By DREW HARWELL, The Washington Post (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)
When David Hiller’s two daughters checked into Camp Echo, a bucolic sleep-away camp in Upstate New York, they relinquished their cellphones for seven idyllic weeks away from their digital lives. But not Hiller: His phone rings 10 times a day with notifications from the summer camp’s facial-recognition service, which alerts him whenever one of his girls is photographed enjoying their newfound independence, going water-skiing or making a new friend.
By TONIA MOXLEY, The Roanoke Times (Metered Paywall - 18 articles a month)
It might be the ultimate in recycling programs: turning poop into profits. One area rental community, Highlands at Huckleberry Ridge in Montgomery County, has contracted with a DNA matching company to encourage residents to clean up after their dogs. Violators can be charged hefty fines under a recent amendment to the rental lease.
By CHARLES DUHIGG, The New York Times Magazine (Metered Paywall - 1 to 2 articles a month)
Andrew Pole had just started working as a statistician for Target in 2002, when two colleagues from the marketing department stopped by his desk to ask an odd question: “If we wanted to figure out if a customer is pregnant, even if she didn’t want us to know, can you do that? ”....About a year after Pole created his pregnancy-prediction model, a man walked into a Target outside Minneapolis and demanded to see the manager. He was clutching coupons that had been sent to his daughter....“She’s still in high school, and you’re sending her coupons for baby clothes and cribs? Are you trying to encourage her to get pregnant?”
