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Want to get your message heard on a social network? Try raging about it. China's Beihang University has published a study of Sina Weibo users which suggests that anger-fueled online posts have more of an influence than those reflecting other emotions. During the research period, a typical bitter comment would affect posts three degrees removed from the original; joy had a muted impact, while disgust and sadness hardly got any traction. Don't be too quick to lament the human condition, though. As researchers note, many of the angry posts were triggered by politics in Weibo's native China. There's a chance that internet denizens on other social networks have a rosier outlook on life.
[Image credit: Wayne Marshall, Flickr]
Source: Cornell University Library
We know that Intel sees 3D cameras as the future of computing, and the company's Anil Nanduri just provided a few hints of what that future may involve. He tells Network World that the depth-sensing technology can recognize emotions, such as happy smiles. It can also track your gaze; a camera can detect when readers are stumped by unfamiliar words in a book, for example. The technology's shape detection is accurate enough that it can even scan objects for 3D printing. We won't get a true sample of the technology's potential until Creative ships its Senz3D camera before the end of the current quarter. Nonetheless, it's already evident that Microsoft's next-generation Kinect for Windows will have some real competition on its hands.
Filed under: Intel
Via: GigaOM
Source: Network World
See that? That's a new feature on Facebook's status box, which has started to roll out this morning after earlier testing in January. It's also covering up a pretty depressing note from a friend underneath, who would've undoubtedly selected "sad" if he were to have recognized said feature before posting a conventional status update. For now, it appears that the emotion selection tool is only hitting select US-based users, as our European contingent has yet to see it appear on their profiles. Essentially, a smiley face has been added to the right of the photo button, and pressing it gives you a quick way to update your status -- you can share an emotion, or what you're watching / listening to / reading / drinking / eating.
It seems as if Facebook wants to funnel conversations a bit; instead of only giving you free rein to blabber in a status box, it'd much rather you update with a linked artist, television show or product. That way, said entity gets included in any conversations you have, and the great revenue wheel begins to spin. At any rate, feel free to check your own page and play around with the new functionality. Then shoot us an emoticon in comments to let us know how you're feeling about it.
Filed under: Internet, Facebook
Via: TechCrunch
Source: Facebook
Voice recognition usually applies to communication only in the most utilitarian sense, whether it's to translate on the spot or to keep those hands on the wheel while sending a text message. Samsung has just been granted a US patent that would convey how we're truly feeling through visuals instead of leaving it to interpretation of audio or text. An avatar could change its eyes, mouth and other facial traits to reflect the emotional state of a speaker depending on the pronunciation: sound exasperated or brimming with joy and the consonants or vowels could lead to a furrowed brow or a smile. The technique could be weighted against direct lip syncing to keep the facial cues active in mid-speech. While the patent won't be quite as expressive as direct facial mapping if Samsung puts it to use, it could be a boon for more realistic facial behavior in video games and computer-animated movies, as well as signal whether there was any emotional subtext in that speech-to-text conversion -- try not to give away any sarcasm.
Filed under: Misc, Gaming, Software, Samsung
Samsung patent ties emotional states to virtual faces through voice, shows when we're cracking up originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 06 Nov 2012 11:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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