[Blindmath] Facial recognition -- food for thought

Fri Mar 30 20:05:17 UTC 2012

Hi Carolyn,

No, I was not referring to your post. I had no problem with your post and
considered it to be entirely appropriate.

Thanks for the information.

Dick B.

On Fri, Mar 30, 2012 at 2:42 PM, Carolyn MacLeod <Carolyn_MacLeod at ca.ibm.com
> wrote:

> I guess this must have been in response to my post about the face-tagging
> software?
> If so, I feel compelled to set the record straight by saying that I did
> not in any way mean to imply that folks should sit by and wait for big
> companies to do stuff.
> I only wanted to share what I had discovered when I tried the face-tagging
> in Photo Gallery, because I was pretty impressed by its performance.
>
> If you had been able to read my mind while I was posting, you would have
> heard something like, "Cool topic! Here's something I learned on the
> subject."
> (Now there's a challenging math problem for the future... analyzing
> people's thought data <grin>).
>
> Please allow me to elaborate on my Photo Gallery experience a bit more,
> just for the fun of sharing an exploration of new technology.  :)
> I have thousands and thousands of photos on my computer, and I ran Photo
> Gallery partly to see what it could do, and partly because my husband said
> he needed a photo of himself for a Bio.
> Richard, you are correct: it is not real-time, but it is almost fast
> enough - it was processing about 3 or 4 photos per second, maybe more.
> The accuracy depended on whether or not the person has distinctive facial
> features.
> For example, after showing me several faces which I identified as my
> husband, it suggested over 800 more of him without a single error!
> This included some photos that were dark, grainy, small, or with an angled
> or tilted view.
> I was surprised at the accuracy, and then I realized that my husband is
> the only person in all of my photos who has a dark mustache and glasses,
> so the software obviously optimizes for those.
> It had a more difficult time with my 9-year-old son, however, getting only
> about 80% of his photos correct, as it quite often suggested one of his
> cousins, or occasionally, his friends.
> It had some real bloopers, like once it suggested that his Grandma might
> be him.
> The algorithms behind all this must be really cool, but I do have a
> suggestion for them... look at the date the photos were taken.
> If you have a photo of a person in their seventies and one of a child, and
> both photos were taken on the same day, it is not possible for them to be
> the same person.  :)
>
> I want to share one more thing that I learned, if you will permit me. I
> believe it pertains to the topic.
> After Richard posted about the real-time facial recognition, I searched
> the App Store, just for fun, to see what iPhone apps might be out there.
> Most of them are simple entertainment apps that find a face in a photo and
> decorate it in some way.
> One app, called Cyborg, did claim to have real-time facial recognition,
> looking up and displaying the identified person's name, gender, home town,
> birthday and current location, and whether or not they are smiling.
> I don't recommend the app because the reviews are not very good, but what
> I found interesting was that they get the data by requesting that you log
> in to your Facebook account.
> The advantages of that are that the user does not need to carry any photos
> and other data around, and that there is an enormous quantity of data that
> your Facebook friends and family have already entered for you.
> The disadvantages, of course, are the lack of privacy issues, and the fact
> that the data comes from other people and sources and therefore might not
> be as trusted as if it came directly from the user.
>
> One last thing. Apparently Google is planning to sell something called
> Google Goggles by year end.
> They have a camera, and a possibly interesting head-tilting mechanism for
> selecting things, but unfortunately they do not seem to have an earpiece
> (I could be wrong).
> However, if they catch on, then it may just be considered cool to be
> wearing high-tech headgear.  <grin>
>
> http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/02/21/google-to-sell-terminator-style-glasses-by-years-end/
>
> Carolyn
>
>
>
> From:
> Richard Baldwin <baldwin at dickbaldwin.com>
> To:
> Blind Math list for those interested in mathematics <blindmath at nfbnet.org>
> Date:
> 03/28/2012 05:56 PM
> Subject:
> Re: [Blindmath] Facial recognition -- food for thought
> Sent by:
> blindmath-bounces at nfbnet.org
>
>
>
> Steve,
>
> You wrote "My point here is not to scold as we have been sort of scolded,"
>
> My earlier post was not intended to scold you or anyone else in the blind
> community.
>
> I pointed out when I made the (apparently offending) statement that it
