facialrecognition
Latest
Microsoft thinks it can guess your age using facial recognition
Since we're right smack in the middle of Microsoft's BUILD dev conference, the company's showing off one of it's Azure APIs with a site you can put to the test. How-Old.net allows you to upload a picture before the site recognizes faces and analyzes them to determine their age. No, I'm not 41... I'm 31, and that picture is from over two years ago. Other folks here at Engadget received results closer to their real age, but it made us wonder: why not use a web cam to snap a picture under current conditions. You know, after I've had a chance to apply my daily dose of wrinkle remover. Perhaps that option on the way.
DC airport tries using face recognition to catch imposters
If you come to the US through Washington DC's Dulles airport in the near future, don't be surprised if Customs and Border Protection takes your snapshot before letting you through. The agency has confirmed to Motherboard that it will be testing a facial recognition system which captures a photo and compares it against your passport picture to see if you're an imposter. The relatively short (2 to 3 months) trial won't rely solely on face detection to flag suspicious travelers, but it could give customs agents a way to double-check identities without relying so heavily on keen eyes and intuition.
Windows 10 log-in options will include fingerprint, facial and iris recognition
Microsoft thinks it's high time you ditch your passwords. The company, which is readying Windows 10 for release later this year, just announced that its next-gen OS will include built-in support for several alternative log-in options, including fingerprint, facial and iris recognition. That means so long as a Win 10 machine has at least one of the necessary sensors -- a fingerprint reader, eye scanner or illuminated IR sensor for facial recognition -- there will be a built-in framework called "Hello" that helps users enroll their fingerprints, or face, or what have you. In other words, then, regardless of who made your machine (Acer, HP, et cetera), you'll get a consistent user experience for setting up a biometric log-in.
These 'privacy glasses' make you invisible to facial recognition
You're going out with friends mid-week, and you don't want the boss/significant other/parole officer to find out. But it's a birthday celebration, and Facebook's auto-tagging the pictures your buddies upload like a dirty snitch. The first piece of advice: never "friend" your parole officer. The second? Maybe grab a pair of these "privacy" glasses from software security firm AVG. You, of course, can see my visage above, but AVG claims the technology in the specs means facial recognition software (like that of Facebook) will not.
Engadget Daily: Microsoft buys 'Minecraft' developer Mojang, Google unveils Android One, and more!
The rumors were true: Microsoft is buying Minecraft developer Mojang for $2.5 billion. Crazy, right? That's not all that happened today though. Go ahead and spice up your Monday with Engadget's news highlights from the last 24 hours. You know you want to.
Say hello to the FBI's national facial recognition system
If you've ever been arrested in the United States, chances are strong that your fingerprints and criminal history are floating around in the FBI's Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System. It's apparently pretty good at what it does - it can sift through some 70 million subjects in search of a particular fingerprint in as little as half an hour - but it's just not enough for the boys in blue. Thankfully for them (and maybe unfortunately for us), the FBI just announced that its sequel, the unimaginatively named Next Generation Identification system, is now "fully operational" some three years after the rollout began.
Facebook said to bring back some face-recognition features in the EU
In the past, European data authorities haven't been very receptive of Facebook's facial-recognition software. But it looks like that might be changing soon. According to TechCrunch, the social networking titan has (quietly) started to restore some face-recognition services in Europe, though there are a few compromises to consider. What this means is that Facebook users across the pond are once again seeing the "tag suggest" option within pictures they have uploaded, but it can only be used on friends who are in the US and have the tagging feature enabled on their accounts. Perhaps, Facebook's finally managed to address the concerns Euro officials had with its savvy tech, and that could be why the changes have taken place. With nothing confirmed, however, we reached out to Facebook for comment and will update this story if we hear back.
Boston PD monitored concertgoers with facial recognition
With perhaps the exception of the bands on stage, no one really goes to a concert to be seen -- they go to feel the music coursing through their veins and melt into a crowd. As it turns out, fun-seekers at the 2013 Boston Calling music festivals weren't just caught on film by photographers and Instagram nuts. According to recent, intriguing reports from Dig Boston and Noisey, the city was quietly watching thanks to more than 10 active security cameras and some scarily clever IBM software that recognized concert-goers and passersby based on their skin color, clothes, and facial features. Smile!
