face recognition

Protect your computer with KeyLemon's facial recognition

Beyond passwords, more computer users want more protection for their systems. KeyLemon for Mac provides an additional, functional layer of protection through facial recognition to unlock a computer.

Available as a free trial version, KeyLemon for Mac provides a basic level of functioning, but additional features may be unlocked with license upgrades. The program's native installer worked well and walked us through the setup and initial recognition procedure. The interface was fairly intuitive and spelled out the functions available. Some of the menus may be difficult to interpret for novice users, but those familiar with security software in general … Read more

Foil face-recognition cameras with Privacy Visor

Worried about all those security cameras tracking your every move? Try rocking one of these visors and enjoy anonymity once again.

At least that's what Isao Echizen from Japan's National Institute of Informatics is trying to achieve with the Privacy Visor (PDF).

Developed with Seiichi Gohshi of Kogakuin University, the visor has a near-infrared light source that messes up cameras but doesn't affect the wearer's vision, according to the institute. … Read more

Pay $7 to promote your Facebook status?

Thursday's CNET Update never forgets a face:

Today's tech news roundup begins with a look at Facebook. The network is testing a feature that lets you pay to get your posts seen by more friends. Facebook first began testing this concept in May and it's already in 20 other countries. But it's rolling out to some U.S. users now, and the idea is to pay to show off big news or get more attention to an event. Facebook hasn't set an official price for this, but CNET staffers with the feature are asked to … Read more

Face-matching with Facebook profiles: How it was done

LAS VEGAS--Facebook's online privacy woes are well-known. But here's an offline one: its massive database of profile photos can be used to identify you as you're walking down the street.

A Carnegie Mellon University researcher today described how he assembled a database of about 25,000 photographs taken from students' Facebook profiles. Then he set up a desk in one of the campus buildings and asked willing volunteers to peer into Webcams.

The results: facial recognition software put a name to the face of 31 percent of the students after, on average, less than three seconds of … Read more

Let your face be your password with this face recognition software

UPDATE 8:00 AM, May 7th: You asked for it, we are giving it to you... due to popular demand, KeyLemon has agreed to extend the offer through the weekend. This offer will now end at 11:59PM PDT on Sunday, May 8th.

Often in movies, we see a lot of bad guys breaking into someone else's computer to steal confidential information by somehow decoding the password. As much as we would like to believe that it will never happen to us, it can.

We all know how important security is these days, so for 24 hours only, we … Read more

A Kwik way to manage media

Nero Kwik Media is a light and free media manager with which you can organize, edit, and share your music, photos, videos, and data. Imagine iTunes and iPhoto rolled into one, then trimmed in half. While this download is technically "free," there is one caveat: you'll have to purchase some of its functionality in the form of "apps" listed in Nero's built-in store. Sure, most of these add-ons aren't too expensive, but it's a shame that a few of them (like Nero Kwik Play, a video decoder) don't come with the … Read more

Japan tests billboards that know your gender, age

Last year, we told you about billboards in development that could tell male faces from female faces and display ads accordingly. Well, such a system is now up and scanning visages in subway stations around Tokyo.

A consortium of 11 railway companies has launched a one-year pilot project to test the signs, setting up 27 of the "Minority Report"-style displays in commuter stations around the Japanese prefecture. But while billboards in that sci-fi flick (see the video below) could recognize people by name and shout out purchasing suggestions, the Japanese signs employ cameras and face recognition software … Read more

Fooling face recognition systems with makeup

The next time you see someone with makeup that puts David Bowie to shame, don't laugh too much. He or she may be cleverly trying to fool face recognition and detection systems with a crazy or asymmetrical design.

It's generally not easy to avoid being spotted by face recognition and detection systems because they use a rather solid algorithm to identify faces, explains The Register:

Based on the so-called Viola-Jones method (PDF), the algorithm examines the spatial relationships of an object captured in an image and looks for features commonly found in faces. Most faces have a dark … Read more

Facebook photo tagging gets automated

After a trial release in July, Face.com on Wednesday launched Photo Tagger to the public. Photo Tagger is a free third-party application for Facebook that uses facial recognition technology to automatically tag photos of people.

Facebook users can use Photo Tagger to automatically tag their photos, it uses facial recognition software to tag all of the photos in an album. After selecting an album photo Tagger scans the photos, then batches them into groups by subject and suggests tags for them. When tags are confirmed, they are pushed live to Facebook, within the users privacy settings.

Photo Tagger also … Read more