For better or worse, targeted advertising isn't going anywhere. Seemingly, it's not getting any more discrete, either. NEC's Digital Signage Solution combines a camera, a large display and a FeliCa contactless IC card reader / writer in order to dole out advertisements that cater to certain demographics. The system includes the innate ability to determine "gender, generation and other attributes" of a person in order to serve up advertisements that will cause him / her to spend some dough. From there, the individual can scan their phone in order to access related content on their mobile internet browser. That's all and fine and dandy we suppose, but how on Earth do you convince busy citizens to stop by and have a look at an otherwise uninteresting flat-panel?

[Image courtesy of NEC]

Jacob Whitehill at UC San Diego's Jacobs School of Engineering has demonstrated a proof of concept that allows his facial expressions to speed-up and slow-down video playback. Pretty sweet. But we're more interested to hear that his project is part of a larger effort at the UCSD Machine Perception Lab (gulp) to use automated face recognition to "make robots more effective teachers." We can see the future now...

Human: (frowning)
Robot: Aw, my meat bag is sad, I will now give it a hamburger and turn on Golden Girls.

Fortunately, human teachers who've somehow missed out on the billions of years of biologically evolution required to recognize the "oh face" can take advantage of this research as well. See a video demonstration of that after the break, face-controlled video here.

Believe it or not, this isn't the first time we've seen software created in order to determine whether a subject is drop-dead gorgeous, but scientists at Tel Aviv University have seemingly concocted a program of their own that can "interpret attractiveness in women." Before you ask, the researchers have yet to perfect the art of computing the beauty of males, but they're attributing said omission to the difficulty in "defining" attractiveness in dudes. Nevertheless, the software was purportedly able to reach nearly the same conclusion as humans about how lovely (or not) a hundred different ladies were, as it broke down features like face symmetry, smoothness of the skin and hair color. We're told the development could eventually be used in "plastic and reconstructive surgery and computer visualization programs," but c'mon, this is totally meant to automate the grueling Hot or Not process.

[Via Physorg]

Attention Argos shoppers, their "only available at Argos" exclusive on the FujiFilm FinePix F45fd is not all that exclusive. Spec for spec, the F45fd is none other than the F40fd rolled up special for the on-line UK and Republic of Ireland retailer. Your 200 Quid ($407) takes home an 8.3 megapixel CCD, 3x optical zoom, 2.5-inch LCD, 300 shot battery, ISO 2000 sensitivity, and storage on xD or SD cards. Not bad but no reason to get uppity with your mates about an "exclusive."

[Via LetsGoDigital, thanks David]

Dutch researchers Theo Gevers and Nicu Sebe, known mostly for their work deciphering the Mona Lisa's smile, have created a face recognition system which can gauge a person's level of happiness. The scientists, working with the multinational goods-manufacturer Unilever, created a face-tracking algorithm which maps video of a subject's face into 3D regions, and then uses those regions to determine their level of pleasure. The tests followed European women's reactions to eating five different foods: vanilla ice cream, chocolate, cereal bars, yogurt and apples. Unsurprisingly, the scientists discovered that women enjoyed eating ice cream and chocolate far more than an apple or yogurt -- the latter even evoking "sad" expressions from 28% of test subjects. Unilever hopes to put the technology to work in creating products such as reduced-fat ice creams which elicit the same response as their full-fat counterparts, while the researchers will be launching a consumer version of the software sometime in August, as well as a website to analyze up to 1,000 user-provided photos daily.

Fujifilm has been lending a helping hand in the realm of investigative photography for quite some time, and the firm's latest picks up where the S3 Pro UVIR and IS-1 left off. Featuring Fujifilm's Super CCD Pro and Real Photo Processor Pro technology to see light from the ultraviolet, visible, and infrared portions of the spectrum, this 12.3-megapixel gem also sports face detection, password protected lockouts, optional "rubber body armor," CF / Microdrive slots, RAW support, and a live image preview LCD to boot. Moreover, it's fully compatible with Nikon F mount lenses and iTTL flash systems, which should ease the burden of switching costs if you've already sunk way too much into Nikon accessories. No word just yet on how much coinage this will demand, but look for it to land in precincts (okay, store shelves too) next month.

While KornTech's Rogun won't go down as the first humanoid that sports both face recognition and intruder alerting functions, it does one-up many of the other prototypes by actually being available for purchase. The Korean startup has developed a kid-friendly one-meter-tall robot that "recognizes people through embedded cameras and high-end face-tracking software." Additionally, the bot can walk on its own and "perform various functions suitable for a security guard or nanny" such as pace the floors at night and give its master a cellphone warning if it recognizes any suspicious behavior. Rogun can even use its camera to show parents what mischief their kids are getting into at home by beaming video via its integrated WiFi chipset, and if watching the big screen is just too 2006, the youngsters can focus on the seven-inch LCD set within the device's chest. Of course, video telephony, internet browsing, and priceless companionship also come bundled in, and while the company hopes to sell these fellows for a mere $5,000 in time, snapping up your own Rogun at the moment will run you a whopping $100,000 or so considering the current BTO nature of production.

[Via I4U]

Being touted in what sounds like patent-speak as the "world's first 3D face recognition camera for use in authenticating individuals accessing a computer," security firm Bioscrypt Inc's upcoming VisionAccess 3D DeskCam promises to enable sub-second logins to applications, networks, and websites with just a quick glance at your ugly mug. The webcam-looking device (which we assume can also be used as an, um, webcam) looks for 40,000 identification points to verify authenticity, and is said to be capable of not just accounting for facial hair (or the lack thereof), but actually distinguishing between identical twins. That nose job you're planning, however, will require you to re-register. While the system -- which is scheduled to ship in the second half of the year -- sounds fairly promising and convenient, for safety's sake we'll be sticking with our trusty fingerprint scanners; after all, we still have seven fingers left, but only one head.

