Garmin to test outdoor facial recognition technology. Garmin is among the first brands to trial an advertising technology with Lord Sugar’s digital outdoor network Amscreen that can serve passersby ads based on their gender. The GPS device manufacturer is to initially target female audiences using facial recognition technology to deliver ads promoting its association with Cancer Research fundraiser ‘Race For Life’ in the run-up to summer.
This made possible based on its tie-up with video analytics firm Quividi which recognises the gender of people passing by a screen, serves them with a targeted ad and also relays campaign reporting back to the brand. Anthony Chmarny, Garmin sponsorship manager, told Marketing Week: “We really want to be able to tailor ads and will be trailing it for as soon as it’s available… If we get some good results we’ll look to extend the [three-month] trial.” Earlier this year, outdoor advertising research body Postar re-branded as Route as part of a bid to further accountability to the outdoor channel. Identity-Scanning Turnstiles - The Lunar Facial Recognition Payment System Streamlines the Subway. The Lunar Facial Recognition Payment System would contribute greatly to the efficiency of circulation throughout Shanghai metro stations.
Enormous crowds push through the transport nodes at all hours of the day and most people are held up by the process of purchasing tickets. Arthur Kenzo worked with Francois de Martrin-Donos and Valentin Gauffre to design and expertly render this hi-tech transit kiosk. The scheme includes two separate units with one acting as a speedy scanner at the entrances and exists of train stops. It quickly sweeps each passenger's face and electronically deducts the appropriate cash from his metro credit.
The other piece of equipment necessary to the Lunar Facial Recognition Payment System is the tower. This is what the public use to set up their personal accounts, to have their faces initially scanned and to top up their travel balances. The Cloudy Future of Facial Recognition In Stores. Department store surveillance cameras are not just watching for thieves. Some are also tracking customer activity. Knowing the ebb and flow of the number of shoppers, the path they take through the store and the products they touch can provide valuable information for boosting sales.
While customers may find this level of scrutiny creepy, retailers see it as survival in a low-margin, fiercely competitive business. Customer Data For Marketing Retailers and vendors say technology is not being used today to personally identify shoppers. The Federal Trade Commission has said it does not have a problem with gathering aggregate information on shoppers.
Not surprisingly, privacy advocates are taking a more hardline stance. Other Personal Data Retailers are gathering lots of personally identifiable information today. Loyalty cards help level the playing field between brick-and-mortar stores and online retailers, such as Amazon.com, one of the most advanced users of customer data. Publications Unilever, Coca-Cola Utilize Facial Analysis To Enhance Ad Tests 01/21/2013. Almost a year ago, WPP’s commercial testing company Millward Brown added facial recognition and analysis technology to its offering to better assess the emotional impact of ads. It did so through a partnership with Affectiva, a firm that developed a facial coding technique called Affdex. Now, after a series of trials, major global clients are signing on to the new testing application. Calling it the largest-scale adaptation of facial coding technology in the industry, Millward said two of its largest clients -- Unilever and The Coca-Cola Co. -- will use the technique for all of their advertising testing in 2013.
The technique uses proprietary software to interpret how viewers feel about ads by their facial expressions -- feelings that often are not expressed verbally in respondent surveys. Millward said it has used facial analysis on over 400 advertising research projects around the world since partnering with Affectiva. UC San Diego Research: Diego-San will smile if you smile | FOX5 San Diego. SAN DIEGO – A robot developed at UC San Diego has the face of a boy and can smile, look sad, even angry. Named after America’s Finest City, Diego-San is learning how to express human emotions in hopes it and others to come can develop relationships with humans in the future.
“Diego-San is part of a series of studies of how humans move and interact so we can build Humanoid robots in the future,” said post-doctoral researcher Deborah Forster. “What we do is we record a lot of infant smiling and then we take that data and we feed it to Diego-San.” Researchers said this smart technology works similar to the one already in use in social media websites to recognize friend’s faces or cameras that set off a flash only when it detects people smiling.
For example, if Diego-San detects a smiling face it can smile back. “You can imagine a situation where you have a pretty smart device that learns to interact with you,” Forster said. “Imagine like a robot companion,” said Forster. Panasonic’s New TV Uses Facial Recognition To Identify You. (Roy Furchgott) Panasonic’s new product introductions at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas touch on what is becoming a common theme —–making your TV do the work of finding shows you want to watch. The company announced a feature called “My Home Screen” that will show a viewer customized suggestions of TV shows, streaming shows and Internet content, all on one screen. The idea is to put all of the content in one place so a viewer does not have to search separately for TV shows and video on demand, for instance. Each family member can have a personalized screen, and will not have to sign in — the higher-end Panasonic TVs will have a built-in camera that will use face recognition to determine whose preferences to display.
