The Google Clips Camera Puts AI Behind the Lens (theverge.com)

The Verge's Dieter Bohn reviews Google's AI camera, dubbed "Clips," which was announced alongside the Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL. Here's an excerpt: You know what a digital camera is. It's a lens and a sensor, with a display to see what you're looking at, and a button to take the picture. Google Clips is a camera, but it only has some of those parts. There's no display. There's a shutter button, but it's completely optional to use. Instead, it takes pictures for you, using machine learning to recognize and learn faces and look for interesting moments to record. I don't know if parents -- Google's target market -- will want it. I don't know if Google can find a way to explain everything it is (and isn't) to a broad enough audience to sell the thing in big numbers, especially at $249. I also don't know what the release date will be, beyond that it will be "coming soon." But I do know that it's the most fascinating camera I've used in a very long time.

Comments

the hell!?

[Blymie]

Oh come on! COME ON!

It's bad enough that even on hacked phones, we don't have access to the firmwares. And that we have no idea, 100% idea if the NSA/etc can exploit vulnerabilities to take pics even on a clean phone.

Even outside of that, on 'normal' phones, no doubt 1/2 the malware on Google Play is the CIA.

But no. That's not enough.

Now people are going to willingly walk around with devices that take pics of everything they do. What the hell man!

#_$)#@+_$)@#_+$)@#+$)@+_#)$+_

Re:the hell!?

[Anonymous Coward]

we have no idea, 100% idea if the NSA/etc can exploit vulnerabilities to take pics even on a clean phone.

With this, NSA can just stream the images from Google. Don't even need to bother to hack any of the cameras, the fools will buy the cameras and pay for the bandwidth to stream images backs to Google and thus NSA.

Re:the hell!?

[Rei]

Speak for yourself. I want better lifelogging; I find the current state of lifelogging apps, like Sony's "Lifelogger", quite poor. I'd love an app that logs *everything* I do, from as many sensors as it can, constrained only by realistic storage / bandwidth constraints. If something like this could be built into my cellphone or a cheap cell accessory, that would be awesome.

The main problem with it being simply an app on a cell phone is that cells have only front and rear cameras, but for a cell in your pocket what you really want is a side camera (which nobody has). But I can picture solutions for that problem...

But does the AI emulate a real user?

[petes_PoV]

For example, does the Clips take random photos at squiffy angles, upload them to a website where no-one will look at them and then delete them.

Can it also be used in concert halls, where all it records is a whited-out stage a few pixels wide against a totally dark background and a muffled sound because the user had their hand over the microphone.

if so, can I buy one, send it on holiday instead of going myself and then bore the bollocks off all and sundry by showing the photos to disinterested co-workers and claiming I had a wonderful time.