Category: Lifestyle

Some systems had a harder time identifying people of color than Caucasians, an NIST study says.

Many facial recognition systems have a harder time identifying African-American, Asian and native groups than Caucasians, according to a study released Thursday by the National Institute of Standards and Technology. There were higher rates of false positives among these groups when it came to confirming whether a photo matched another image of the same person in a database, the study says. This is known as one-to-one matching and is often used for tasks like unlocking a phone or checking a passport.

The study looked at 189 software algorithms from 99 developers. Companies included Microsoft, Intel and Panasonic. NIST said Amazon didn’t submit its algorithm for testing, according to The Washington Post. Amazon’s Rekognition software has been criticized for showing gender and racial bias. The e-commerce giant didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

False positives were higher among women than men, a finding that was consistent across algorithms and datasets, according to NIST. There were also more false positives among the elderly and children. 

“While it is usually incorrect to make statements across algorithms, we found empirical evidence for the existence of demographic differentials in the majority of the face recognition algorithms we studied,” Patrick Grother, an NIST computer scientist and the report’s primary author, said in a statement. “While we do not explore what might cause these differentials, this data will be valuable to policymakers, developers and end users in thinking about the limitations and appropriate use of these algorithms.”

A second task, called one-to-many matching, involves determining whether someone in an image has any match in a database. This can be used to identify a person of interest. The study found that with one-to-many matching, there were higher rates of false positives for African-American females. This is an important concern because it could lead to false accusations, NIST says.

“In a one-to-one search, a false negative might be merely an inconvenience — you can’t get into your phone, but the issue can usually be remediated by a second attempt,” Grother said in the release. “But a false positive in a one-to-many search puts an incorrect match on a list of candidates that warrant further scrutiny.”

The study notes, though, that “not all algorithms give this high rate of false positives across demographics in one-to-many matching.” Ultimately, “Different algorithms perform differently.” 

While a handful of previous studies have looked into demographic effects of one-to-one matching, none have explored the demographic effects of one-to-many matching until now, NIST says. 

To conduct the study, NIST used four collections of images with 18.27 million photos of 8.49 million people. They were pulled from databases provided by the State Department, the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI. 

James Bond already has a license to kill, now he may soon get a license to subscribe — to Apple TV Plus.

Apple held preliminary talks with Bond series maker MGM and college sports giant the Pac-12 this year, according to a Thursday report in The Wall Street Journal. The talks were part of an effort to broaden the appeal of its Apple TV app and $4.99 per month Apple TV Plus subscription service, the Journal said.

Spokespeople for Apple, MGM and the Pac-12 declined to comment.

The talks could indicate Apple’s interest in expanding from its strategy of offering original shows for its Apple TV Plus streaming service, which launched earlier this year with less than a dozen shows, and promises documentaries and other content from the likes of Oprah. The company could also be considering expansion into live sports. It’s unclear though whether either of these deals would be for more involvement with the Apple TV app or inclusion in the Apple TV streaming service.

Apple has been pushing its way into subscription services this year, expanding from its $9.99 per month Apple Music service and iCloud photo and data storage to a suite of entertainment offerings.

In March, Apple began taking signups for its $9.99 per month Apple News Plus service, offering access to more than 300 publications, including the Journal. In September, it turned on Apple Arcade, a video game subscription service offering more than 100 titles, ranging from gory action adventure to family-friendly. And this summer it began offering a branded credit card, in conjunction with Goldman Sachs, with cash-back incentives to buy from Apple, too.

Apple TV Plus isn’t the only subscription video service though. The company’s going up against all manner of new competitors, including Disney Plus, which features Star Wars, Marvel and Disney videos, the forthcoming HBO Max headlined by Westworld, Game of Thrones and Sesame Street, and CBS All Access, which includes shows from the Star Trek universe and, like CNET, is owned by ViacomCBS.

Chinese tech giant Huawei will survive a US trade blockade, its chief executive said, but may need two or three years to overcome the damage the sanction has caused. In an interview at Huawei headquarters in southern China, Ren Zhengfei said the US ban has had a “pretty big impact” on the company, forcing it to scramble to redesign products to try to eliminate US parts.

He said Huawei is now producing telecom network equipment without US chips or components, and has shipped such gear to more than 40 telecom companies, including some in Europe. Huawei has also reduced US parts in its cell phones, he said.

“Based on the current situation, I think there is no problem that we cannot survive,” Ren, 75, said from a grand reception hall decorated with Grecian statues and columns, where Huawei typically receives foreign customers and guests.

The Trump administration banned most US technology sales to Huawei in May, after labeling the company a security threat. US officials say the Chinese government could tap into Huawei equipment installed overseas to spy on the West or disrupt infrastructure – allegations Huawei denies.

The White House eased the ban somewhat last month, allowing some US companies to resume sales “which do not pose a significant risk to the national security or foreign policy interests of the United States.”

