New Orleans attacker used Meta smart glasses to plan New Year's Day massacre

The man who drove a pickup truck into a crowd of people in New Orleans on New Year's Day, killing 14, wore Meta's smart glasses to scout out the location prior to the attack, according to the FBI. These camera-fitted glasses allow users to capture photos and video hands-free, and also allow video streaming.  Shamsud-Din …

[that one in the corner]

So much more evil than a Go-Pro

> he rode a bicycle through the French Quarter while wearing the Meta glasses

So the sum total of the story is that he has more money to burn than all the cyclists with action cams bolted onto their helmets and/or handlebars?

[IGotOut]

Re: So much more evil than a Go-Pro

Yeah bit of a non story other than these are usually used by people you don't want to have anything to do with

[AVR]

It probably was useful for him to figure out what route he could take exactly - checking that he'd be able to take a 7' wide SUV up an 8' wide sidewalk - but just being observant and careful should have worked too. Not a big deal.

[Neil Barnes]

to conduct surveillance

Thank you for not using that abominable americanism 'surveilling'.

[jake]

Re: to conduct surveillance

"I could care less"

Really? So how much, exactly, do you care?

[jake]

Re: to conduct surveillance

It's funny, isnlt it, how often the British corrupt a perfectly cromulant French word (surveiller), and then blame the Americans for it.

_{"They would be a surveilling honorary body, as intended, and the office would be filled by an executive at all times competent to discharge the duty." —Manchester Weekly Times (Manchester, Eng.), 13 Mar. 1849}

[Neil Barnes]

Re: to conduct surveillance

Nice catch, Jake - but the British dropped it to 'survey' a long time ago, and that remained the common usage. 'Surveillance' still exists in UK English.

Funny how languages change, and funny how old farts like me will continue to complain about it :)

[jake]

Re: to conduct surveillance

To survey is to take a snapshot in time, while to surveil is an ongoing exercise. Two different words, with two different meanings.

_{That's pronounced "old farts like us will continue to bitch about it" ... have a beer.}

[Neil Barnes]

Re: to conduct surveillance

Ja, in the UK we'd probably use 'watch' :)

[Sceptic Tank]

Re: to conduct surveillance

"caught on fire".

(U+1F92C here)

[An_Old_Dog]

Re: But... But...

@Lil Endian:

(It probably wasn't a recumbent, as the rider's position is down far too low to see much more than a forest of peoples' asses. A "tallbike" [custom bike made from two bike frames] or a Schwinn "Giraffe" model unicycle would give a much-better view.)

[DS999]

I'm sure he planned to / wanted to livestream the attack

That would have the maximum terror impact. The problem is there almost certainly wasn't enough cellular capacity in such a crowded area to support a livestream. No point in recording it for later playback since he was planning on blowing himself up.

There are likely to be some downsides when our cellular infrastructure is good enough that even at peak times like NYE in a super crowded place like Bourbon Street there is sufficient cellular capacity that you could livestream. Obviously Facebook would remove that quite quickly, but not before it was viewed and copies were made by others. I imagine it would have made a great recruiting/propaganda tool for ISIS.

[Jedit]

Re: I'm sure he planned to / wanted to livestream the attack

It's also not impossible that he simply forgot to turn the camera on.