Google Adds Face Recognition to Picasa

It was bound to happen eventually, but who expected it from a completely free application? Google has gone ahead and added face recognition to their Picasa application and co-existing web service, which is sure to make handling your large collections a breeze (or so we can hope).

The web service version works by scanning your photo collection to come up with groups of photos that contain the same person. At that point, you can click all that are matches and affix a name, making them easier to search for in the future. Photos added after-the-fact can be added with the same tag, or rescanned to let Picasa find the similar faces.

To take things even further, you can also add tags for location and activities. The privacy issue really piques my interest here. Google won't only have information of who someone is and where they are located, but they'll now be able to see what they look like. In some regards, it's actually kind of scary, but that's the power that Google has. Steve Rambam said it best, 'Privacy is Dead'.

My paranoia aside, this feature is sure to make personal collections a lot easier to manage, and I'm almost tempted to download version 3.0 of the software version once it becomes available. There are of course other new features included, so I recommend checking out the blog link below to read about them.

Tagging is a powerful way to sort digital photographs. Photo albums are useful, but with rich tagging, people also can slice and dice their photo collection to show particular people, activities, or locations. Even with face recognition technology or other computer processing, the textual tags in photos are a far more reliable way for computers to understand image content.

Source: Underexposed

Google's Chrome - Browser Done Right?

On Monday, we linked to news of a Google browser that would possibly be launched sometime in the near future. Well, 'possibly' is the wrong word to use, because it was released the very next day. If only all rumors solidified so fast! I admit, even while making that news post, I remained skeptical about how great their browser could actually be. There is so much competition, so how would they have a hope to even compete?

Well, now that the browser is available, I am can rightfully say that my opinion has been changed entirely. Google isn't just releasing a browser in order to throw their badge on something... they're actually doing things that are unique, innovative, and common sense, in order to help the web evolve. I'm not so sure how their browser will help the web evolve, but I do know they are going in the right direction.

In case you didn't look at the top of the site today, be sure not to miss our in-depth look at the new browser. Do so even if you downloaded the browser yourself... you never know, we might just help you figure out something you didn't even know what there! What's most impressive to me is that despite the first release of Chrome being a beta, it's well done, and seems entirely stable. I can't wait to see what the follow-up releases are going to be like.

One example in particular is when I am preparing a post for our news section or our forums, and then all of Firefox goes down in one swoop, without warning and without error. To prevent this, Chrome throws each tab into it's own instance within Windows, so if one tab crashes, it won't effect the other tabs that are still open. When first starting Chrome up, you'll notice that two instances are active - one for the browser, and another for the 'speed dial', I assume. Open up another tab, and you'll see a third instance, and this increases as you open more tabs.

Source: Chrome - Google's Attempt at the 'Ultimate Browser'

Is Vista Driving People Towards Linux?

Alright, I admit that I'm somewhat of a Linux fan, given it's my primary OS, but I'm not about to make assumptions that Windows Vista is so bad, that it's driving people towards it. Could I be wrong? Well, according to an author at IT Wire, it's a definite possibility. The author explains that he himself had huge beefs with Vista, and from what I assume, he decided to stick with Linux.

For whatever reason, I actually seem to be going in a somewhat opposite direction when it comes to Vista-bashing. When the OS was first released, I had no end of Vista spite, but now that Service Pack 1 has been released, and I realized how much better the 64-bit version of the OS is, I'm starting to hate it a lot less. I've been using it as the primary OS on the Skulltrail machine here since earlier this year, and I really haven't run into any show-stopping issues.

I know I'm alone, though, and not a day goes by when I don't hear someone talking about how bad Vista is... which actually surprises me, given that the typical user tends to be a little more patient with OS annoyances than the advanced user. So is Vista actually pushing users towards Linux? I'm willing to be debated, but I'm doubtful. As is obvious from all the news posts I make about Linux, I love the OS, but it still has a way to go before people are going to begin flocking to it.

The eeePC and other notebooks are a hit because everything works. There is limited functionality but then that's all the buyer is looking for. Nerds and geeks drool over it as they would over any gadget. Businessmen find them handy to carry from place to place - they weigh very little. Compared to something like my IBM Stink... er, ThinkPad, the eeePC is a featherweight. Even a child can carry it around - as indeed I've seen some children do.

