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Lost the Remote? Use Your Face
coondoggie writes "A researcher has discovered a way to use facial expressions to speed and slow video playback.
By using a combination of facial expression recognition software and automated tutoring technology Jacob Whitehill, a computer science Ph.D. student from UC San Diego's Jacobs School of Engineering, is leading the project that ultimately is part of a larger venture to use automated facial expression recognition to make robots more effective teachers.
The researchers recently conducted a pilot test with 8 people that demonstrated information within the facial expressions people make while watching recorded video lectures can be used to predict a person's preferred viewing speed of the video and how difficult a person perceives the lecture at each moment in time."
So, whenever you were constipated, your movie would start rewinding?
The obvious use for this technology is, of course, pornography. When it detects a look of boredom it knows to fast-forward through the plot bits. When it detects a relaxed-but-slightly-guilty look, it knows to stop the video and clear your browsing history.
Great. Then you'll know when the kids who grew up with this technology get bored -- they'll subconsciously start to make the "fast forward" facial expression.
And when they mishear something, they'll make the "rewind" face.
I can't wait. It'll be hilarious.
can do this. I've noticed bad college professors just keep plowing through the subject. The best ones will look at the students faces and say, "Lets back up a little," when they see blank stares from their pupils.
I don't think the ability to determine how difficult a concept is to grasp is the breakthrough here. I think it's the fact that a machine can do it.
One of our competitors trademarked the term "hypothesis". From now on, we will call them "boneheaded ideas".
I don't know about you, but when looking for the remote I find my face, specifically the eye part of the face, to be an invaluable tool.