 |
|
|
|||||
Want to visit the U.S.? Be prepared to cough up your social media history. The U.S. Customs and Border Protection filed a legal proposal today that will make it mandatory for many tourists to submit the last five years of their social media history as part of the application required to visit the country. The public has 60 days, until early February, to submit comments to this proposal. The social media requirement, if enacted, would apply to any visitor from the 42 different countries in the Visa Waiver Program. Rather than applying for a visa, these tourists must submit an application to the Electronic System for Travel Authorization and pay a $40 fee for visits of 90 days or less. That list includes many countries with close ties to the U.S. and whose citizens regularly visit, such as the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, Italy, France, Germany, Japan, and Australia. If enacted, this requirement could strike yet another blow to international tourism. Through October, more than 9.3 million tourists have visited the U.S. from five countries that would be affected by this proposalthe United Kingdom, Japan, Germany, France, and South Koreaand the number of overseas visitors more broadly has fallen 2.5% compared with the same period in 2024, according to figures from the International Trade Administration. NEW HIGH VALUE DATA FIELDS The social media requirement isnt the only proposed change for tourists visiting the U.S. The Trump administration also wants to add several other high value data fields to the ESTA application. These include telephone numbers used in the last five years, email addresses used in the last 10 years, and biometrics information that include fingerprints, DNA, and a photo of the iris. Customs and Border Protection didnt immediately respond to a request for comment from Fast Company. There was no information in the legal filing about how the U.S. plans to enforce this proposed change, particularly given how many tourists visit from the affected countries. The changes to the requirements for non-visa tourists are being proposed to comply with one of the executive orders President Donald Trump signed in January, related to protecting the country from foreign terrorists. The latest proposal is similar to a new policy that the State Department announced in June requiring that applicants for certain U.S. visas would be instructed to set their social media profiles to the public setting to facilitate the vetting process. A PARADIGM SHIFT Such moves are relatively unprecedented. Americans visiting the European Union currently dont have to submit any sort of application if their stay is less than 90 days. That will change once the EU implements a travel authorization requirement, but a social media history isnt part of that vetting process. And the administrations latest proposal could prove to have a chilling effect on tourism, opponents argue. In 2024, tourism spending produced $2.9 trillion in economic output, according to figures from the U.S. Travel Association. This proposal marks a paradigm shift of how the government is approaching social media by scrutinizing online speech and using that information to potentially deny travel based on discretion and policy about what the person said, Bo Cooper, a partner at Fragomen, told The New York Times. Itll be interesting to watch the tourism numbers. Whats more, the proposal sends a worrying message to potential tourists, who should not have to fear that self-censorship is a condition of entry,” Sarah McLaughlin, senior scholar for global expression at the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression told Axios. “This is not the behavior of a country confident in its freedoms,” she said.
Category:
E-Commerce
Charli XCX is making a trip to the Sundance Film Festival in January. The pop singer-songwriter appears in three films premiering at the 2026 festival, including a mockumentary that she produced and stars in. Programmers on Wednesday unveiled a lineup of 90 feature films set for the festivals last hurrah in Park City, Utah. The slate includes documentaries on basketball great Brittney Griner, Nelson Mandela, Salman Rushdie, Courtney Love, and Billie Jean King. There are starry features with the likes of Natalie Portman, Jenna Ortega, Seth Rogen, Channing Tatum, Danielle Brooks, Olivia Colman, DaVine Joy Randolph, Alexander Skarsgrd, and Ethan Hawke. Olivia Wilde directs her first feature since Dont Worry Darling, in The Invite. Judd Apatow chronicles comedian Maria Bamfords mental health journey. And Gregg Araki will be back in Park City with a restoration of his 2004 coming-of-age drama Mysterious Skin and a new film as well. Its a broad, eclectic and bold program, Sundance public programming director Eugene Hernandez told The Associated Press. He said the lineup for the festival’s final year in Park City really honors that well with this mixture of new, exciting voices paired with some really, really great familiar faces from Sundances past that I think will create a great alchemy for this really unique edition in Utah. Ever a festival of discovery, of the 90 features culled from 4,255 submissions, 40% are from first-time directors. The programmers laugh when they hear people say things like thats a Sundance movie, as if