Amazon, Apple and Google have announced they will be teaming up to develop an open-source standard for connected smart home devices. The partnership, called Project Connected Home over IP, aims to make sure that any supported devices are able to work together with any smartphone or voice assistant, while making the development of new devices…
Google has announced a partnership with The Canadian Down Syndrome Society to train their technology to better understand people with Down Syndrome. Due to their unique voice patterns, Google’s voice models don’t always understand people with Down Syndrome. By collecting voice samples and using them to train its AI models, Google and the Canadian Down…
Samsung has updated the iris scanners in its Galaxy S9 and Note9 smartphones to now support the new Google Biometric API. Samsung’s iris scanning tech was first debuted in 2016 in Samsung’s Galaxy Note7, and promised a new fool-proof form of biometric security on the notion that a person’s irises are unique and nearly impossible…
Google has released an update to its wildly popular Photos app that allows users to manually tag people in their pictures, so long as Google’s facial recognition algorithm recognizes there is a face in the photo. Up until now, Photos users have had the option of enabling the “face grouping” feature in the app, which…
According to a new report published by MarketsandMarkets, the global Speech-to-Text Application Program Interface (API) market is set to grow from $1.6 billion in 2019 to $4.1 billion by 2024, with a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 20.6% during the forecasted period. Some major factors fueling this growth have been the growing use of…
Google has explained the shift to its ‘Biometric API’ in a new blog post on their Android Developers Blog. With the recent release of its latest flagship smartphone, the Pixel 4, Google has also released Android 10, the newest operating system, and debuted Face Unlock, its newest form of biometric authentication. The 3D facial recognition…
LastPass has confirmed that it will be supporting face-based unlocks on Google’s Pixel 4 smartphone. The beta for the Android version of the app is currently available through the Google Play Store, and already features a new icon for the new biometric modality. LastPass has historically relied on fingerprint recognition, but the latest iteration of…
It has been a smartphone-heavy week on Mobile ID World. Three of this week’s top stories are concerned with smartphone tech, and these all involve some of the most prominent brands in the industry. Samsung, for example, found its way into the news with a new patent describing a front-facing triple sensor system for a…
Google has delivered a sophisticated biometric security feature in its latest Pixel smartphones, but it has a glaring potential flaw: the devices’ Face Unlock system can authenticate a user even if they’re eyes are closed. The Pixel 4 and Pixel 4 XL‘s Face Unlock system is otherwise pretty impressive. Taking a cue from Apple, Google…
At their hardware event in New York City yesterday, Google announced the Pixelbook Go, the latest in their line of Chrome OS-powered laptops. Though it differs greatly in many ways from Google’s 2017 Pixelbook, the Pixelbook Go continues the trend of not including any form of biometric security. Instead, Google points to the way Android…
“With the new Pixel Buds, users will be able to access the AI-driven Google Assistant just by saying “Hey Google”, even if the earbuds aren’t connected to a smartphone that’s on.” Google has revealed that it’s working on a new and much improved version of its Pixel Buds earbuds. Unveiled at today’s big hardware event,…
A Google subcontractor is being scrutinized for its questionable data collection tactics. The company in question is Randstad, which hired and managed a field team of Google TVCs (Temps, Vendors, and Contractors) to gather face images from the general public. People were offered $5 gift cards in exchange for their participation, while the images were…
“The update reflects a growing trend pair of trends as consumers increasingly rely on voice interfaces to interact with their devices, and tech companies seek to make their own proprietary AI assistants the go-to platforms for smart home interaction.” The Google Assistant is getting a higher profile thanks to a new Chrome OS update. The…
“An unusually large amount of information has been leaked about the Google Pixel 4, reportedly because a retailer in Hanoi has been selling nearly-finished samples of the device.” Google is expected to launch its latest flagship smartphone in a matter of weeks, and it looks like the company is going to follow Apple’s lead in…
The Nest Hub Max isn’t expected to hit store shelves until September 9th, but Google Assistant is already listing Face Match in its settings menu. The facial recognition feature will allow the Nest Hub Max to recognize the faces of different people when they enter the room and display calendars, alerts, and other information customized…
It was a mobile-heavy week on Mobile ID World – at least with respect to our most popular articles. Biometric authentication proved to be an important theme among those stories, and as for individual companies in the news, Samsung spent the most time in the spotlight. That’s thanks in large part to the company’s latest…
Google has enabled biometric authentication for people trying to access Google services on Android phones. To use the feature, users must link their phone to their Google account, at which point they can use the fingerprint sensor on their device to prove their identity and log in. For the moment, biometric authentication is only available…
Google is handing out $5 gift cards in exchange for five minutes of face time with random people on the street. The company is reportedly training a new facial recognition algorithm that would be deployed in the next generation of Pixel smartphones. The algorithm would essentially give Google an in-house alternative to Apple’s Face ID,…
Google Search Product Manager David Monsees has taken to the company’s blog to emphasize its commitment to privacy and clarify some of its policies around the use of audio data. The post was written after one of the company’s language experts leaked confidential Dutch audio data, with Monsees noting that the leak is a violation…
