weak signals

Russian Bond Girl Anna Chapman Featured in Hot Poker App
Oak Brook, IL Oct 11, 2010 in Games

[prMac.com] San Jose, California - Zeda today launches Poker with Anna Chapman - a red-hot yet elegant poker app spiced up with some Russian-style steaminess. The Moscow beauty is ready to disclose her secrets to enthusiastic poker players allowing them to friend her on Facebook.

Having caused quite a stir on the Internet earlier this year, the flame-haired beauty is opening up some new opportunities to reveal her bright individuality. Anna Chapman, herself a skillful poker player, (((Oh really. You don’t say. How “Casino Royale”))) personally participated in the creation of the app by posing for Zeda’s photographer, opening her Facebook page and starting a special blog accessible - all these for the app’s users only. (((Can someone confirm this please? I’d do it myself, but I’m all jetlagged. And besides, there’s only so much Anna Chapman Facebook sex-bomb ooze that my laptop can tolerate.)))

So, the luckiest players can get a pleasant bonus and take a peek into Anna’s private life. Winners will have a chance to friend the mysterious Anna Chapman on Facebook and read her personal blog.

(exclusive access tied to app)

A software company is developing revolutionary software which provides the ability to identify people from photographs posted on the internet.

Face.com has produced technology that can identify individuals on social networking sites and online galleries by comparing their image against a known picture of them.

It means detailed profiles of individuals can be built up purely from online photographs and critics have said it could lead to exploitation by employers.

Privacy concerns: Face.com has made software available that can identify people from photographs on the internet through facial recognition technology (file picture)

The software works be creating an algorithim of the face - a measurement of the arrangement of features including the eyes, nose and mouth.

The company says it is 90 per cent accurate when scanning typical images which appear on social networking sites.

Face.com has previously limited the availability of the software over concerns about invasion of privacy.

But it has now released the Photo Finder software to developers building applications allowing people to search for anyone on the internet.

Gil Hirsch, chief executive of Face.com, told The Sunday Times: 'We have launched a service that allows developers to take our facial recognition technology and apply it immediately to their own applications.

'The technology is already being used by 5,000 developers. You can basically search for people in any photo.

'You could search for family members on Flickr, in newspapers, or in videos on YouTube - but it would take a lot of processing power.'

The use of facial detection technology has only been used by the UK Border Agency.

Google has a tool - Picasa - which allows users to organise their photos by tagging matching faces and Facebook uses Photo Finder.

Supporters of the software, including the Red Cross, have said it could be used to track people lost in humanitarian disasters.

But there are strong concerns over the accuracy of the technology and its impact on privacy.

Simon Davies, director of Privacy International, said: 'I think this will make many people very uneasy.

'The regulators have been hugely behind the curve of protecting people's privacy on the internet. We need to push for much tighter international rules.'

Imagine a public eye scanner that can identify 50 people per minute, in motion. Now imagine that the government install these scanner systems all across an entire city. Or don't imagine it, because it's already happening, right now.

The City of Leon, Mexico, is doing exactly that, installing real time iris scanners from biometrics R&D firm Global Rainmakers Inc. These scanners don't require people to stop and put their eyes in front of a camera. They work in real time, as people walk, like this:

Which is very similar to this once-science-fiction scene:

There are different kinds of machines being installed across Leon, from large scanners—capable of identifying 50 people per minute in motion— to smaller ones—like the EyeSwipe in the video above—that range from 15 to 30 people per minute. These devices are being installed in public places, like train and bus stations, and connected to a database that will track people across the city.

City officials and proponents of the system are hoping that public retinal scans will stop crime and fraud. According to Jeff Carter, CDO of Global Rainmakers:

If you've been convicted of a crime, in essence, this will act as a digital scarlet letter. If you're a known shoplifter, for example, you won't be able to go into a store without being flagged. Certainly for others, boarding a plane will be impossible.

The retinal scanning of Leon's one million population has started already with its convicted criminals. Citizens with no criminal records have been offered the opportunity to "voluntarily" scan their eyes. This, however, is just the beginning. According to Carter, everyone in the planet should be connected to the iris tracking system in 10 years:

In the future, whether it's entering your home, opening your car, entering your workspace, getting a pharmacy prescription refilled, or having your medical records pulled up, everything will come off that unique key that is your iris. Every person, place, and thing on this planet will be connected within the next 10 years.

The iPhone Spy Stick can be used to snoop information that is stored on a user's iPhone (even deleted data), within limitations. The ill-intentioned will want to keep reading.

The way that it works sounds simple (we haven't played with one yet). Just connect the stick and the target iPhone to a computer and run the included software, which pulls all sorts of data from the phone. You'll find deleted texts, calendar events, photos, and contact information. It'll also find recent map searches, locations tracked via GPS, Web history, and voice memos.

Are you scared yet? Don't be. In order to work, the iPhone Spy Stick requires a Windows machine (Windows XP, Vista, or 7 only) and an iPhone that is running iOS 3.2.1 (and earlier). In other words, you can't run it on any iPhone from any machine. That's still some hard core snooping, though.

I love that the manufacturer boasts that the device "Looks like an ordinary USB flash drive - no one will suspect that it's a professional grade forensics tool." I suppose that's in spite of the fact that is says, "iPhone Spy Stick" in huge, black and white letters. You can get yours for US$199.

[Via Übergizmo]

Surveillance by Big Brother is less scary than surveillance by each other, by people you know and know you.

(technosocial implications for ubiquitous computing)