticket to look at for your self.