Source: IT Wire

AMD Doesn't Plan on Letting NVIDIA Get Back Up

Where GPUs are concerned, times are interesting. Over the course of the past two years, NVIDIA dominated the low-end, mid-range and high-end markets, and the outlook for AMD looked grim. But lo and behold, big red had something up their sleeve and what they launched surprised even NVIDIA. That was proven by the fact that NVIDIA dropped their newly-launched GTX 280 by over $200 within the first month. Now that's hitting someone where it hurts.

According to TG Daily, AMD has little intention to sit back and let NVIDIA redeem themselves. Their internal roadmap lays out plans to launch low-end cards from their 4000-series to compete with NVIDIA's newly launched 9400 GT, which was launched as a result of apparent increases in demand for low-end discrete graphics - an increase that AMD claims didn't ever exist.

Aside from the potential low-end cards, AMD is set to launch new mid-range cards next week which include the HD 4650 and HD 4670, both featuring 320 stream processors, along with 512MB and 1GB of memory, respectively. That's all good... but I think most of us want to see what's up NVIDIA's sleeve next, especially after AMD's recent HD 4870 X2 launch, which was equivalent to a full-blown whiplash for the green side.

We caught up with AMD’s Dave Baumann, who told us that AMD did not notice increasing demand in the $60 segment of graphics cards. However, he noted that demand isn't decreasing either and has remained stable on a fairly high level. Commenting on Nvidia’s 9400 GT, Baumann said that AMD believes that this 55 nm G96 GPU may not be cheap to produce and represent a "quick-and-dirty-solution" to participate in the $60 market, which aims to provide PC users an affordable upgrade for IGC-equipped PCs.

Source: TG Daily

Mythbusters Weren't Allowed to Air RFID Segment

One video that seems to be spreading around the web like wildfire is of Adam Savage, who in a talk tells all about the Mythbusters' inability to show their findings with RFID's hackable on the show. The talk happened at the Hackers On Planet Earth conference that occurred this past July, which I covered here. In this video (embedded below), Adam is asked by an audience member why they haven't tackled RFID, and it becomes obvious quick that there's a big problem surrounding why.

As he points out, quite simply, the credit card companies stepped in, because after all, they are the leaders in RFID usage, so who can blame them? Well, if only all of us thought like that, and I'm sure by now many of us already know just how hackable RFID really is. It's just too bad the general masses do not.

During the same talk, Adam goes on about the shows' inability to do a segment on teeth whiteners, as they were stopped by the toothpaste companies. Since Discovery Channel is funded by commercials, to show such a segment would jeopardize their revenue. Adam stated that they found the 'whitening strips' to do absolutely nothing, although I have other people who tell me they do work, and they're living proof. That one might have to be proven in your own house. Regardless, it's not surprising that the show is shaped in such a way, but it's still too bad.

"Oh dude, the RFID thing. I'm sorry, it's just not going to happen. Here's what happened, and I'm not sure how much of the story I'm allowed to tell, but I'll tell you what I know. We were going to do RFID, on several levels, how hackable, how reliable, how trackable, et cetera, and one of our researchers contacted Texas Instruments..."

Source: YouTube

Tech Roundup - September 3, 2008

• ASUS Maximus II Formula - Hardware Logic
• GIGABYTE EP45-Extreme - TweakTown
• Gigabyte X48T-DQ6 - T-Break
• MSI P45 Platinum - InsideHW
• Palit 9800GT Super+ 1GB Single/SLI - Motherboards.org

• GeForce 9800 GT Roundup - Hardware Canucks
• PNY GeForce 9800 GTX 512MB XLR8 - TheTechLounge
• PowerColor HD4870 PCS+ - Overclockers Club

• Geil Ultra DDR3 2x1GB - Overclockers Club
• iStarUSA xAge-N99-US USB 2.0 Hard Drive Docking Station - Legit Reviews

• NMEDIAPC Wireless Keyboard with Track Ball & Remote Combo Set - Think Computers
• Sennheiser RS 130 Wireless Headphones - Tech-Lobby

• Corsair HX620W Power Supply - Digit-Life
• GlacialPower GP-AL650 Power Supply - Virtual-Hideout
• NZXT Tempest Crafted Series Mid-Tower - PC Perspective
• Zalman HD160XT Plus Premium HTPC Case - TweakNews

• Contest: FusionMods Birthday Bash - FusionMods
• Guide: Mahogony USB Drive - GideonTech
• Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ50 - Digital Trends