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Proposed face unlock system would let you access your device with a wink
BYU professor D.J. Lee has patented a two-factor facial recognition authentication system that scans a subject's face and a unique facial action for identity verification.
Pixel 4 adds an 'eyes open' check for using face unlock
It took several months, but you can finally enable face unlock on your Pixel 4 without worrying that someone will access your phone while you’re sleeping. Google has rolled out an April security update that adds the promised “require eyes to be open” optional setting.
Pixel 4 gets improved Face Unlock and other surprise updates
Earlier this month, Google announced that instead of regular Android updates, Pixel 4 devices would get a "Pixel Feature Drop" to show off splashy new features. That update has now arrived, and on top of expected changes like robocall screening and Duo call centering, there are a few welcome surprises, as spotted by XDA Developers and Android Police.
Security fails we’re kinda thankful for
As we gather 'round the fire, warming our facepalm-weary hands, the blaze burning bright with the shreds of our privacy and security, it's important to reflect on what we're grateful for: Companies that did the infosec version of stepping on a rake, forcing them to secure us better. Idiots who tried to "hack" the FCC comment system while leaving their OPSEC cake out in the rain. Whatever geniuses left road signs eminently hackable, and the ones who made ATMs susceptible to malware that literally spits out cash. Here are the "winners" of utter and complete security failures we're almost grateful for. Let's hope the next time these clowns fall off a stack of servers, they don't fail to miss the ground.
How did Google get Pixel 4 face unlock this wrong?
Like many tech writers, I've been struggling to wrap my head around the brand-new Pixel 4's face unlock security #fail. Before the phone was even released, BBC technology reporter Chris Fox discovered that his review unit had a deeply disturbing security flaw: The phone's only biometric security option, facial recognition, worked just fine if the subject's eyes were closed.
Faces are the Pixel 4's kryptonite
One of the most controversial new features of Google's latest flagship is its Soli radar sensor. It allows you to interact with the phone by swiping at the air in front of the display, and also enables Face Unlock. But, that login method has a glaring flaw -- it will unlock your phone even if your eyes are closed. This means anyone near you can pick up your Pixel 4 and access your data by holding it in front of your face, even if you're asleep.
Here's everything Google announced at the Pixel 4 event
Despite all of the leaks ahead of Google's Pixel 4 hardware event today, the company still had plenty to share. Of course, we got our first official look at the Pixelbook Go and Pixel 4/4XL, but we also got to see the new Nest Mini, Nest WiFi and Pixel Buds. And Google had plenty of new features -- like ultrasound sensing and an improved Recorder app -- to wow the crowd.
Contractors say they were told to lie while collecting Pixel 4 face scans
This summer, we learned that Google had embarked on a wide scale project to collect facial recognition data, which the company said was necessary to build "fairness" into face unlocking for its Pixel 4, which will be officially unveiled on October 15th. A new report from the New York Daily News has more details on where Google sent people to collect that data, and what they were told to do by the company that hired them as contractors for the project. The people collecting the data worked as TVCs -- the "temporary, vendor and contractors" who outnumber Google's own employees on the company's roster -- for an employment firm called Randstad. While the statement Google gave to media this summer indicated that participants signed a consent form allowing for the use of their data, including everything from infrared response to how they picked up the phone from the table, temp workers the paper talked to said they were trained to be pushy, and even lie to people about what was going on. Google told the News that it was investigating claims that "dubious" tactics were used, as the reporters cited several people who said they participated without any clear idea of what was going on or who the data was for. According to the contractors cited, they had a mandate to pursue "darker skin tones," which included pushes to collect scans from homeless people and college students -- the former because they'd be less likely to talk to the media, and all of them because they'd be willing to do it in exchange for $5 Starbucks gift cards.
Google paid passers-by for face scans to improve the Pixel 4
Reports have swirled for days of Google paying people $5 in gift certificates to scan their faces, and now it's clear just why: it's for the Pixel 4. Google has confirmed to The Verge that the paid scans were meant to improve the accuracy of the Pixel 4's face unlock feature by collecting more face data and improving algorithms. Facial recognition has a history of bias in gender and skin color, Google said, and it was important to offer both "inclusiveness" as well as "robust security and performance."