its one, easily categorizable thing. I look at the films in this program and say, You tell me what a Sundance film is because theyre so different, said programmer John Nein. Three Charli XCX movies Charli XCX plays a rising pop star prepping for her first arena tour in the mockumentary The Moment, which Hernandez said is like her version of This is Spinal Tap. She also appears in Arakis I Want Your Sex, in which Cooper Hoffman plays an intern who gets wrapped up in the world of an artist and provocateur (Wilde). And shes among the ensemble of The Gallerist. Theres a sense of humor that she has about herself and her work, but also a creativity and a star quality that is apparent. I mean, she is magnetic on the screen, Hernandez said. Its great to have someone who represents sort of a next generation of creativity embracing the world that we inhabit. Some great comedies This years slate includes more than a few exciting comedies in unexpected places. Cathy Yan directed and co-wrote The Gallerist, a satirical look at the art world and attempting to sell a corpse at Art Basel Miami, with a large ensemble including Portman, Ortega, Sterling K. Brown and Zach Galifianakis. David Wain also has Gail Daughtry and the Celebrity Sex Pass about a woman out to even the score after her fiance uses the free pass, starring Zoey Deutch and Jon Hamm. Programmer Kim Yutani said she thinks Wicker, about a woman who asks a basket maker to weave her a husband, starring Colman and Skarsgrd, will be a big crowd pleaser. Other standouts are Jay Duplasss grief-themed See You When I See You, with Cooper Raiff and David Duchovny, Ha-Chan, Shake Your Booty! set inside Tokyos ballroom dance scene and Wildes The Invite, about a crumbling marriage in which she stars alongside Rogen. They are finding comedy in some of the toughest places, Nein said. In the Midnight section, theres Buddy, from Too Many Cooks creator Casper Kelly, about a girl who has to escape a kids TV show. There are some quirky, humorous documentaries too, including Joybubbles and John Wilsons The History of Concrete. Timely documentaries at Sundance Sundance has become famous for its documentary programming, many of which go on to be nominated for and win Oscars. This year is likely to be no different. Across the board, both in the U.S. and internationally, you have a program that deals with the world where it is right now, Nein said. These documentaries, they’re incredibly sophisticated, theyre very mindful of how complex world issues are, and they bring you into that process. One that might make waves is When A Witness Recants, in which author Ta-Nehisi Coates revisits the case of the 1983 murder of a boy in his Baltimore middle school and learns the truth. American Doctor follows three professionals trying to help in Gaza. All About the Money looks at heir-turned -communist Fergie Chambers. Daniel Roher and Charlie Tyrell take on artificial intelligence in The AI Doc: Or How I Became an Apocaloptimist and Sentient is about animal testing. A lot of them are sort of optimistic in one sense, in that theyre about people power, Nein said. Its about the power of community to affect change, the power of one person who you havent heard of necessarily. Those include Jane Elliott Against the World, about an Iowa schoolteacher who taught anti-discrimination in 1968, and Seized, about the police raid on the Marion County Record in Kansas. Ones to watch at Sundance 2026 New talents often emerge from Sundance, like Eva Victor last year with Sorry, Baby. This year programmers noted several gems in the lineup, including Beth de Araújos Josephine, about an 8-year-old who witnesses a crime, with Tatum and Gemma Chan. TV veteran Molly Manners Extra Geography, about boarding school friends in England, is one that Nein said is one of the funniest, most sophisticated debut features that hes seen from the U.K. in years. He also spotlighted LADY, a first feature from Nigerian filmmaker Olive Nwosu about a cab driver in Lagos, as well as the queer genre film Leviticus. As in years past, the Sundance competition titles will also be available to watch online. Yutani said her go-to recommendation for the remote audience is the world dramatic competition title Levitating, from Indonesian director Wregas Bhanuteja. Its set in this community where theres these trance parties, Yutani said. It is a thrilling film. This years festival will also honor its late founderRobert Redford with legacy screenings and serve as a celebration of its 40+ years in Park City before it relocates to Boulder, Colorado in 2027. The 2026 festival kicks off on Jan. 22 and runs through Feb. 1. Lindsey Bahr, AP film writer
Category:
E-Commerce
