Future iPhones Could Record, Fingerprints & Photos of Thieves

Apple is reportedly working on a new anti-theft measure which will record the fingerprints and snap photos of a phone-thief.

Patent filed by Apple

An application for a patent filed by Apple details this security mechanism. According to the patent, the mechanism will be incorporated in future iPhone and iPad devices. The patent details a trigger mechanism which will cause the phone to record the biometric information of whoever is using the phone at the triggered moment via the Touch ID button.

How it could work

These trigger conditions could be either when someone is trying to bypass the security of the phone or trying to gain unauthorized access to the phone via a third party device.

Information recorded by the phone can be either one or multiple fingerprints. It can also be one or more photographs of the thief, video recording of the thief, audio of the surrounding environment etc. The patent details:

The computing device may then provide the stored biometric information for identification of one or more unauthorized users

Of course, it’s not as easy as just setting up simple triggers in iOS and that’s that. There are some technical problems with implementing this system.

Problems with the system

Firstly, Touch ID requires you to press your finger several times on to the sensor for it to register it. The fingerprint sensor can only recognise a part of the fingerprint in one go. What’s more, you need to press your finger on it in multiple angles as well. The thief wouldn’t just press his finger on the home button repeatedly in an attempt to unlock the device.

This can be fixed in the future if Apple implements better fingerprint sensors and an improved Touch ID system. Next, a covert way of taking photos or recording video needs to be implemented. This won’t be much of a problem considering that there are already apps like Lookout which do that.

Legal and Privacy Issues

It also raises privacy and security concerns about the new system. If your iPhone can snap photos and record and save a thief’s fingerprints in the company’s database, it is recording yours as well. What’s there to say if the company stores your info on their servers as well?

Apple’s CEO Tim Cook has used the company’s record on privacy and its stance on not storing any unencrypted information to market Apple products and services. However, limitations in these new anti-theft measures means that these features wouldn’t make it into the iPhones and other igadgets any time soon

FindFace, finds your social profile with just using photo

Russian nerds have developed a new Face Recognition technology based app called FindFace, which is a nightmare for privacy lovers and human right advocates.

FindFace is a terrifyingly powerful facial recognition app that lets you photograph strangers in a crowd and find their real identity by connecting them to their social media accounts with 70% success rate, putting public anonymity at risk.

The FindFace app was launched two months ago on Google Play and Apple’s App Store and currently has 500,000 registered users and processed nearly 3 Million searches, according to its co-founders, 26-year-old Artem Kukharenko, and 29-year-old Alexander Kabakov.

According to The Guardian, FindFace uses image recognition technology to compare faces against profile pictures on Vkontakte, a very popular social networking site in Russia that has over 200 Million users.

Besides showing the social media account of the one you are searching for, FindFace also shows you social media accounts of people who look very much like the person in the photograph.

"It also looks for similar people," Kabakov told The Guardian. "So you could just upload a photo of a movie star you like or your ex, and then find ten girls who look similar to her and send them messages."

Although many people may find the app useful, possibly girls who do not want pervs to contact them and harass them would definitely find this app as a stalking tool.

FindFace has marketed itself as a dating app, but its founders hope to make big money from licensing its algorithm to retail companies and law enforcement, claiming their algorithm can search through a Billion photographs in a matter of seconds on a normal computer.

They said that Russian police had already contacted them about using their facial recognition technology.

Just after the launch of this app, Security firm Kaspersky also tested the FindFace's algorithm in April and found that the app works as accurate as it claims to.

When the security company uploaded posed photographs, the app correctly identified people 90 percent of the time, although when it uploaded photos taken sneakily in public, accuracy decreased.

Are you finding the whole thing a bit scary?

This is the entirely new world of technology and gadgets where nothing is hidden; nobody is anonymous.

So, the app leaves just two option for you: Either wear something on your face to trick the camera, like wearing a hoodie, mask, glasses, while roaming on a street, or you better get used to having no privacy in your new society.

Kaspersky also advised Vkontakte users to make their pictures private and delete old photos from the profile pictures album, if they do not want to be identified by strangers.

360-degree photos are coming to Facebook News Feed

Facebook photos are set to get a lot more immersive.

The social network will soon add support for 360-degree photos to its News Feed, Facebook announced Wednesday. 

The new 360-degree photos will function a lot like Facebook's 360-degree videos. You can change your view of the photo by dragging you finger (or cursor, if you're on a browser) around the screen or holding your phone at a different angle.

The feature will support images shot with 360-degree camera, like Rioch's Theta S, as well panoramic shots captured on smartphones. 

And, like their video counterparts, the 360-degree photos will also be viewable from Samsung's Gear VR headsets. 

Speaking of the Gear VR, Facebook also plans to make some changes to the Oculus mobile app. The app will soon be updated with a new "what's new" section, meant to highlight the latest games and videos. Later, in June, the company plans to revamp the design of Oculus' home screen on Gear VR to make it easier to find recently-downloaded items. 

The Oculus-powered Gear VR has only been out for about six months but Facebook says it has already exceeded many of their initial expectations. Though we don't know how many headsets Samsung has shipped since its launch, Facebook says more than a million people used the Gear VR last month alone. 

Facebook also revealed some new stats around Gear VR content. There are now more than 250 apps for the headset (one of our biggest initial complaints about the Gear was the lack of apps) and 21 games that initially launched on the Gear but are now also available for the Oculus Rift headset.

Of the apps and games currently available, VR video continues to be some of the most popular content, according to Facebook, with 80% of Gear users watching videos.