[Via DailyTech]

Facial recognition software has been used in a smorgasbord of positive applications, aiding our soldiers in detecting baddies, keeping weirdos out of clubs, barring maniacs from entering football arenas, and even helping parents know when their infant is truly in a bad way, but the latest usage of the technology could indeed hurt the feelings of the less-than-attractive. A pair of controversy-lovin' Australian scientists have devised a software program that actually rates one's face "from one to ten" in terms of most ugly to most beautiful, and uses a sophisticated database of facial proportions borrowed from some 200 stunning women across the globe in order to give you a very honest answer when questioning your attractivity. Of course, we all know that real beauty lies within (right?), and if your idea of sexy doesn't match up with the generally accepted supermodel "look," the results could indeed conflict with your own beliefs. Currently, the program is designed to work solely with women, but adopting a male iteration could definitely be in the cards, and while we doubt this stuff would be particularly beneficial for your image-obsessed teen, it's primarily intended for use in the cosmetic surgery realm to judge just how effective that ridiculously expensive nose job really was.

[Via Digg]

We already know just how snazzy your office's bizhub will be in a decade or so, and we think we've even got your desk and kitchen nailed down too, but a recent brainstorming in Popular Science brushed a few less sensational, albeit quite intriguing, office mainstays for 2017. Although we've got a few years yet before we can definitively say whether or not these folks will pull a psychic-AT&T on us, but if Swingline has its way, the traditional red stapler that continually jams and collects more dust than it does anything else will be quite controversial. Sure to enrage pro-privacy employees who've already been unknowingly chipped with an RFID tag upon agreement to come on board, the staples of the future could actually contain micro-RFID tags; these chips could then be traced to find out just how long it really sits in one's "to do" stack, or if "inexplicably missing" really means "intentionally destroyed." As cruel as we know that sounds, at least you can pen all the curses you wish on even the most ink-resistant material in your manager's suite, as the future-generation Staedtler pen is being designed to "write on almost anything by optimizing molecular bonds with a surface" in order to produce the right mixtures needed to adhere to a given medium. Of course, the transparent monitors that will come with your 2015 upgrade kit will effectively kill your ability to surf Engadget while being guarded by the plastic backing of your current LCD, but the face recognizing desk locks should at least keep Gary from snagging your chocolate when you're out on break. Click on through for a few more mockups of tomorrow's office gizmos.

We all know security gets a little heavy eyed when the wee hours of the morning roll around, and we highly doubt the janitorial staff is humming along at maximum efficiency when the residents are snoozing away, so implementing a robot to tackle both tasks seems quite practical. The IWARD project hopes to develop a "nursebot" that wears several hats, and can handle cleaning up spills, utilizing face and voice recognition technology to "communicate with patients and spot unauthorized visitors," and even working in "swarms" to distribute tasks between the robotic crew. Researchers are aiming to have a three bot prototype ready to rock by 2010, and want to integrate sensors and camera to avoid collisions whilst "traveling along high-speed lanes in the hospital corridors." Better steer grandma's wheelchair clear of the robotic raceway, eh?

[Via TechieDiva]

Yeah, it'd be nice if every swank HSDPA-equipped cameraphone that you felt comfortable texting on boasted a 7.2-megapixel CCD sensor, 3x optical zoom, and a three-inch LCD monitor to hold down the photography end of the spectrum, but unless you happened to throw down for Samsung's own SCH-B600 and get the bulk of those niceties, you're currently out of luck. Enter the VLUU i70, which is designed to presumably tackle the niche market of folks who'd rather communicate via text than spoken word and simply have image quality as a slightly higher priority than cellphone capability. The device sports the aforementioned features and also touts up to ISO 1600, 30fps VGA movie mode, Advanced Shake Reduction (ASR), and face recognition technology. Furthermore, you'll find MP3 / MPEG4 playback support as well as a text viewer, and just in case you didn't take the hint, the onboard HSDPA allows users to beam photos wherever they please (and hastily, too) right after snapping them. Oddly, there's no mention of a memory card format, and not so surprisingly, we're left in the dark regarding price and availability as well, but we don't envision this here runnin' ya cheap whenever it does hit shelves.

[Via TrustedReviews]

Hopefully sooner rather than later, all these domesticated, master-serving robots will be able to handle even the most mundane of tasks for us without botching our reputations, like holding down the 9-5 for us while we tee it up. Until then, however, we'll have to be satisfied with a household bot that not only recognizes our face, understands hand gestures, and follows us around to see if we need help, but chases foes away too. A team of researchers at Hsinchu-based National Chiao Tung University (NCTU) has developed just the companion, and this motorized fellow (or dame, whichever you prefer) sports a unique "digital vision system" that gives it the ability to "not only to remember the master, but also recognize his or her gestures and offer services accordingly." Moreover, it can reportedly judge the person's current health condition by analyzing facial expressions, and can then proceed to fetch medicine, a telephone, or another person in the home to provide aid. Clearly designed to assist the elderly, which could have difficultly caring entirely for themselves, the NCTU Vision One can reportedly distinguish between intruders and family members, and it can even be set to chase away the baddies while taking pictures of him / her for future prosecution purposes. While we've no idea if this classroom invention will ever hit the production line, this thing is a kitchen sink away from being the whole enchilada, and the whole "chasing function" simply makes this a must-have if it eventually comes to market.

[Via RobotGossip]