High-tech cat feeder uses facial recognition to save all nine lives
Our four-legged friends have a habit of not eating when something ails them. However, if you're at work all day, you may not pick up on the lack of appetite until it's too late. Well, there's a smart cat feeder with built-in facial recognition that's looking to lend a hand. Bistro is a high-tech feline food and water hub with sensors that monitor consumption. There's the requisite camera to distinguish between members of your in-home pack and the furry creatures stand on a scale that measures their weight while eating. All of the collected data is beamed to a smartphone app to keep you abreast of the activity while you're away for your "quantified cat." Heck, you can even watch your pets feast, should you choose to do so. If you're looking to snag one, act quickly to nab a Bistro for $149 instead of the full $249 price it'll carry when it launches in March.
Facial recognition software helps convict a robber
Watch Dogs' vision of a super-connected Chicago may be truer than you think. A local judge has convicted Pierre Martin of armed robbery after police used facial recognition software (NEC's NeoFace) to match surveillance camera footage with an existing mugshot. While the cops still used witnesses to confirm their findings and make an arrest, the technology was vital to pinpointing Martin in the first place -- it's doubtful that investigators would have had time to sift through 4.5 million booking photos.
NSA says it's not collecting images of US citizens for facial recognition
Over the weekend, reports surfaced on the NSA using facial recognition to scan the web and match faces with intelligence data -- thanks to another Edward Snowden leak. Today, Admiral Mike Rodgers, the head of the organization, denied collecting images of folks in the US on the regular. While Rogers did admit that efforts used the tech to obtain more info on intelligence and counterterrorism targets abroad, he explained "We do not do this on some unilateral basis against US citizens." Unless a said citizens are part of an on-going investigation, online snapshots are said to remain out of the NSA's crosshairs. Not surprisingly, Rogers didn't go into much detail, but he did say that reports of the security agency searching through driver's license photo libraries were inaccurate.
The NSA has collected 'millions' of faces from the web
The NSA isn't just interested in pure communications intelligence like call records; it wants to look for faces, too. Documents leaked by Edward Snowden reveal that the NSA has been using facial recognition software to scan the internet for portraits and match them with investigative data. The agency can determine whether or not a suspect spotted in a photo or video chat has a valid passport, for example, or find out if informants have said anything about that person. It can even spot subtle changes (like beards) and link photos to satellite info to pinpoint someone's whereabouts. As of 2011, the NSA was getting about 55,000 "facial recognition quality" images per day out of "millions" of candidates, according to the leaked material.
Facebook's face-recognition tech is almost as good at Stallone-spotting as you are
Facebook's long been interested in facial recognition, as the photo tag-suggestion feature that didn't go down too well in Europe shows. The Zuck's social network also gobbled up a face-recognition outfit in 2012, but it's Facebook's AI research team that's made headway recently with technology that's almost as good as us meatsacks at identifying mugs. Known as DeepFace, the system uses a "nine-layer deep neural network" that's been taught to pick up on patterns by looking at over 4 million photos of more than 4,000 people. We're not as up-to-date with complex machine learning techniques as we should be, either, but the main reason DeepFace is so accurate is its method of "frontalization" -- or, creating a front-facing portrait from a more dynamic source image.
Emotient's Google Glass app tells you how others are feeling
It's not always easy to read someone's emotions -- and that's a problem for retailers, which can't easily tell if their products intrigue you or simply confuse you. They may not have to guess for much longer, though, as Emotient has launched the private beta for a Google Glass app that identifies feelings using the device's camera. The software scans faces for emotional cues that reflect an overall sentiment, even if it's subtle; the app can tell if you're mildly pleased, for instance. Privacy shouldn't be an issue, since the app is only saving anonymous data, not images. Emotient is testing its app with just a handful of companies right now, but the finished app should help stores please customers in the future. There's also a chance you'll see the underlying technology in something you can try for yourself. The company tells The Next Web that its emotion detection will reach Intel's RealSense platform, so don't be surprised if your next webcam can tell that you're in a good mood.
