From @DeependSydney:
Google facial recognition? Not according to Google. http://ow.ly/1siTel
By now you’ve likely seen the news around the Internet that Google is working on a facial recognition application that would allow you to scan someone’s face and then find out information about them. The report, which originated from CNN, quotes Googler Hartmut Neven in a number of different statements, all of which seem to point that Google is indeed working on the project.
But a statement from Google seems to prove otherwise.
Speaking to Electronista, Google has done its best to lay the story to rest:
A Google spokeswoman said that much of the CNN story was false. It wasn’t introducing a mobile app and wouldn’t do so without privacy protections in place. Most of the article came from “inventions of the reporter,” the company said.
LOVE this: A Snake Escapes the Bronx Zoo and Appears on Twitter http://nyti.ms/hB9aZY
Last Friday, as New Yorkers droned through their morning commute, employees of the Bronx Zoo discovered something rather disturbing: An adolescent Egyptian cobra had gone missing from an exhibit enclosure at the zoo.
Fugitive reptiles don’t usually make it to the pages of the Bits Blog, but a series of Twitter streams that unfurled online after the snake’s escape show just how creative the Internet can be.
My colleague Alexis Mainland at the City Room blog, chronicles the anonymous Twitter user who is impersonating the missing snake under the handle @BronxZoosCobra. The account, which is barely 24 hours old, has amassed tens of thousands of followers, and offers a hilarious “account” of the snake’s travels through New York City. Some of the funnier Twitter messages include:
I want to thank those animals from the movie “Madagascar.” They were a real inspiration.
Holding very still in the snake exhibit at the Museum of Natural History. This is gonna be hilarious!
Taking the Sex and the City Tour!!! I’m totally a SSSamantha.
You can read the full post here; it includes an interview with @BronxZoosCobra.
Enjoy Kegagus responsibly – Preakness spokes-centaur is ready to party http://ow.ly/4pt49
If you’ve been longing for some good centaur-centric advertising in the three years since Old Spice’s showering man-horse, then you’re going to love Kegasus. The new spokesbeast for Preakness Stakes is half stallion, half Kenny Powers and all party manimal. Unveiled Tuesday as the marketing icon for this year’s infield festivities at the Maryland horse race, Kegasus is described by the Baltimore Sun as “a centaur with a nipple ring, body hair and ample beer gut.” As you can see from the first TV spot below, that’s about the sum of it. The campaign already has its neigh-sayers, including, randomly enough, NPR World of Opera host Lisa Simeone, who tells the Sun: “The guy looks like a bloated drunk. Are you kidding me? There’s no way to say this is not encouraging outright drunkenness.” But considering the work was created to promote a binge-drinking bacchanalia complete with bikini contest, I’m guessing the organizers aren’t too sad about losing the NPR opera demographic. Kegasus is the brainchild of D.C. agency Elevation Ltd., which also made last year’s equally debated “Get your Preak on” campaign.
I HAZ LINKROT?!? On the Etiquette of Internet Citations http://ow.ly/4pnNm
I’m a big fan of Brad DeLong’s blog even when I don’t agree with him. But one of the things that’s bothered me is when he reprints posts in full. For bloggers, professional or amateur, links are currency. Reprinting the post in full means people won’t be inclined to click through to your site. When asked about this, DeLong had an interesting answer:
Kraft USA: selected Mac & Cheese fan tweets will air on Conan O’Brienhttp://ow.ly/4pa4e
Got something genius to say about Mac & Cheese? Kraft and Crispin Porter + Bogusky are sifting through your cheesy comments on Twitter to find source material for a spot that will air on The Conan O’Brien Show and Lopez tonight on TBS, according to Kraft Macaroni & Cheese Senior Brand Manager Noelle O’Mara.
Kraft and Crispin will be choosing five tweets and throughout the day the spots will be shot by Bob Industries’ Bob Odenkirk on multiple sets in L.A. O’Mara says one of those will be chosen to air on TBS tonight, while the rest will be featured on the Kraft Mac & Cheese Facebook page. Tune in there or on the brand’s Twitter feed to see the contenders.
How to tweet bile without alienating people. Or making 13-year-old girls cry | Charlie Brooker http://gu.com/p/2z2n4/ip via @guardian
Not so long ago, if you wanted to issue a 13-year-old girl with a blood-curdling death threat, you had to scrawl it on a sheet of paper, wrap it round a brick, hurl it through her bedroom window, and scarper before her dad ran out of the front door to beat you insensible with a dustbuster. Now, thanks to Twitter, hundreds of thousands of people can simultaneously surround her online screaming abuse until she bursts into tears. Hooray for civilisation.
