Internet & Media- Page 5

Finding faces in Google Maps terrain

Something our human eyes seem to do, without any prompting, is to pick out shapes and structures that resemble other shapes and structures. Called pareidolia, it's a form of pattern recognition -- and a good example is the way we often see a human face where only a random collection of shapes or shadows exists. This, it is now known, is the reason for the infamous face on Mars.

Our own Earth, as folded and rippled as it is, is also prone to this phenomenon when viewed from above: the Badlands Guardian, discovered on Google Earth in 2006, for example. But we're sure there are many more human-esque faces lurking in strange corners of the Earth.

That is the premise behind Google Faces, a project by Berlin design studio Onformative: can pareidolia be imitated by a machine? Using OpenFrameworks, the studio has created an application that crawls Google Maps, using facial recognition algorithms to seek out areas that look like faces. … Read more

Twitter fights hacking with two-factor authentication

After a string of high-profile hacking incidents, Twitter has finally introduced a two-factor authentication system as a way for members to keep their accounts more secure.

On Wednesday, the information network rolled out the new login verification feature, which people can select to require entry of a six-digit code, in addition to their standard password, to gain access to their Twitter accounts.

"When you sign in to twitter.com, there's a second check to make sure it's really you," the company said in a blog post announcing the optional security feature.

The two-factor system mirrors that … Read more

Vint Cerf: Social conventions have not kept up with technology

LAGUNA BEACH, Calif. -- Echoing comments from other Google executives, Vint Cerf acknowledged that Google Glass, as well as other mobile devices, come with unresolved privacy issues. "We have a problem with these technologies. Our social conventions have not kept up with the technology," Cerf said, speaking at the Future in Review conference here.

He gave an example of someone standing in front of the Egyptian pyramids and asking a stranger to take his picture. Someone standing nearby is caught in the picture, which is uploaded to a photo-sharing Web site and made publicly available. Someone else searching … Read more

Better search finds its way into Android Chrome

Google made searching in Chrome for Android a bit easier with an update Wednesday to the browser.

The latest stable version of Google Chrome 27 for Android (download) now displays search queries in the location bar's Omnibox. The change obfuscates the URL display during searches, to show more results and make it easier to tweak the search terms, according to the Google blog announcing the update.

Another tweak hides the location bar entirely once you start scrolling, so that you can view a Web page in fullscreen. History viewing has finally made it to the tablet version of Android … Read more

Gab online about Bieber's house parties, pay $5M

After several high-profile incriminating pictures hitting the Intertubes this year, TMZ reports that Justin Bieber wants all visitors to his Calabasas, Calif., mega mansion to sign a liability waiver restricting any social-media divulge about the goings-on behind closed doors.

The supposed waiver (PDF) isn't the friendliest welcome mat, as anyone with loose lips automatically gets pegged with a $5 million lawsuit -- plus they forfeit a few rights, including the ability to sue Bieber.

"Without in any way limiting the foregoing, under no circumstances will you divulge the details of you entering and being on the Property or engaging in the Activities by any means or through any media whatsoever, including without limitation, through photographs, video, blogging, texting, "tweeting" or posting any such information on any social-media site," says the alleged waiver. … Read more

Foursquare gets better at local search with new filters on mobile

Foursquare released new versions of its iPhone and Android applications to help people narrow their searches and find just the right bar, restaurant, or coffee spot.

Application users can now fine-tune their place queries and use the filter button to tick off a number of attributes to find venues that are open now or places where friends have been in the past. People also can search by price range and sort results by best match or distance.

"When you're looking for somewhere to eat, sometimes you know exactly what kind of place you want -- cheap or fancy, … Read more

Twitter lets advertisers collect contact info from tweets

Twitter aims to turn the tweet stream into a more efficient marketing channel with the addition of a new Twitter Card that lets people quickly sign up for advertiser offers or promotions inside tweets.

Twitter Cards, also known as expanded tweets, are a 1-year-old feature meant to keep information network users glued to their streams. Cards bring rich media from partners to tweets so that when people click to expand a tweet, they can view and interact with photos, videos, content snippets, and product information without needing to leave Twitter.

On Wednesday, the company added a Lead Generation Card that … Read more

Google Top Charts show world's searches for whiskey, more

Google's top dog for last month was, once again, the pitbull. Having taken the title for most-searched breed away from the bulldog in January, the pit has stayed in the top spot for the past four months, but the German Shepherd is looking to make a move after overtaking the Siberian Husky to advance to the No. 4 position.

At least, this is what I was able to learn from my first five minutes using the just-launched Top Charts feature of Google Trends. An expansion of Google's annual Zeitgeist report of most-searched topics, Top Charts has monthly search data and rankings for dozens of categories from actors (Selena Gomez took No. 1 for April) to businesspeople (Bill Gates and Steve Jobs are both gaining on Oprah) and even whiskeys (Jack Daniel's dominates).… Read more

Woman outed after Twitter brag that she hit cyclist

Road rage can mist the eyes. There is no reason, however, for that mist to travel to the brain.

Yet this may have happened in the case of Emma Way and her indomitable belief in the right of Way.

Way was allegedly driving her car through Norfolk, England last Sunday. Maneuvering wasn't, perhaps, so easy as she encountered a 100-mile cycle ride called the Boudicca Sportive.

It seems, though, that she channeled her inner combative Boudicca and asserted herself excessively.

Please don't take my word for it. Take hers on Twitter: "Definitely knocked a cyclist off his … Read more

Zite update aims to better highlight stories, publications

Zite, the personal news aggregator, released on Wednesday a new version of its app that aims to help people discover more stories relevant to them, while better highlighting publishers.

With version 2.3, which is now available on iOS devices, the CNN-owned Zite is trying to make its personalized magazine work better for users, especially those new to the service.

As a result, explained CEO Mark Johnson, Zite will now gray out articles that have already been read and make publications' titles appear in what's called the "topic drawer," the list of topics that show up when … Read more