iPhone apps with access to your camera can secretly spy on you

In this day and age, it's nearly impossible to keep track of all the ways that our devices keep track of us. Many of us have simply come to terms with this new reality, but thankfully, there are others out there who are staying vigilant and doing their part to ensure that our collective privacy isn't violated any more than it needs to be.

Such is the case with Google developer Felix Krause, who identified on his blog this week an alarming truth about iOS apps that have access to our phone cameras. According to Krause, apps with the necessary permissions are technically capable of recording the user at any time, regardless of whether or not they have manually pressed a button or issued a command to capture a photo or a video within the app.

But that's not all they can do. Along with snapping a photo or recording a video, Krause claims that apps can access both front and back cameras, upload pictures and videos right after taking them and even run facial recognition to detect the user's facial features and expressions using Apple's Vision framework.

You are probably now wondering what you can do to prevent all those apps you absentmindedly granted permission to from recording you when you least expect it. Unfortunately, short of revoking access from every app on your phone, the only real option is to buy a camera case and uncover the camera when you actually want to take a picture or a video. Otherwise, Apple will need to change how the permissions work to make this impossible.

The good news is that Krause has reported the issue to Apple, so we'll have to wait and see if anything changes in the coming weeks and months. In the meantime, think before you allow camera permissions to any app.

Source: iPhone apps with access to your camera can secretly spy on you

How to Stop iOS Apps From Stealing Your Apple ID Password

Was the V for Vendetta guy even a hacker?

iOS: Security researcher Felix Krause is killing it this month, if "it" means iPhone users' sense of security. We recently covered two of his security warnings: If you give an app permission to use your camera, it can also track your location and even secretly take photos and videos. Now he points out that if you're not careful, any app could easily steal your Apple ID.

The problem, Krause says, is any app could easily imitate Apple's password dialog. (He even built a proof of concept.) And if you use an iPhone or iPad, you know that Apple is almost constantly asking for your password. So you get desensitized to it, so whenever you're asked, you just enter it in. An app can just swoop in with a fake password prompt, like so:

There's an easy way to avoid this, but you have to remember it whenever your phone asks for your password: Hit the home screen. If the app closes and the password prompt disappears, then it was fake. If the password pop-up is really from Apple, it will stay on the screen until you hit Sign In or Cancel.

If you've enabled two-factor authentication for your Apple ID, then you're still a little safer. But it's still very dangerous to hand out your password, especially if you've reused it, or if there's any danger of anyone with your password getting physical access to your device.

This phishing attack is one of the things Apple's app store is supposed to screen out. But Krause points out that many apps have snuck by with bad behavior before, and even lists ways that apps could hide this attack from Apple. He believes Apple owes its customers a better design, which would clearly distinguish real password requests from fake ones. Until then, it's on users to stay vigilant.

Source: How to Stop iOS Apps From Stealing Your Apple ID Password

iPhone apps can secretly take your photos or videos at any time without you knowing

As disturbing and scary as it may sound, an Austrian software engineer has discovered a vulnerability in iOS apps that allows Apple's iPhones and iPads to secretly record the users without their knowledge thereby raising concern over Apple's iOS 11 privacy settings. In other words, the security loophole in iOS apps allows the devices to take pictures and videos, record the user at any time and upload the pictures/videos without notification when the users grant permission to apps to access their cameras.

To explain the loophole (see video below), the developer Felix Krause created the watch.user concept app that requested access to his camera initially. Once Krause granted permission, the apps were able to access the front and back cameras and record videos and take photos every second as long as the app was open in the foreground.

According to Krause, once the user has taken and posted one picture or video via a social network app, the user ends up granting full access to the camera. This means that the rogue app can access the front and back camera any time when it is running. It would also be able to immediately upload the photos and/or videos it has taken. The iPhone does not notify that the camera is being used or that the photos are being uploaded to the internet.

"iOS users often grant camera access to an app soon after they download it (e.g., to add an avatar or send a photo)," Krause explained on his blog. "These apps, like a messaging app or any news-feed-based app, can easily track the users face, take pictures, or live stream the front and back camera, without the user's consent."

Granting permission to access your camera in Apple's latest operating system, iOS11 means that malicious apps could use the software's facial recognition system to secretly detect the emotions of users.

While Krause isn't claiming that particular iOS apps are abusing their access to your camera, he is simply highlighting the way Apple has set up its permission system and how apps could spy and collect more information than required.

