Facial Recognition of Apple and Microsoft

choi

Tripp Mickle, Quick, Brush Your Hair -- Your Phone Is Judging You; Makeup, shaved beards, haircuts are throwing off facial recognition systems. Wall Street Journal, Sept 26, 2018 )front page).
https://www.wsj.com/articles/ple ... r-owners-1537887972

Quote:

"When Karen Cummings's new Microsoft Surface computer captured her image for its facial-recognition system, her blond hair was curled and her eyes were accentuated by mascara and green eyeliner.  Early the next morning—hair scraggly, makeup off, eyeglasses on—the computer looked again. It refused to unlock.

"The rise of facial recognition technology such as Microsoft Corp's Windows Hello [on Windows 10: first released in 2015 and with Windows Hello from the start; no Windows 11 yet] and Apple Inc's Face ID * * * When a face does not measure up [in facial recognition systems], people are left to ponder whether they look their best, whether they use to much makeup, why they change their hair style -- and perhaps whether they even look like themselves.  Users report their device won't unlock unless they wear the same makeup as when they set it up.

"Kelly Koon, 40, a young-adult novelist outside Tampa, Fla * * * her Microsoft Surface didn't recognize her without mascara, eyeliner and lipstick [note 'and,' not or]. * * *

"Facial-recognition technology * * * us now available on more than 20 smartphone models world-wide, according to research firm IHS Markit. After introducing Face ID last year on the iPhone X[, Apple releases all three models of iPhones this year 'with the system': Face ID]

"Dave Bossio, a Microsoft program manager [comments:] An algorithm uses the infrared camera on laptops and other devices to create a mathematical model based on facial 'landmarks' like the eyes, nose and mouth. Makeup, glasses, beards, lighting and other factors can affect the system, and widening the range of acceptability too much creates a security risk

"To avoid the makeup problem, Apple's engineers designed a camera system that project 30,000 infrared dots across a user's face to creates 3-D model stored on the phone, according to people familiar with the project. Apple said the chances the iPhone X could be unlocked by a random person's face are one in a million. (The probabilities change for family members such as twins or other siblings.) That compares with one in 50,000 for Touch ID, the fingerprint sensor used by previous iPhone models.

"Shortly after iPhone X [not talking about Windows Hello here] was released last year, makeup artist James Charles [yes, that's his surname] took to his YouTube channel to test how much makeup he needed to apply before his phone no longer recognized him. He contoured his cheeks, glued on huge 'drag lashes [eyelashes for transgenders],' applied blue lipstick and donned a Marilyn-Monroe-styled wig. His iPhone X continued to recognize him throughout the process.

"Tori Lovett of Bushnell, Fla, successfully her mother's new iPhone X with her own face late last year

My comment:
(a) The report is locked behind paywall. There is no need to read the rest.
(b) Quotation 1 combines paragraphs 1 and 2, where paragraph 3 indicates "Ms Cumming, 72 years old, of Fryeburg, Maine." So her blond hair is dyed.
(c) scraggly (adj; First Known Use 1849): "rregular in form or growth <craggly hills"  <a craggly beard>"
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/scraggly

Online Etymology Dictionary says it came from the noun scrag
(n): "a rawboned or scrawny person or animal"
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/scrag