In a shocking turn of events, someone was able to use a new high-powered tech product for evil. Two Harvard students paired the Ray-Ban Meta Smart Glasses with facial recognition software to rapidly identify strangers and compile their personal information from the internet to highlight the privacy concerns that are getting unboxed with easily accessible consumer tech.

In a video posted to X, AnhPhu Nguyen and Caine Ardayfio explained how they built I-XRAY. The program uses the glasses to capture images of random people on campus and at a train station, identify them through a publicly accessible facial recognition search site like PimEyes, and then use a large language model (LLM) to trawl the web and compile the person’s information. Nguyen and Ardayfio could access people’s addresses, the names of their parents, and photos in mere minutes, and even approached unsuspecting people using the info they collected to make them think they had met before.

The creators said they would not release the code for this program but created it to highlight how it’s possible to build invasive tech with recent advancements like smart glasses and LLMs.

• When 404 Media approached Meta for comment about the project, it said that similar information gathering could be used with any camera.
• Meta’s smart glasses have a small light that comes on when the wearer is recording, but many people report it being hard to see in crowded spaces and bright lighting outside.
• Nguyen and Ardayfio said they chose the glasses specifically for their inconspicuousness.

Big picture: Searching through someone’s info online has been around since Facebook introduced poking, but with the right tools, like artificial intelligence, it’s easier, faster, and potentially more invasive.—MM

Dockworkers suspend strike, continue negotiations. The International Longshoremen’s Association union and the United States Maritime Alliance, which represents employers at the East and Gulf Coast ports, tentatively agreed to a 62% wage increase for dockworkers over six years and announced a temporary suspension of the port strikes until Jan. 15. This will allow for more time to negotiate and finalize the new contract, which will also need to include agreements on automation and retirement benefits. In the meantime, the port workers will continue working under the terms of their prior contract. President Biden praised labor and management “for acting patriotically to reopen our ports and ensure the availability of critical supplies for Hurricane Helene recovery and rebuilding.”

Most homes in Helene’s path didn't have flood insurance. Only 2% of the homes hit by Hurricane Helene in Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina had a policy protecting them against catastrophic flooding, according to an analysis by Politico and E&E News. The storm tore through six states, killing at least 200 people, with particularly sweeping devastation in the mountainous parts of western North Carolina, where few people saw it coming. Homeowners there don’t usually have flood insurance, either because they aren’t expecting heavy hurricane damage that far from the coast or because they can’t afford it.

FAA announces two vocational programs to get more air traffic controllers. Some college grads can start yelling at pilots working in control towers without having to train at the Federal Aviation Administration’s academy in Oklahoma, the agency said this week. Graduates of a new vocational program offered at Tulsa Community College and the University of Oklahoma will be able to begin on-the-job training right after finishing school. The move is part of the FAA’s effort to combat the employee shortage that has led to staff burnout and flight delays. Despite recent successes in ramping up hiring, the agency reported earlier this year that it’s still short about 3,000 air traffic controllers.—HVL, SK

Global markets are holding their breath after oil prices rose to $77 a barrel yesterday, reflecting broader concerns of escalating violence between Israel and Iran affecting global oil markets.

Prices spiked ~10% yesterday following a comment from President Biden that suggested he would support Israel striking Iran’s oil facilities. Israel, which has bombed Lebanon’s capital city to go after Iran-backed Hezbollah, has vowed retaliation against Iran after recent events in their escalating conflict. On Tuesday, Iran launched a missile attack on Israel, which was a response to Israel’s killing of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah.

The Middle East produces about a third of the global oil supply. Experts have been careful not to sound any alarm bells regarding the price of oil thus far, but this week’s events have refocused concern:

• If Israel does strike Iran’s oil and gas facilities, it could affect anywhere between 300,000 to 1.5 million barrels of supply, according to analysts. While this oil is destined for China, not the United States, interrupting the supply would heighten geopolitical tensions.
• A major concern is that the conflict impacts the Strait of Hormuz, a critical pathway for oil tanker traffic, which could send oil prices over $100 a barrel, according to research firm ClearView.

In the US…a relatively calm oil market is getting rattled at a time when gasoline prices are at the forefront of voters’ minds leading up to the election.—CC

The original denim-maker is trying to pull up its pants: This week, Levi Strauss lowered its full-year expectations from up to 3% sales growth to just 1% and announced it’s considering selling Dockers, the non-jeans brand that’s making business sag.

According to Levi’s:

• Sales at Dockers, a khaki outfitter Levi’s started in 1986, dropped 15% last quarter, continuing years of underperformance that likely nods to our athleisure-pilled preferences for sweats > slacks.
• Levi’s overall revenue stayed relatively flat at ~$1.5 billion, even though the Levi’s brand notched 5% sales growth—its biggest jump in two years.

Selling off Dockers is the “right decision for the long term,” Levi’s CFO Harmit Singh told CNBC. Bank of America is helping the clothing company explore sales options.

Lead in the balloon. Levi’s margins—the difference between what it costs to make its products and how much it makes from selling them—actually grew 4.4%. That’s largely thanks to the namesake brand’s burgeoning direct-to-consumer strategy, according to Singh. Levi’s D2C sales grew to account for 44% of the company’s total revenue, as the retailer continued pulling out of department stores and prioritizing its own channels.

Looking ahead…Levi’s is focusing more on its original brand and on women—a monthslong Beyoncé collab kicked off this week with a remake of a 1985 Levi’s jeans ad.—ML

Starbucks realizes that one business challenge more fraught than allowing customers to make 70 zillion drink customizations is…having no coffee to serve. The chain buys 3% of the world’s coffee, but it’s concerned about the price and availability of Arabica beans as extreme weather leads to shortages. So, Starbucks has added two new coffee farms to its portfolio.

These aren’t high-yielding properties, however. One of them, in Guatemala, is in pretty bad shape. Roberto Vega, the Sbux VP in charge of coffee agronomy and R&D, said, “We wanted a farm that really mirrors the challenges that farmers are having today.”

The company also bought a farm in Costa Rica, where it plans to test next-generation farming tech as a buffer against labor shortages in Latin America. Both farms will be used to study how hybrid coffee plants fare in various soil types at different elevations, and how to prevent crop diseases. In total, Starbucks says it works with 450,000 coffee farms around the world and plans to share its insights with its partners.—HVL

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