In order to protect yourself from any hack, Krause offered a few solutions. "The only real safe way to protect yourself is using camera covers: There is many different covers available, find one that looks nice for you, or use a sticky note (for example)," he wrote. "You can revoke camera access for all apps, always use the built-in camera app, and use the image picker of each app to select the photo."

Krause has contacted Apple regarding the privacy issue on iOS. He suggested that Apple could find a way to bring in a system of temporary permissions to stop any malicious apps interfering with users cameras, or show an icon on the status bar indicating that the cameras are active, or introduce an LED light near the front and back camera that would blink every time the camera is in use thereby alerting the users that they are being recorded. This would in turn help the users take the necessary steps to protect their privacy.

Source: iPhone apps can secretly take your photos or videos at any time without you knowing

iOS Apps Can Secretly Shoot Photos if Given Camera Permissions

Have you ever considered that your iPhone might be watching you? Felix Krause, a developer at Google, says he has found that iPhone apps could theoretically spy on you if given camera permissions.

With an app published on GitHub, Krause illustrated how it's possible for a malicious app to photograph you at its leisure without you knowing. Granted basic camera permissions, such an app could use either front or rear cameras to capture images and video "behind the scenes" when the app is loaded.

You wouldn't necessarily see notifications to say that photos are being taken either, and photos could be uploaded immediately to a server outside of Apple's jurisdiction.

It would also be possible to run real-time face recognition, detecting different facial features or expressions. And it wouldn't be impossible for a system to run sophisticated face recognition with a retrieved photo, eventually identifying the user.

Krause made this video showing his proof of concept app in action. What you're seeing is his fake social network scrolling through a newsfeed, and then suddenly up pop photos of the user taken by the app and posted in the background.

"iOS users often grant camera access to an app soon after they download it (e.g., to add an avatar or send a photo)," writes Krause. "These apps, like a messaging app or any news-feed-based app, can easily track the users face, take pictures, or live stream the front and back camera, without the user's consent."

So how can you avoid such a situation developing? Covering your camera is the "only real way" to do so; even Mark Zuckerberg covers his laptop camera. You could also revoke camera access for apps, but that will limit the functionality of many applications.

"[T]his is not a bug or something you should be too worried about," writes Motherboard. "But it's good to be aware of how much power you're giving apps when you grant them access to your iPhone's cameras."

Also keep in mind that Krause's app isn't an approved app in the iTunes App Store. Apple has strict review policies, and hopefully the approval process is able to detect and reject apps that have this type of unethical behavior hidden within.

(via Felix Krause via Gizmodo)

Source: iOS Apps Can Secretly Shoot Photos if Given Camera Permissions

How to Stop iOS Apps From Secretly Spying Through Your Camera

Image credit: Ross Kinnaird/Getty

There's no doubt you've given some iOS apps access to personal data like your photo library or contact list. But if you've given them access to your camera, they could be doing a lot more than you're aware of behind the scenes, including photographing you without your knowledge. Luckily, you can stop the surreptitious data collection without resorting to never taking a photo again.

Security researcher Felix Krause discussed the potential privacy violation in a blog post investigating Apple's iOS 11 privacy settings, and found that Apple's handling of permissions concerning camera access allows for potential abuse from apps looking to collect more data about users without their consent or knowledge.

How it Works

Some apps might request camera access when starting up to obtain a profile picture of you, or to handle media you want to send to friends. If users grant an app permission to access their device's camera, that app can now do much more than take a photo of you. According to Krause, apps with camera access are capable of taking photos and recording video of you while using the app, uploading photos and videos without your knowledge, or even take advantage of iOS 11's facial recognition tools to read your expression while you're browsing Twitter on the can. What's worse, there's no indication of the app's nefarious activity, so you're none the wiser.

24 Things You Can Do in iOS 11 That You Couldn't Do Before

After months of build up and beta testing, the finished version of iOS 11 is out September 19, just …

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Krause isn't claiming particular iOS apps are abusing their access to your camera, only highlighting what apps can do if they decide to collect more than they should without you knowing. His suggestions for resolving the issue involve changes to the camera permission functions, as well as an indicator in iOS 11. A less likely suggestion is the addition of an LED indicator on the front and back of iOS devices, similar to the green LED Apple uses on its laptops indicating the camera's status.