Simplicam watches your house while you're away, uses facial recognition to tell you who's home
WiFi cameras are a handy tool to keep tabs on your home, but they're really only useful if you're looking at them. Checking up on your family means pulling up an app, logging in and manually scanning your living room for occupants. ArcSoft says it has an easier way: facial recognition. By equipping its Simplicam WiFi camera with motion-, sound- and facial-detection software, the firm says it can notify you when your family comes home or if someone is lurking around when they aren't supposed to be. It also includes two-way talk and automated alarm systems, as well as access from any PC, iPhone or Android device. Oh, and by signing up for Closeli's optional cloud service, you can record, share and save clips from the camera too. Simplicam will be available next month for $150. Looking for more? Check out the company's website at the source link below.
'Xbox On' command powers up and logs in Xbox One in just 13 seconds
The second major console launch this year is still just over a week away, but the folks at Microsoft are showing off another feature of the Xbox One. This video demonstrates its ability to turn on and log in using only your voice (for comparison, the PS4 can be turned off with a voice command, but not on), and your face. Major Nelson's "Xbox On" command leads to a fully powered up and ready system in just 13 seconds, and that's even using Kinect's camera with facial recognition to log into his Xbox Live profile. If you prefer privacy over convenience, the Xbox's ability to listen for its hotword while in standby can be disabled (or, you can leave the microphone and camera-packing sensor unplugged entirely), but if your couch is constantly eating gamepads and remotes, maybe this is a reason to jump in at launch.
Three things you should know about the PlayStation 4 OS
Sony laid its social networking ambitions out on the table when it announced the use of real names on PSN, its online network, for the PlayStation 4. Now, as the company preps that next-gen console for launch this week, we're finally learning more about how those new PSN profiles will work and just what it is the PS4 Eye camera can actually do. And not everything works the way you would think.
Intel's 3D camera technology detects emotions and eyes, gives Kinect some competition
We know that Intel sees 3D cameras as the future of computing, and the company's Anil Nanduri just provided a few hints of what that future may involve. He tells Network World that the depth-sensing technology can recognize emotions, such as happy smiles. It can also track your gaze; a camera can detect when readers are stumped by unfamiliar words in a book, for example. The technology's shape detection is accurate enough that it can even scan objects for 3D printing. We won't get a true sample of the technology's potential until Creative ships its Senz3D camera before the end of the current quarter. Nonetheless, it's already evident that Microsoft's next-generation Kinect for Windows will have some real competition on its hands.
Microsoft tries to patent AR glasses for multiplayer gaming
Remember those "Fortaleza" AR glasses we saw in a leaked Microsoft document back when the Xbox One was still the Xbox 720? It looks like those might actually be a thing, if a patent application from Redmond is any indication. It touts the idea of "multiplayer gaming with a head-mounted display," claiming the device could receive voice commands, track your eyes, calculate depth and recognize the faces of fellow players. All that would be in the rather narrow service of letting you invite others and accept invitations to a game through strictly visual means, though. That makes it similar to another recent Microsoft patent we saw for augmenting live events with AR, since the emphasis is on a specific usage rather than the eyewear itself. We might even see an application some day for actual gaming on such a device, but meanwhile, check after the break for more images.
Smile, and JavaTutor's AI knows when you're learning online
College-age kids these days are pretty good at a few things: selfies, social oversharing and staring into screens. But can you leverage that self-obsession into a mechanism for learning? The mad scientists at North Carolina State University think so and they've got a program to prove it. Dubbed JavaTutor, the software's aimed at teaching our future workforce the basics of computer science. And it does this by tracking facial expressions -- using the Computer Expressions Recognition Toolbox, or CERT, as its base -- during online tutorial sessions. Frown and the AI knows you're frustrated; concentrate intently and the same automated emotion detection applies. So, what's the end sum of all this? Well, it seems the research team wants to gauge the effectiveness of online courses and use the cultivated feedback to better tailor the next iteration of the JavaTutor system. But the greater takeaway here, folks, is that at NCSU, online tutoring learns you!
