“Not too long after the first rumors surfaced, Apple has given its usual non-confirmation that it has acquired Faceshift, the company behind the technology Star Wars used to animate the faces of CGI characters,” Ben Lovejoy writes for 9to5Mac. “It’s not an obvious fit for Apple, so what could be the thinking behind the purchase?”
“Like Apple’s patents, it is sometimes easy, I think, to read too much into some of the company’s acquisitions. Sure, it doesn’t go around acquiring companies randomly, but it may not always be after the complete package. It may well be that there is some small element of the company’s technology that Apple wants, or it may be an acquihire – where it’s the engineers rather than the specific tech the company wants,” Lovejoy writes. “But in this particular case, there is reason to suspect that Apple does have an interest in the broad brush-strokes of what Faceshift does.”
Lovejoy writes, “If it could make face-recognition as reliable as Touch ID, that would be even more convenient: unlock your device just by picking it up (or opening the lid of a MacBook). Authorize iTunes purchases without doing a thing, simply because you’re already looking at the screen and it knows who you are. No need to hold your iPhone awkwardly when making Apple Pay purchases – so long as the camera can see your face, it authorizes them automatically.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Face ID. Yes, please!
And PhotoBooth on steroids, too, of course!
SEE ALSO:
Apple acquires ‘Star Wars’ contributor Faceshift – November 25, 2015
Apple has purchased facial motion-capture company FaceShift – September 4, 2015