> might not make sense to some readers due to those readers not having seen
> all of the previous posts due to distribution issues with earlier posts.
>
> My post was in response to a post made earlier by a SIGHTED individual, I
> repeat a SIGHTED individual, who in effect said that we shouldn't expend
> efforts doing things that the big companies might do better if we are
> patient and willing to wait long enough.
>
> My point is that if I had the need, (and perhaps there is no need), I
> wouldn't be patient and wait for something that the big companies might do
> for me at some time in the future. Instead, if possible, I would do it for
> myself.
>
> Dick Baldwin
>
> On Wed, Mar 28, 2012 at 4:36 PM, Richard Baldwin
> <baldwin at dickbaldwin.com>wrote:
>
> > I don't understand the question.
> > Dick Baldwin
> >
> >
> > On Wed, Mar 28, 2012 at 2:00 PM, Pickrell, Rebecca M (TASC) <
> > REBECCA.PICKRELL at tasc.com> wrote:
> >
> >> Dick,
> >> You percieve this as a problem. Why?
> >> I don't. The technology is interesting, but it doesn't mean not seeing
> >> someone's face is a problem.
> >>
> >>
> >> -----Original Message-----
> >> From: blindmath-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:blindmath-bounces at nfbnet.org
> ]
> >> On Behalf Of Richard Baldwin
> >> Sent: Wednesday, March 28, 2012 9:04 AM
> >> To: Blind Math list for those interested in mathematics;
> >> seeingwithsound at freelists.org
> >> Subject: Re: [Blindmath] Facial recognition -- food for thought
> >>
> >> Apologies to those who haven't seen all of the response postings due to
> >> cross listing of the original post and to whom this post probably won't
> >> make sense.
> >>
> >> If I were blind and could purchase all of the necessary hardware,
> >> including
> >> gigabytes of USB storage for a few hundred dollars, I wouldn't be
> sitting
> >> around waiting for Microsoft, Google, Apple, or some other large
> company
> >> to
> >> solve my problems. I would be working to solve those problems myself.
> >>
> >> If Bill Gates and Michael Dell had that attitude, there wouldn't be a
> >> Microsoft. IBM would "own" the computer market on a worldwide basis.
> >>
> >> Dick Baldwin
> >>
> >> On Wed, Mar 28, 2012 at 7:03 AM, Carolyn MacLeod <
> >> Carolyn_MacLeod at ca.ibm.com
> >> > wrote:
> >>
> >> > Not sure if this is useful, and you probably already know, but
> >> Microsoft's
> >> > Windows Live Photo Gallery and Picasa and iPhoto (and some others)
> have
> >> a
> >> > feature called face-tagging.
> >> > They work surprisingly well, although they need someone to identify
> >> photos
> >> > and confirm guesses, and they do make some ridiculous mistakes
> >> sometimes.
> >> > If you have Windows 7 or Vista, you may already have Windows Live
> Photo
> >> > Gallery installed - to find out, open the Start menu and type
> "Windows
> >> > Live Photo Gallery" in the Search field, then Enter.
> >> > If not, here's a link with a download button:
> >> >
> >>
> http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/products/features/photo-gallery
>
> >> > Carolyn
> >> >
> >> >
> >> >
> >> >
> >> > From:
> >> > Richard Baldwin <baldwin at dickbaldwin.com>
> >> > To:
> >> > BlindMath Mailing List <blindmath at nfbnet.org>,
> >> > seeingwithsound at freelists.org
> >> > Date:
> >> > 03/27/2012 11:05 PM
> >> > Subject:
> >> > [Blindmath] Facial recognition -- food for thought
> >> > Sent by:
> >> > blindmath-bounces at nfbnet.org
> >> >
> >> >
> >> >
> >> > Most of the math courses that I completed in public school and
> college
> >> > mainly involved completely deterministic concepts such as finding
> >> unknown
> >> > in sets of algebraic equations, proving theorems in geometry, proving
> >> > identities in trigonometry, solving triangle problems using
> >> trigonometry,
> >> > differentiating functions, integrating functions, playing around with
> >> > solids of revolution, etc. They were all good exercises for the brain
> >> but
> >> > were not very close to real-world problems.
> >> >
> >> > When I made it into engineering college, the problems and their
> >> solutions
> >> > were closer to the real world but only barely so.
> >> >
> >> > When I completed my first engineering degree and went to work in the
> >> real
> >> > world, I learned very quickly that problems in the real world are far
> >> from
> >> > deterministics. In other words, there are very few problems in the
> real
> >> > world that have deterministic solutions. Problems in the real world
> >> > usually
> >> > involve a mix of mathematics, statistics, physics, engineering,
> computer
> >> > science, and other technologies, and there is rarely a single correct
> >> > solution for any problem.
> >> >
> >> > Furthermore, the solution to most problems requires the design and
> >> > implementation of complex mathematical algorithms, and those
