The acquisition, which has been in the works for more than a year, is expected to close this week, the person said.
Representatives from Google and Viewdle declined to comment.
The move makes sense for Google because Viewdle's technology provides a way for users of Google+, Android, Picasa, and other services on a range of devices to easily (even, automatically) tag photos of friends. Viewdle's SocialCamera app automatically tags … Read more
New Jersey is a sprawling, cheery place.
It's a place whose buses carry the aspiring and the ambitious in excessive proximity, each one of them dreaming of a studio in Brooklyn.
It's a place with few great restaurants, but many people just happy to live their lives and not have to watch NBA games anymore. Until they finally get that studio in Brooklyn, that is.
How odd, then, that New Jerseyites aren't allowed to express their inner contentment when they have their driver's license picture taken.… Read more
Facebook has finally satisfied the European Union by disabling facial recognition tagging.
Facebook, which was subjected to an audit by Ireland's Data Protection Commissioner (DPC), was under pressure to implement a variety of changes in Europe, mostly dealing with privacy and security issues. Last December, Facebook had promised to make the changes outlined in the audit document in order to comply with European regulations.
One stumbling block was facial recognition tagging, which prompts your Facebook friends to "tag" or identify you in photos in which you appear.
Facebook has now turned off the feature for European users. … Read more
Congrats to Jonathan H. of Flushing, N.Y., for winning two canvas-mounted Instagram prints from CanvasPop in last week's giveaway. This week's freebie is really something to talk about. We're offering up a copy of Dragon NaturallySpeaking 12, Nuance's new voice recognition software for PCs.
Dragon NaturallySpeaking 12 promises 20 percent more accuracy than its predecessor, Dragon 11, as well as faster speeds and new technology that learns your preferences as you use it.
The product plays better than ever with Gmail and Hotmail, according to Nuance, and also extends the free Dragon Remote Microphone App experience to Android, turning compatible phones into a wireless microphone for Dragon for PC. … Read more
In addition, the Federation of German Consumer Organizations is ordering Facebook to stop giving third-party applications users' data without their consent.
If the social network doesn't do this by Sept. 4, the FGCO will sue. Earlier this month, Norway also announced … Read more
Facebook is being probed by the Norwegian Data Protection Authority over concerns regarding its facial recognition tool that automatically suggests people's names to tag in pictures. Facebook started rolling out the Tag Suggestions feature worldwide in June 2011, and ever since has faced backlash from privacy groups in Europe.
When you upload new photos, Facebook uses software similar to that found in many photo editing tools to match your new photos to other photos you're tagged in. Similar photos are grouped together and, whenever possible, Facebook suggests the names of your friends in the photos. In other words, … Read more
Minnesota Senator Al Franken is concerned about the growing use of facial recognition technology spurred by companies like Facebook, Apple, and Google. He believes that once mainstreamed, not only is privacy curbed but also law enforcement officials could potentially abuse the technology to the detriment of U.S. residents.
In a Senate hearing on facial recognition technology today, Franken, who is the chairman of the Senate Subcommittee on Privacy, Technology, and the Law, questioned the FBI, the Federal Trade Commission, and Facebook about their use of this computer science, according to The Verge.
Facebook automatically uses facial recognition software in … Read more
Siri was hailed as a innovation when it was unveiled with the iPhone 4S. But do iPhone owners still talk to her?
In a column for yesterday's New York Times, writer Nick Bilton said he believes the romance may have soured between Siri and her users.
Initially enthused about the new voice assistant, Bilton found that too many of his conversations ended up in a failure to communicate, with Siri either unavailable or unable to provide the right information. And he doesn't seem to be the only one having communication problems with Siri.
Bilton also noted that many … Read more
After soaring into the PC and mobile world, Angry Birds is flapping into its next arena -- smart TVs.
Samsung today announced the launch of a new Angry Birds app (English translation) designed for certain of its smart TVs.
Tapping into Samsung's Smart Interaction gesture recognition, game players will be able to use gestures and voice commands to target the angry birds in their battle against the pigs.
Due out sometime this month, the Angry Birds app will be compatible with Samsung's smart TVs ES7000, ES8000, and ES9000. Taking advantage of Samsung's newly-updated Smart TV SDK, the … Read more
AT&T is looking for help in making its speech recognition software ultra-consumer oriented. The mobile carrier announced today that its Watson Speech application programming interfaces, or API, is now open to developers.
AT&T's Watson, not to be confused with IBM's Watson, is software that the company aims to program to learn different accents, speaker variations, background environments, platform variations, dialects, and speech patterns, according to a company blog post today.
"It's a technology that's been a long time in development and more than 600 patents in the making, and we're … Read more
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