Industry officials said the US is allowing the sale of some components Huawei uses to build consumer products, but is continuing to ban the export of chips and other parts Huawei needs to make equipment for 5G wireless Internet networks. Huawei and its main rivals, Ericsson and Nokia, are competing to sell the equipment to countries investing heavily in the super-fast networks, which are expected to enable future technologies such as autonomous driving.

Adding Huawei to the trade blacklist was part of a broad US push against the Chinese company, which the United States also accuses of violating US sanctions on Iran.

Ren described Trump as “trying to crush businesses and intimidate countries around the world,” and said the trade ban on Huawei would backfire on the US by depriving tech companies of sales.

If US companies won’t supply Huawei, “I’m sure suppliers in other countries will gladly offer their own products to fill that void,” Ren said.

Among the US parts Huawei can’t buy at the moment is a crucial type of chip made by Xilinx Inc., of San Jose, Calif. The so-called FPGA chip allows 5G base stations to be programmed from afar, a flexibility telecom companies like because 5G technology is new and will require adjustments over time, analysts say.

Ren said Huawei had used part of its $15 billion (roughly Rs. 1,10,000 crores) annual R&D budget to design its own FPGA chip that “can deliver as good a performance as Xilinx chips.” Telecom companies have given Huawei positive feedback about equipment containing these Huawei-made chips, he said, though he declined to name specific companies.

Some US tech analysts have cast doubt on Huawei’s ability to produce an FPGA that can match the Xilinx product.

Xilinx declined to comment.

One big remaining obstacle for Huawei: company officials in Shenzhen said the trade ban is still preventing Huawei from licensing Google apps such as Gmail and YouTube for use on its cellphones. That has made the phones less attractive for customers overseas, causing Huawei phone sales to fall in Western markets, even as they have continued to climb in China, according to the company.

Huawei’s total sales in the first nine months of the year grew 24 percent over the same period in 2018, to $86 billion, the company said in an October press release that noted the figures were unaudited. Huawei shares are not publicly traded, so the company isn’t required to publish a full set of audited quarterly results, or to break down its sales by division or geographic market.

The Grecian hall where Ren spoke with The Post was part of an elaborately decorated building that Huawei uses to entertain customers. The palatial entry hall features grand marble staircases, Renaissance-style ceiling frescoes and gilded chandeliers. One wing is decorated like a quaint Kyoto lane, with old-fashioned storefronts and a sushi restaurant. Behind another door sits a verdant greenhouse featuring traditional wooden homes from the Chinese countryside.

Brian Chamberlin, an American marketing executive at Huawei who receives telecom-company clients in the building, said some customers have expressed concerns about the US trade ban.

“Of course every carrier customer is concerned with Huawei being able to deliver,” he said. “And of course Huawei is doing everything in our power, despite the American pressure, to be able to meet our commitment to our customers.”

“Our customers are standing by us,” said Chamberlin, who previously worked for Cisco in California.

Samsung Galaxy S11 leaks are coming from all corners, but a couple of fresh leaks suggest that the upcoming Galaxy S-series flagships will leave the competition far behind when it comes to photography prowess. All three upcoming Galaxy S11 series phones – the Galaxy S11, S11+, and S11e – are said to feature a 48-megapixel telephoto lens. Additionally, the Galaxy S11+ is claimed to pack a custom 108-megapixel sensor that will employ 9-cell pixel binning technology. Separately, Samsung has explained the mechanics of its ISOCELL Bright HMX 108-megapixel camera sensor and how it improves the imaging capabilities of smartphones.

Tipster Ice universe (@UniverseIce) has tweeted that the Galaxy S11, Galaxy S11e, and the Galaxy S11+ trio will all feature a telephoto lens that will be no less than 48-megapixel. If that turns out to be true, Samsung Galaxy S11 series phones will have the most powerful telephoto lenses in the industry going by the existing standards. And with a periscope-style camera module already said to be in development at Samsung, the 48-megapixel telephoto lens on the Galaxy S11 trio might take optical zoom capabilities of the phone to the next level.

Additionally, the tipster mentioned in a separate tweet that the Galaxy S11+ will feature a new generation 108-megapixel sensor called the ISOCELL Bright HM1. It will reportedly employ 9-cell pixel binning (3×3 pixels) technology, combing nine pixels of 0.8micron size each to create a larger pixel with an effective 2.4micron size, ensuring more effective collection of optical data from the surroundings to deliver brighter and more detailed low-light shots. The ISOCELL Bright HM1 appears to be Samsung’s second-generation 108-megapixel camera sensor which succeeds the ISOCELL Bright HMX sensor that we’ve already seen on the Xiaomi Mi Note 10.

https://youtu.be/9-UlR7DZHTw

Samsung has also detailed the technology behind the 108-megapixel ISOCELL Bright HMX sensor in an official press release. Samsung says that that the ISOCELL Bright HMX employs a 1/1.33-inch sensor with 0.8-micron pixels that utilise the Tetracell Technology (2×2 pixel binning) to deliver better 27-megapixel shots. The in-house camera sensor also employs Super-PD autofocus for fast and accurate autofocus, Smart-ISO technology, and the in-house ISOCELL Plus technology to minimise optical loss and light reflection.