Panasonic to launch smart TVs with facial recognition in Australia

Panasonic is introducing a new range of LED and plasma TVs with speech and facial recognition capabilities to the Australian market.

According to a report in Cnet Australia, the new line of TVs is being brought to market with a focus on smart networking and personalization. Once set up, users can use a voice command to open the home screen, and then the TV will use facial recognition to identify individual users to match them with their personalized home screen.

The first TVs with this new technology are set for release in mid-May.

Reported previously, Intel has also been developing facial recognition software, specifically for televisions. In the form of a set top box, it too aims to distinguish between users, though it translates data to determine which commercials to air.

The new technology from Intel also aims to prove or disprove the previously uncontested Nielsen ratings. The group has been one of the premier sources of TV ratings, however, its methods have not changed throughout the years. Some network programmers argue that gathering data from 50,000 homes is not an accurate reading of the whole population in this digital age.

TVs are only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to biometric integrations. It’s widely believed that the next round of smartphones will feature fingerprint technology.  In a recent Biometric Research Note, the research group estimates that “U.S. consumers will use smartphones and tablet computers to make retail purchases of approximately US$35 billion this year, compared with US$20 billion in 2012.”

More specifically, it’s quite likely the next iPhone will feature fingerprint technology, though this has been rumored many times before. 

In addition, smartphone cameras are increasingly being relied on for uses other than snapping photos. According to a separate Biometric Research Note, the newest smartphone from Samsung will have an eye-tracking feature that will allow its users to scroll down a page without have to tough the screen. The Biometrics Research Group anticipates that technologies that track eye and gesture movements will play a large role in future mobile applications and devices.

Article Topics

consumer  |  facial recognition  |  Panasonic