Dispatches from the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Panasonic is not the only company taking this approach. Samsung is introducing a similar home page that also incorporates social networks. Concept Digital Vending Machine With Facial Recognition. Face recognition threatens anonymity in public | Sci-Tech | DW.DE | 11.12. Whether you're standing at the train station or shopping at a supermarket, there’s a good chance you are being filmed or photographed. Many public places have cameras that capture images, which are converted into digital facial profiles.
They store information on a person’s gender and ethnic origin. And they don’t just identify criminals, they can also identify innocent citizens, like people taking part in demonstrations. No matter where a person's face is photographed, his name and address can be found in few seconds using the right software. And more than often, it’s the images that we post on social media like facebook as well as information on websites that can help with face recognition.
Everyone will be "transparent citizens" Social networking platforms capture the biometric data of a person when he is tagged – identified in an image online. Facebook was forced to stop automatic facial recognition Facebook promised to stop using automatic facial recognition in Europe. 2013 tech trends: Invisible apps, smarter phone ecosystems, facial recognition. Facial recognition tech estimates customers gender, age and how often they visit #DigInfo. Your Face Is Your Ticket. Flight Display Systems has been demonstrating a new computer facial-recognition system–See3–that it believes will add a new level of protection to owners and operators concerned with aircraft security, in addition to creating a more complete cabin service. See3 is based on Linus Fast Access facial-recognition software but adds Flight Display’s own proprietary and expanding set of algorithms. The hardware consists of two main components–the camera and computer–both of which already have FAA parts manufacturer approval.
Placed at the entrance to the aircraft, the system elevates aircraft security by comparing the faces of those entering the airplane with a known database and alerting the crew of the entry of any unauthorized person. See3 uses nearly 100,000 values to code a face image. Flight Display has priced the hardware at $9,275 initially, with additional programming charges still to be determined. Kibo Robot To ‘Hang Out’ With Japanese Astronauts On ISS.
Top NewsDecember 3, 2012 Kibo the robot will be sent to the International Space Station in the summer of 2013. AsianScientist (Dec. 3, 2012) – A humanoid communication robot called Kibo that is being developed by Dentsu Inc., the University of Tokyo, and ROBO Garage Co. Ltd. is expected to be completed by February 2013. Kibo will be sent to the International Space Station (ISS) in the summer of 2013, as a humanoid companion for Japanese astronauts who will be living in the Kibo Experiment Module aboard the ISS. The proposal for Kibo was jointly submitted by Dentsu, the Research Center for Advanced Science and Technology (RCAST) at the University of Tokyo, and ROBO GARAGE in response to an open call last year from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). After the proposal was accepted, the team – called the Kibo Robot Project – worked for more than a year on a robot that can communicate with the astronauts via autonomous actions and remote operations.
The FBI’s Next Generation Identification program: helping law enforcement track and share suspect information across state lines | Animetrics Inc. Picture Source: FBI Official Site Some interesting news hit the biometrics community this fall: the FBI has begun to roll out its Next Generation Identification (NGI) program, which will allow law enforcement agencies around the country to compare suspect photos in a massive, national database. The long-awaited $1 billion program will also offer other biometrics comparisons, such as iris scans, DNA analysis and voice identification, according to New Scientist. A handful of states began uploading photos to the program earlier this year through a pilot, and the full database is slated to roll out nationwide in 2014.
What will this mean for law enforcement and the public? Currently, each state has its own watch list and criminal database; however, at this time, these systems are “siloed” – not integrated with other states or federal facial biometric databases. The NGI’s Interstate Photo System (IPS) will also allow law enforcement to submit and search for photos of scars, marks and tattoos. Face-recognition system for visitors to be used at border control. The Immigration Department plans to introduce a face-recognition system in addition to fingerprint-checking currently used for incoming travellers using e-channels, according to a document submitted to the Legislative Council's security panel.
It is part of the department's plan to revamp its information technology infrastructure at the city's control points. The department also plans to consolidate and merge several control point systems - such as a system that provides self-service immigration clearance for vehicle drivers and a closed-circuit television system into an integrated control point system. The document says that the department completed a feasibility study on the proposed changes in July. "Face-recognition technology has reached high maturity and accuracy and is widely adopted in other advanced countries for automated border clearance purpose," it says.
These countries include Australia, Portugal, Germany and Britain. News Article: Is Retail Ready for Facial-Recognition Technologies? Albeit too fast for privacy advocates, face recognition technologies appear to be advancing far enough to finally offer a real solution for retailers. NEC just launched a facial recognition system in Japan that lets retailers profile customers to estimate not only gender and age but whether the shopper has been at the store before and how frequently she shops there.
