Florida county finds 11 unpermitted Flock cameras with unidentified owners

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A Florida county finds 11 unpermitted flock cameras with unidentified owners. More on that in moments, but first, Samsung has increased the prices of its Galaxy S26, S26+, and S26 Ultra phones by at least $100 on its website, even though most configurations were already more expensive than last year's equivalents when they debuted in March. The S26 FE, which the company released a month ago, is the only one of the current slate-style smartphones that avoided a sudden price increase. Unless you go with an FE or wait for a sale, Black Friday is fast approaching, and Amazon's prime big deal days is next week, it will now cost you at least $1,000 to pick up a Galaxy S26 phone. That's the price of the base model with 256 GB of storage, meaning that particular flavor of the Galaxy S26 is now $200 more than its Galaxy S25 equivalent. If you want a Galaxy S26 with 512 GB of storage, that will now run you $1,200.

The Galaxy S26 Plus is $1,200 for 256 GB of storage and $1,400 for the 512 GB variant. As for the Galaxy S26 Ultra, you will need to pay $1,400 for 256 GB of storage, $1,600 for 512 GB, and $2,000 for 1 TB. That last one stands out since Samsung increased the price by $200 rather than $100 for the other variants. Even though S26 prices were higher and its revenue grew overall, Samsung's mobile division posted its first-ever loss for the April to June quarter of this year. It pinned a decline in operating profit on higher costs and components like RAM and storage becoming more expensive. That's most likely why the company jacked up the S26 prices again, and Engadget has contacted Samsung for clarification.

And OpenAI is adding to ChatGPT's suite of shopping features by letting the AI chatbot generate virtual try-on photos with images you upload. The concept is identical to a feature Google added to search in 2025, which similarly lets users upload photos and see themselves in a variety of clothes. You can access ChatGPT's virtual try-on feature anywhere a product listing for clothing appears in a chat. To create your custom image, you just tap on the piece of clothing, tap Try-on, and then upload a selfie and full body photo ChatGPT can use. You don't have to use products ChatGPT surfaces in a chat either. Any screenshot of clothing you upload could theoretically be used to generate a Try-on image. OpenAI says the feature uses the new ChatGPT Image 2.5 model it released in September to create the photos. Alongside virtual Try-ons, the company now also offers a way to save products you like to your library in the app in case you want to revisit them later. The typical caution about what images you upload to ChatGPT still applies, though. By default, any images uploaded from a personal account can be used for training unless you opt out. You can find the latest Gadget News, reviews, price drops, and more right now at engadget.com.

After officials in Florida's St. Lucie County opted to end use of flock cameras and began removing them, they discovered several devices that were not connected to any local agencies. The Washington Post reported that the county leaders thought they had 52 cameras, but found 14 additional ones that were unaccounted for and unpermitted. Three of the cameras without permits were later claimed by the St. Lucie County Sheriff's Office, although the department did not inform the Post why that gear did not obtain the paperwork. That means there were 11 flock cameras placed in the area with unknown owners that none of the county officials knew about. Unsurprisingly, multiple county residents told the Post that they felt unsafe or unhappy about this discovery. We have reached out to Flock for comment, and we'll update this story if we hear back. Flock's cameras have faced extensive scrutiny over their security risks and potential for privacy abuses. Last month, Florida's Department of Transportation enacted a ban on flock license plate readers from being placed on state roads by law enforcement. Although some city and state governments have been reversing course on the use of this company's gear, Flock's cameras are still common, with more than 100,000 reportedly in use across the US.