One of the touchiest subjects when it comes to technology has to be facial recognition and its use, both good and bad. We have all heard about how all the major tech companies like Facebook, Google, and Microsoft have been wrestling with the ethics of implementing facial recognition within their various projects but governments around the world have no compunctions against using it for  protecting their citizens.

Now researchers have discovered a way to search images on cellphones and based on the results from that search they can then target phones around the successful search result.

To be fair now being able to do this requires an app to be installed on the phones and permission must be granted by the cellphone owner for the phones image directories to be able to be searched; but really given how easy it is to get people to install apps without really understanding the consequences how long before a version that doesn’t need permission gets installed?

The software, which was created by researchers at Rice University, and goes by the innocently sounding name: Theia, and even though the researchers believe that they have built in good enough safeguards the fact is it probably wouldn’t take much to circumvent these safeguards and turn your phone into part of a network that could be used to spy on our fellow citizens.

I don’t know about you but I don’t need a tinfoil hat to be worried about how this technology could end up being used in ways it wasn’t intended to be used.

via Geekosystem

The real-time scanning of cell phones pictures would never be misused would it. is a post from: The Inquisitr

How much does it suck when you receive the dreaded notification that a friend of yours has tagged you in a Facebook photo?

As you’re probably familiar with, we’re all pretty hardwired to select the most flattering images of ourselves, and images taken during a night out often yield red wine-induced flushing, unexpected panty exposure, boner-like cargo pant bunching or, most commonly, more chins than a Chinese phonebook. It’s rare that a friend’s photos will compliment all participants, and friends tend to select the ones that flatter them. Unfortunately for all of us, next week, the process of tagging you in every picture from that wedding with the horrible eggplant colored bridesmaid’s dress where you think maybe you had puke in your hair is set to become much more efficient.

While the privacy concerns of Facebook “recognizing” your face can be a little scary, the implications are far, far worse for the vain and/or rosacea-prone-when-drunk. Facebook explained the handy new feature on their blog:

While tags are an essential tool for sharing important moments, many of you have said tagging photos can be a chore. (Like that time you had to tag your cousin and her fiancé over and over and over again in 64 different pictures of their engagement party, and then go back and tag the guests.)

Since October, we’ve been working to make this process easier for you. First we added group tagging, so you could type one name and apply it to multiple photos of the same person. Now we’re announcing tag suggestions, which will make tagging multiple photos even more convenient.

If you’re not too excited about the proposition of being tagged automatically, you can kind of opt out, says Facebook:

If for any reason you don’t want your name to be suggested, you will be able to disable suggested tags in your Privacy Settings. Just click “Customize Settings” and “Suggest photos of me to friends.” Your name will no longer be suggested in photo tags, though friends can still tag you manually. You can learn more about this feature in our Help Center.

Alternatively, you can disable the entire process by punching someone in the face when they whip out a camera at a bar at 3AM, because that is just not cool.

Facebook adds ‘tag suggestion’ facial recognition to assist in more widely distributing unflattering pictures of you is a post from: The Inquisitr

The LG GW620 may not be getting the press received by the Motorola Droid or for that matter even the HTC Droid Eris, but it’s still a great Google Android based Smartphone and with it’s Qwerty keyboard and sleek design it’s a great option for Canadian customers on the Rogers Wireless Network.

The LG Eve features a very cool Social Network Services (SNS) Manager that auto pulls all of your Bebo, Facebook and Twitter updates, while the device also provides plenty of picture taking capabilities with the devices 5MP autofocus camera that also provides facial recognition that can take your photos and tie them into your contacts list based on already established pics.

The LG GW620 also comes equipped with a 3 inch resistive touchscreen (yeah we wanted a capacitive screen too), Quad-band GSM, Triband 3G, WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS and an accelerometer.

It’s cheap at $49.99, but with a three year contract it’s quite a commitment to make for both voice and data services. BTW, it’s already listed as out of stock. [SlashGear]

Here’s the official and somewhat creepy commercial for the LG Eve:

LG GW620 “Eve” Arrives In Canada Through Way Of Rogers is a post from: The Inquisitr

The new tool will analyze people’s faces and link images it sees as having the same person. Once you fill in that person’s name, Picasa will let you access all of his or her pictures with a single click. It’s basically tagging, without the work.

A new beta version of Picasa’s image editing utility will also be released. The software is said to include new “movie making” options for photo-music montages as well as advanced retouching tools, collage capabilities, and dynamic synchronization for photos uploaded from external Web sites.

The stuff is set to go live just after noon PT Tuesday.

Picasa Gets Smart With Facial Recognition is a post from: The Inquisitr