News and insight into biometric identification and authentication

Review: Facial recognition in Apple's iPhoto

Wednesday, October 7, 2009


Apple Inc. is taking facial recognition biometrics to the masses by including the technology in the latest version of iPhoto, the computer company’s photo management software. iPhoto is one of a suite of products in iLife, which includes movie, audio and Web design tools.

Apple sent me a copy of the software to and I gave it a spin to see how it worked.

It took about 15 minutes to install the software on my two-year-old MacBook. During this time it was also searching my photo library of more than 1,900 images to find faces, a process that took about 45 minutes.

There are 316 words in the rest of this article …

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Luxand announced release of a free, downloadable version of its Blink! facial recognition software. The software provides as a biometric-based login service Windows 7 and Windows Vista operating systems via a user’s regular webcam. In addition to authenticating the individual accessing the computer, Blink! also takes and records a still image of each person trying to access the computer to help prevent unauthorized access, and touts the ability to correctly recognize stored faces despite poor lighting conditions or basic changes in a user’s look such as glasses or hair cuts.  

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Biometric Intelligence & Identification Technologies has announced it has been awarded a contract with the Massachusetts Sheriffs’ Association (MSA) for providing facial recognition systems to each county’s sheriff’s department as well as a number of individual police departments in the state.

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Airports in Barcelona and Madrid in Spain have installed self-service kiosks available for use by holders of Spanish citizen ID cards or European Community electronic passports, according to a Pro Security Zone article.

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Animetrics has announced the release of a new facial recognition authentication service available on certain mobile phones.

The service, called FaceR CredentialME, is available on devices using the Android, Windows Mobile and RIM operating systems on the Sprint 3G or 4G networks and was launched in conjunction with Troy Security Solutions, a mobile products and solutions provider.

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Human Recognition Systems, a developer of biometric solutions, has partnered with Thales to develop technology for the UK’s INSTINCT-Technology Demonstrator 2 (TD2) Airport Security Program. The INSTINCT-TD2 program is conceived in hopes of developing, trialing and showcasing the next step in airport security technology solutions by having the government work closely with private industry.

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A facial recognition system developed by California-based biometric technology developer Airborne Biometrics Group (ABG) is seeing use in a number of industries including government, casinos, transportation and corporations, according to a Las Vegas Review-Journal article.

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