Google confirms Pixel 4 will support face unlock, touch-free gestures
Google is once again validating rumors about the Pixel 4, this time for its touch-free control. The company has confirmed that its next flagship phones will include motion-sensing Soli radar that lets you skip tracks, silence phone calls and otherwise control key phone tasks by waving your hand. Consider it a potentially more sophisticated take on the LG G8's gestures. Moreover, Soli will play a key role in one of the Pixel 4's other signature features: secure face unlock.
You can unlock this smartphone with the blood vessels in your eyes
Tired of punching in numbers or swiping strange patterns to unlock your smartphone? Fingerprint and facial recognition have been tried before with varying levels of success, and now ZTE thinks it can offer something better. The company's Grand S3 smartphone in China is getting a feature called "Sky Eye," which lets you swap Android's traditional lockscreen methods with your eyeballs. It uses a biometric authentication called "Eyeprint ID" by EyeVerify and, of course, we had to check it out for ourselves.
Apple files patent application for fingerprint sensor that can be transparent or opaque
While Apple has flirted with biometric-based patents before, we've yet to see them implemented in real-world technology. That hasn't stopped it from filing yet another one though, as the latest application reveals a fingerprint sensor apparently embedded into the iPhone itself. The patent describes a hardware "window" that can become selectively "transparent or opaque." When transparent, it would reveal a component comprised of an "image capture device, a strobe flash, a biometric sensor, a light sensor, a proximity sensor, or a solar panel, or a combination thereof" as a method of unlocking the phone. According to the filing, the biometric sensor in question might indeed be a fingerprint reader. The document goes on to describe an alternative method using face or eye recognition technology that can be used not just for security purposes, but for possible e-commerce solutions like completing an online transaction. Of course, take any of these patent applications with a generous pinch of salt -- we haven't seen an Apple stylus yet, for example -- but perhaps this is the reason Apple bought fingerprint sensor maker AuthenTec back in July.
Google wins face-to-unlock for multiple users patent, makes us hungry for Android support
Google has won a face-to-unlock patent that seems to let multiple users share one "computing device." Point your face at the built-in camera, and you'll be allowed access to your personal profile -- and when it's time to move, someone else can do the same to take your place. While there's no connection to a real-world product and relates more to biometric ID than consumer technology, it does tickle hopes that we could see the feature included alongside official multi-user support in a future iteration of Android.
Samsung tweaking Face Unlock to require blinking, smiling still optional
Still paranoid about a friend sneaking past your four-dot-oh facial security and revealing all your little secrets? Worry no more, as Sammy's got a solution for you. The new feature is stuffed inside the tasty ICS being delivered now to global Galaxy S IIs, adding the need to blink in order to bypass the Face Unlock screen. Aside from the eyelash-flashing bit included in the upgrade, Samsung's Product Planning Team says they've also added Photo Editor, Beta Font, Snapshot and a novel S Go Launcher Pro. You can check out the full interview with Samsung's whiz-squad at the source below.
Samsung Galaxy S ICS-like 'value pack' upgrade officially released in Korea
The so-called Value Pack upgrade that was leaked for original Samsung Galaxy S devices after the company announced they would not be upgraded to Ice Cream Sandwich (it was later given a passing mention in the Galaxy S II ICS upgrade notes) has been officially released, at least in Korea. The official Samsung Tomorrow page has a link to Gingerbread and Froyo upgrades for the Galaxy S, as well as the Galaxy K and Galaxy U phones. Just like the leaked version, it adds some Ice Cream Sandwich features to these non-Android 4.0 phones, including Face Unlock, the ability to take pictures while shooting video and launcher improvements, without the fully reworked underpinnings of the new OS. Owners of compatible devices can hit the source link for all the details and the files, as long as they have Kies 2.0 at the ready and a bit of open storage space (backing up existing data is also, naturally, encouraged). Of course whether this will officially come to any of our US-carrier optimized Galaxy S models is still unknown.
Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich review
The next version of each smartphone's operating system is always the best. We impatiently wait for the latest and greatest firmware to come around, expecting it to liberate us from the shackles of last year's code and features that haven't shown up yet. This happens incessantly with Google's Android OS, and version 4.0 -- unveiled at this year's I/O conference in May -- is no different. Known as Ice Cream Sandwich (referred to henceforth as ICS), the last word in the title indicates the merging of Gingerbread, the most recent phone platform, and Honeycomb, the version optimized for use on tablets. We knew this much, but were otherwise left with conjecture as to how the company planned to accomplish such a feat -- and what else the new iteration had in store. Which devices will get Ice Cream Sandwich? Hands-on screenshot gallery Galaxy Nexus and ICS roundup But now the time of reckoning is upon us, and the Samsung Galaxy Nexus -- Android 4.0's mother ship -- is slowly spreading across the globe, its users being treated to this year's smartphone dessert. ICS is one of the largest and most important upgrades we've witnessed from Android since its humble beginnings, making a huge change in user experience as well as a massive number of bullet points on the list of features. Now that we've had the opportunity to take it for a spin, where does it stand in the ranks of mobile operating systems? Follow us beneath as we dig into the layers of this sweet sandwich.
Galaxy Nexus, Ice Cream Sandwich roundup: specs, details and insight, oh my!
Couldn't stay awake for Samsung and Google's Ice Cream Sandwich event? Fear not, because we were there, documenting and analyzing every second of it on the internet. You can either re-live the magic at our Homeric liveblog, or check out the links below to get educated and up to speed. Galaxy Nexus Samsung's Galaxy Nexus gets official: Android 4.0, 4.65-inch HD Super AMOLED display (video) Samsung's Galaxy Nexus launches in November on NTT Docomo, Verizon, and more Samsung Galaxy Nexus vs. Droid RAZR by Motorola: the tale of the tape Samsung Galaxy Nexus with Ice Cream Sandwich hands-on (video) Google confirms Nexus S will get Ice Cream Sandwich -- for real this time (Gingerbread devices, too) Samsung Galaxy Nexus vs. Galaxy S II, Nexus One and Nexus S (macro hands-on) Samsung Galaxy Nexus camera and 1080p video samples Samsung: the LTE version of the Galaxy Nexus will be 'a little' thicker Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich now official, includes revamped design, enhancements galore Roboto font and the new design philosophy of Android 4.0, Ice Cream Sandwich Android Ice Cream Sandwich adds Face Unlock feature Ice Cream Sandwich revamps Android camera and gallery features Google announces NFC-based Android Beam for sharing between phones (video) Google Ice Cream Sandwich (Android 4.0): a hands-on screenshot gallery HTC: We're reviewing Ice Cream Sandwich and determining our plans Ice Cream Sandwich face unlock demo (video) Android Beam takes us to the future of close-proximity data exchange (video) Google's 'very close' to launching a digital download store with 'a little twist'
Andy Rubin: Ice Cream Sandwich's Face Unlock is developed by PittPatt
Liking that Face Unlock on Ice Cream Sandwich we saw this morning? You can thank PittPatt for that. Here at AsiaD's opening session, Android head honcho Andy Rubin just confirmed that said Pittsburgh-based company -- acquired by Google earlier this year -- was responsible for this nifty security feature. While the demo didn't go as planned for Matias Duarte at the launch event, Andy was able to show us how Face Unlock's meant to work on the stage just now. In fact, Andy said his team even had to "slow down the process" as PittPatt's software was too fast to make folks believe that any security at all was involved -- for what it's worth, Walt Mossberg's beard couldn't get past the unlock screen on Andy's Galaxy Nexus. Head on over to our hands-on video to see us getting up close and personal with Face Unlock.
Ice Cream Sandwich face unlock demo (video)
When Matias Duarte tried to unlock his Nexus Galaxy on-stage at today's Samsung event things didn't go so well. Some combination of his makeup and the lighting conspired to keep him from getting into his device, but after spending a little time with one ourselves we can confirm that it does indeed work -- and quickly. To program the feature, go into the settings and it'll train itself to recognize your mug. As it locks in a ring of circles frames your face and, hey presto, it's ready. After that you set up a backup form of identification and you're good to go.Once it's ready we found it takes only a second or two to recognize and unlock the phone, meaning this should be even faster than swiping or punching in an unlock code. But, you still will need to do that from time to time, either when the lighting conditions are less than optimal or, apparently, when you weren't born with it and were relying a little too much on the Maybelline.
Android Ice Cream Sandwich adds Face Unlock feature
There's no shortage of new features in Ice Cream Sandwich, but one sure to attract a lot of attention is Face Unlock. That, as you can probably surmise, lets you unlock your phone through facial recognition instead of a password -- hardly a new idea, but a first for Google. Unfortunately, the demo didn't go quite as planned during the keynote -- locking out Google's Matias Duarte -- but we'll be sure to give it a go ourselves and report back.