Using only a security camera and an internet browser connected to NEC's cloud computing technology, the service, NeoFace, also apparently comes at a budget-friendly $800 U.S. per month. NeoFace is intended for retailers with multiple stores, enabling them to detect repeat customers across locations. Individuals are recognized regardless of changing facial expressions, facial hair or eyeglasses.
"Retailers can find out how many customers visit their stores at each time of day, and what customer's attributes are," said an NEC spokesperson in an interview with Japan's DigInfo. Another option is the EyeSee from Italy's Almax SpA. Active Auto Safety Gets in Your Face | Autopia. Photo: EPFL-LTS5 & PSA Peugeot Citroën Cars are getting smarter and beginning to react on their own, but the gray matter manning the helm is still the vehicle’s Achilles heel.
So to really get inside a driver’s head, automakers are going through their faces, analyzing expressions and muscle movements to determine whether the person at the wheel is too distracted, too tired or even too angry to safely control their ride. In conjunction with PSA Peugeot Citroën, scientists at the Transportation Center and Signal Processing 5 Laboratory of Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) in Switzerland are developing a technology that uses a camera to capture facial expressions and software to look for telltale signs of distraction as well as emotions that could indicate that the driver is not up to the task at hand.
Think of it as a concerned co-pilot who can not only read your mood, but also take action before your mental condition clouds your driving decisions. Commentary & Analysis | Commentary | Gaps in law protecting our data. That caramel latte and a muffin you pick up most mornings might seem to have no connection to your personal data. What the purchase may mean, though, is that the barista is tracking your every move. If you pay with a card from the coffee chain, the chain will know whether you switched to low-fat, ate two muffins or had coffee with a friend when you bought two lattes. And the coffee shop is tame compared to what the department store knows, clothing sizes included, about your shopping sprees. All that data is supposed to stay private. Indeed, Parliament passed a new Personal Data Protection Act last month that is designed to protect consumers and make sure organisations keep their data confidential.
By 2014, every private sector organisation engaged in data activities in Singapore will need to seek consent before collecting and using people's private information. Yet the law leaves a few holes, and the pace of change in technology could mean it is already out of date. 'Avatar-technology' to tackle bullies: Study. 'Avatars' or computer-generated images of an individual could be used to help combat bullying in schools, scientists say.
In a six-month-study, researchers from the University of Kent found students using software which incorporates the latest gesture and facial recognition technology feel more positive towards other students. The study focused on students aged 12-13 and their use of technology, including 'avatars' to resolve potential conflict at school. Specifically, students using avatars like and trust their partner significantly more. They are also able to produce better ideas to alleviate bullying issues. Prior to the study, avatar-mediated communication was believed to be less effective than video-mediated communication. However, new technologies, which have developed avatars that respond to facial and gesture cues, can improve social interaction. "Advances in avatar technology have great potential to transform the way we connect and empathise with each other using computers. History of Biometrics.
Porn websites offer facial recognition to help find the girl next door ... literally. Almax creates mannequins that watch customers and track habits using facial recognition. Will Smart Cars in the Future Read Lips? Facial Recognition Surveillance Is Coming. California gets face scanners to spy on everyone at once. Instant facial recognition tech a two-edged sword.
Becoming a Connected Shopper. Samsung veut connaître votre humeur. TV gesture control, facial recognition: PredictGaze to beat Apple. Tagging You: Guidelines for Facial Recognition in Canada and the United States | Fraser Milner Casgrain LLP. Cookies must be enabled. Technology pushes digital advances closer to daily life tasks. Fake eyes will be thwarted by researcher’s new scanning technology - San Antonio Business Journal. Study gives insight into facial recognition. A new trend in securing air transport - Sri Lanka Guardian. Privacy Concerns Linger Over FBI's New Facial Recognition System. FTC: Companies should limit facial recognition in some cases. Dubai-immigration-process-set-for-big-upgrade-476953.html#.UITwubmdl6A. HRS facial recognition technology wins UK software award. Police Can Pick Drunks Out Of Crowd With New Facial Rec Tech.
Human Face Recognition Using Neural Networks Project Abstract. Gadspot to sell security cameras with facial recognition in North America. Mall Facial-Recognition Software Pegs Shoppers For Advertising Pitches. Saving Us from Facebook (and Ourselves) - Chunka Mui. NFC to stick finger in biometrics banking: Expert. Google Closes Viewdle Deal; Could Use Face Recognition in Picasa. Glasses Turn Face Into Avatar: DNews Nugget. La E-réputation vue selon Picxel. Argentina strengthens migratory control. Microsoft sued over Kinect technology. Demonstrateur Picxel reconnaissance faciale et lecture d'émotions sur une vidéo. Apple looks to automate locking, unlocking iDevices with facial recognition. Obama spends $1 billion on iris & facial recognition technology. Ngress report warns: drones will track faces from the sky. New FBI facial recognition plan.