> algorithms
> >> > are
> >> > most commonly implemented using a computer of some sort. (In my
> opinion,
> >> > every student that receives a technical degree should be required to
> >> learn
> >> > to program well in at least one programming language.)
> >> >
> >> > By now you must be wondering where this is all heading.
> >> >
> >> > I saw on TV today that shopping malls and large department stores are
> >> > installing electronic billboards that use facial recognition to
> display
> >> > advertisements that are likely to be of interest to those persons who
> >> can
> >> > see the billboard.
> >> >
> >> > I have no idea what the facial recognition algorithm is for
> categorizing
> >> > the viewers in a way that allows for a selection of appropriate
> >> > advertisements. However, this tells me that the algorithm doesn't
> >> require
> >> > a
> >> > supercomputer to implement. The algorithms must be implemented using
> >> > modestly priced computer hardware. Otherwise, they would be too
> >> expensive
> >> > to include in such billboards.
> >> >
> >> > This makes me wonder if it might be possible to use a small portable
> >> > computer to develop a system that will do facial recognition on
> people
> >> > whose faces appear in the field of view of a miniature video camera
> >> > embedded in eyeglass frames and to speak information about those
> people
> >> to
> >> > the wearer of the glasses.
> >> >
> >> > Science fiction? Maybe so and maybe not.
> >> >
> >> > Dr. Peter Meijer has demonstrated that it is possible to couple a
> video
> >> > camera built into eyeglass frames with a small portable computer and
> an
> >> > appropriate software program (The vOICe) and to create soundscapes
> that
> >> > some blind users find very beneficial (see
> >> http://www.seeingwithsound.com/
> >> > )
> >> > as they move through the world.
> >> >
> >> > Not being blind, I can't imagine what it would be like to interact
> with
> >> > other people that you can't see. However, it seems to me that it
> would
> >> be
> >> > beneficial for a blind person to know something about another persons
> >> > before a conversation begins. Depending on capability, this could
> range
> >> > all
> >> > the way from rudimentary information such as the probable sex and
> likely
> >> > age of the person, to detailed information such as the identification
> of
> >> > prior acquaintances by name.
> >> >
> >> > Perhaps it is time for a group of blind mathematicians, physicists,
> >> > engineers, statisticians, and computer scientists to band together to
> >> > produce such a system and to publish it as an open source
> >> > hardware/software
> >> > system.
> >> >
> >> > Food for thought,
> >> > Dick Baldwin
> >> >
> >> > --
> >> > Richard G. Baldwin (Dick Baldwin)
> >> > Home of Baldwin's on-line Java Tutorials
> >> > http://www.DickBaldwin.com
> >> >
> >> > Professor of Computer Information Technology
> >> > Austin Community College
> >> > (512) 223-4758
> >> > mailto:Baldwin at DickBaldwin.com
> >> > http://www.austincc.edu/baldwin/
> >> > _______________________________________________
> >> > Blindmath mailing list
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> >>
>
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/blindmath_nfbnet.org/carolyn_macleod%40ca.ibm.com
>
> >> >
> >> >
> >> >
> >> >
> >> > _______________________________________________
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>
> >> >
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> --
> >> Richard G. Baldwin (Dick Baldwin)
> >> Home of Baldwin's on-line Java Tutorials
> >> http://www.DickBaldwin.com
> >>
> >> Professor of Computer Information Technology
> >> Austin Community College
> >> (512) 223-4758
> >> mailto:Baldwin at DickBaldwin.com
> >> http://www.austincc.edu/baldwin/
> >> _______________________________________________
> >> Blindmath mailing list
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> >
> >
> >
> > --
> > Richard G. Baldwin (Dick Baldwin)
> > Home of Baldwin's on-line Java Tutorials
> > http://www.DickBaldwin.com
> >
> > Professor of Computer Information Technology
> > Austin Community College
> > (512) 223-4758
> > mailto:Baldwin at DickBaldwin.com
> > http://www.austincc.edu/baldwin/
> >
>
>
>
> --
> Richard G. Baldwin (Dick Baldwin)
> Home of Baldwin's on-line Java Tutorials
> http://www.DickBaldwin.com
>
> Professor of Computer Information Technology
> Austin Community College
> (512) 223-4758
> mailto:Baldwin at DickBaldwin.com
> http://www.austincc.edu/baldwin/
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-- 
Richard G. Baldwin (Dick Baldwin)
Home of Baldwin's on-line Java Tutorials
http://www.DickBaldwin.com

Professor of Computer Information Technology
Austin Community College
(512) 223-4758
mailto:Baldwin at DickBaldwin.com
http://www.austincc.edu/baldwin/