The automatic door has been reinvented. The home-focused tech startup Doma just announced its first product line: a set of residential doors capable of opening and closing automatically at the sight of an approaching homeowner. Packed with sensors, motors, and facial recognition technology, Doma Intelligent Doors bring automatic functionality and programmable controls to a home’s front doorall without clunky and unsightly equipment. [Image: Doma] Doma is led by founders Jason Johnson and designer Yves Béhar, who previously founded and later sold the smart door lockcompany August Home. The two joined forces again after sharing a frustration with the state of smart home technology. Despite more than a decade’s worth of smart home gadgets like the Nest thermostat, Ring doorbells, and robotic vacuums, the ideal of an integrated, Jetsons-esque automated home has never quite materialized. “It’s a lot of little devices that are peppered around the outside of your home, inside of your home, but nothing that really goes from products and apps to something that’s within the walls, within the systems of the home,” Béhar says. “We decided to move forward from this notion of the smart home, which didn’t really happen, to the intelligent home.” [Image: Doma] Doma Intelligent Doors aim to streamline one of the most common interfaces in the residential environment. But for how often people open and close their front doors, the process has always been manual. A relatively light lift in terms of effort, the simple act of opening and closing a door is not without its challenges. Particularly for people who are living with disabilities or limited mobility, automatic doors can be hugely beneficial. But even those who can open a door easily, a little help can sometimes be handy. “It’s amazing how often you actually have your hands full,” says Johnson. “At least me personally, I always have things in my hands and it’s really nice to have the door open for you. And just as nice as that is, it’s really nice to have the door closed for you.” Doma’s goal is for this type of automation to spread throughout the home. [Image: Doma] Doma’s doors work by recognizing a home’s residents and opening the door when they approach. A doorknob-sized circular screen on the exterior of the door contains the facial recognition sensors that allow the door to open as a resident approaches. Aside from facial recognition, Doma designed the system to operate in five other ways, including Bluetooth, ultra-wideband positioning sensors, access by a scannable QR code, password access through a keypad, or via the internet. A larger screen on the interior side of the door functions as a control panel for locking, unlocking, and temporarily holding the door open, and also functions as an oversized peephole with a live video feed. [Image: Doma] Doma’s motors and closures are integrated inside the door itself, making them compatible with conventional door frames. On the hinge side, the closure attaches to the door frame at a single point, and the system is hard-wired into the home’s electricity. All the door’s components, including a backup battery that can run for up to 30 days, are accessible from the edge of the door. Johnson says this approach was part of the reason he and Béhar started the company. They wanted, he says, “to make technology more blended into the surfaces of the home and disappear as much as possible.” [Image: Doma] The technology behind the opening and closing of Doma’s automatic door was key focus during the design process. “One of the things we really don’t like about existing motorized openers is when you don’t expect it to be to be closing. It starts closing on you and you go to touch it and it and you feel that motor, like it fights you,” Johnson says. The company invented a mechanism using highly sensitive millimeter wave radar sensors that stop the door’s motor the moment it sees a human in its path. They’ve also created what they call an electronic clutch that immediately disengages the motor if the door is pulled or pushed manually. “It operates just like a normal door without any friction or resistance,” Johnson says. “The technical term is motor drag. We have no motor drag and that is something we’ve filed a patent on and we’re very excited about.” [Image: Doma] For its automatic doors, Doma has already partnered with six major door manufacturers: Kolbe Windows & Doors, GlassCraft, MasterGrain, Doors & More, Artema, and Liberty Openings. By the time sales officially launch in summer 2026, the company expects to have another six partners to broaden its offerings. Doma claims its doors will have costs “equivalent to the price of a premium entry door, hardware and electronics purchased separately, depending on style, materials, and configuration.” In early 2026 the company plans to announce a second product line featuring smart windows. Sales are expected to begin in the fall. Using the same open and close technology and a similar approach to automation and user control, the windows are seen as part of a comprehensive package for improving a home’s security, air quality, and climate control. The idea behind Doma is that by connecting various parts of the home to these controls, the technology can automate simple but repetitive tasks, saving effort while also optimizing the interior environment. With windows and doors that can open and close on their own, Béhar and Johnson suggest, a home can react in teal-time to the needs of its users without their having to ask. In conjunction, it’s a closer approximation of the kind of smart home Béhar and Johnson had in mind when they made their first smart device. “Doma really represents a shift from device-centric thinking to environment-centric thinking,” Béhar says. “So it’s not a product you install, it’s really a living system that you inhabit.”
Category:
E-Commerce
All news |
||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||