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Tokyo police are taking 3D mugshots of suspects
Security camera footage isn't always that useful for identifying suspects, even if you know who it's likely to be. What good is a mugshot when video shows the crook's head tilted down? Tokyo's Metropolitan Police Department has an answer. As of April, all of its 102 stations will start taking 3D mugshots that let them compare faces, regardless of the angle. Ideally, this will help arrest suspects that much faster -- police won't have to guess based on plain old photos, or ask for specialized gear to be shipped across the city or country. The 2D pictures aren't going away, but officers will soon have one more tool under their belts. [Image credit: Metropolitan Police Department]
PayPal trials mugshot verification in UK stores
PayPal employees at the company's UK headquarters are tired of having to use traditional payment methods when buying their rocket and crayfish sarnies. It's almost an affront, in fact, so they're pushing local retailers in Richmond Upon Thames to trial an updated, entirely PayPal-based system that uses photo authentication to make things faster. If you want to try it, go to the "Local" section of your PayPal app (on iOS, Android or WP), which should show nearby participating shops, and simply select the one you're visiting -- this will then cause your name and profile picture to come up on the seller's app so they can verify you're the account holder and process the transaction. Having given it a quick armchair run-through, the system looks similar to what PayPal already offers in some Australian stores, and it's apparently PIN-free at the point of purchase -- although you'll obviously have had to authenticate your app when you installed it, as well as have uploaded a reasonably realistic (and preferably static) profile picture.
Browse your Flickr library with Mugshot
Here's a pretty cool piece of freeware. Mugshot is a desktop application that lets you browse your Flickr photos (as well as those of your contacts) with an iPhoto-like interface. The UI features three columns: On the left you'll find your own photostream and sets, those of your contacts and any group pools you belong to. Click any set to load it in the center column, and any image to display its information on the right. The photo's title, description, dates (taken and uploaded) and tags are displayed. You then have an option to download any image to your desktop or send it to iPhoto (though I couldn't get the iPhoto option to work).It's a nice way to poke around Flickr. Mugshot is free and requires Mac OS 10.4.[Via FreeMacWare]
