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Sep

Google Wins Multi-User Face Unlock Patent, Further Teases Our Multi-User Dreams

Posted by Liam Spradlin in Android OS, Google, News

Today it was learned, through a US Patent and Trademark Office filing, that Google has been granted a patent concerning the logging in of multiple users by facial recognition.

Typically, the granting of yet another tech patent wouldn't be extraordinarily interesting news. But given the fact that Google's latest patent relates to multiple user support, and the fact that code meant for multiple user support has been sitting right under our noses in AOSP for some time now, patent number 8,261,090 is definitely worth discussing.

Without quoting the entire 17,000 word filing, patent '090 essentially covers methods that allow a "computing device" to recognize one or more users' identities based on facial recognition, and then give them access to resources specifically assigned to them.

Jun

[Updated: Videos] Stuntmen Just Jumped Out Of An Airplane, Biked Across Rooftops And Rappelled Down Buildings To Introduce Google Glass

Posted by Eric Ravenscraft in Google, News, Videos

We've been hearing things about Google Glass, the Google-powered eyeball accessory, for a while now. While the device isn't quite ready for consumers (and won't be for a while), we got an extensive look at what these devices can do... right after Google-hired stuntmen jumped out of an airplane while on a Glass-based Hangout, then proceeded to bike across rooftops, rappel down the side of the Moscone Conference Center, and finally bike into the I/O keynote to deliver the device on stage to Sergey Brin. This is the first product announcement in recent memory where someone could have feasibly died during a demo.

Jun

New App: ObscuraCam Automatically Detects, Blurs Faces And Strips Metadata From Your Photos

Posted by David Ruddock in Applications, Apps/Games, News, Tips & Tutorials

OK, this is probably one of the cooler apps I've seen in a while. ObscuraCam is an open source photo anonymizer project made in concert with the folks over at Witness.org - a human rights violation watchdog. Why is a human rights organization helping you blur those photos you took that night you accidentally [insert potential human rights violation here] but still thought would be hilarious to upload to Facebook?

Well, Witness wants this app to be used by political dissidents in countries where things like facial identification and metadata scraping are major barriers to posting photos of political protests online.

Aug

BioLock To Bring Biometric Security (Iris Scanner, Facial Recognition) To Android In Late August

Posted by Nate Kimmey in Applications, News

Smartphones are rapidly taking over some daily functions previously dominated by our laptops and personal computers, so securing these mobile devices is becoming an increasingly important issue. Information thieves are after your data via malicious software from which you can reasonably protect yourself by being careful; but what about physical device thieves?

There have been a few solutions, such as the native lock screen options (particularly in Froyo) and various remote lock/wipe/track apps, such as WaveSecure, but a new solution is about to become available – BioLock, a biometric security app from Blue Planet Apps.