Use Your Camera App and Import Photos Yourself

If you want to use your apps to share photos, you can still get away with keeping your camera off-limits if you're able to upload photos from your camera roll. You'll need to take the photo using your preferred camera app, and then return to your camera-restricted app to import it. The app will need access to your photo library, but it won't have camera access, meaning there's no way for it to spy on your face or environment during use. Of course, your photos may contain more information than you realize, including location data. Be sure to disable the photo geotagging in your smartphone if you want to keep your location secure.

Save Yourself By Changing a Few Settings

You don't have to put tape over your camera (yet) to stop apps from snapping pictures of you. A much more user-friendly solution exists in your iOS device's settings. You can restrict which apps have access to your camera, even if you've given them permission to use it in the past. Open your Settings app, head to Privacy, and select Camera. There you'll see every app with camera access permissions, and you can toggle them off to your preference (or turn them all off for some peace of mind).

Source: How to Stop iOS Apps From Secretly Spying Through Your Camera

Developer Warns Apps with Camera Permission Could Be Spying on Us

If you give an iOS app permission to use your camera, that app could spy on you by taking photos and videos without your knowledge, a developer and security researcher warned on Wednesday.

An app running in the foreground (with Camera permissions) can snap photo and video even if there's no viewfinder or Camera interface currently open.

A social media app, for example, could be covertly taking pictures when you're doing something non-Camera related — like simply scrolling through a feed.

The issue isn't a bug, or even necessarily a security vulnerability, but it is a privacy concern that iOS users should keep in mind.

Developer Felix Krause, who first discovered the app behavior, wrote a PSA blog post about it and created a proof-of-concept app to demonstrate how it could be used to secretly spy on users with both the front- or rear-facing camera without a user's knowledge.

"It's something most people have no idea about, as they think the camera is only being used if they see the camera contend or an LED is blinking," Krause told Motherboard. The developer works for Google, but his research on the app behavior was conducted independently of his work there.

Krause's custom proof-of-concept app, watch.user, demonstrates the app behavior perfectly. It's a fake "social media" app that periodically takes pictures of users and inserts them into the main feed to show off its covert picture-taking ability. The app even runs a facial recognition engine to detect emotion.

While watch.user doesn't upload or store the photos in any way, a malicious app theoretically could collect thousands of photos and videos from users, and even upload them online. Currently, it's unknown how many iOS apps that take advantage of the app permissions. Similarly, if there are apps like this on the App Store, it's hard to tell which ones are specifically malicious.

What makes the issue worse is that iPhones and iPads, unlike a Mac, don't have any LED lights or other mechanism to indicate when the Camera is active and currently being used.

Krause has since reported the issue to Apple, and even gave a few methods that could be used to thwart malicious covert photo- or video-taking. For example, Apple could install a MacBook-style LED indicator or another mechanism in iOS that can't be turned off by app developers. It could also create a new type of temporary app permission that expires based on location, Krause suggested.

Beyond any Apple-fielded solutions, Krause said that there are only "a few things" users can do to protect their privacy, such as:

1 Use physical lens covers for your front- and rear-facing cameras.2 Revoke all app Camera permissions and only use Apple's native Camera app. This, of course, will hinder convenience and usability of many apps. Open Settings > Privacy > Photos or Camera. From here, you can review apps that have permission, and revoke that access with the toggle.

Again, this isn't a security breach or bug. But it is a good exercise in reviewing which apps you can trust. While major and reputable apps like Facebook and Snapchat are, presumably, safer than smaller and sketchier third-party apps, permission behavior is still something to keep in mind.

Read Next: Apple's New Acquisition Hints at Massive Wireless Charging Improvements

Source: Developer Warns Apps with Camera Permission Could Be Spying on Us

PSA: With Camera Permission, iPhone Apps Can Take Pictures And Videos Without You Noticing

Image: Shutterstock. Composite: Jason Koebler/Motherboard

Whenever you give iPhone apps permission to access your camera, the app can surreptitiously take pictures and videos of you as long as the app is in the foreground, a security researcher warned on Wednesday.

Felix Krause, who recently warned of the danger of malicious iPhone password popups, wrote a blog post as a sort of PSA for iPhone users. To be clear, this is not a bug, but likely intended behavior.

What this means is that even if you don't see the camera "open" in the form of an on-screen viewfinder, an app can still take photos and videos. It is unknown how many apps currently do this, but Krause created a test app as a proof-of-concept.

This behavior is what enables certain "spy" apps like Stealth Cam and Easy Calc - Camera Eye to exist. But even if this behavior is well-known among iOS developers and hardcore users, it's worth remembering that all apps that have camera permission can technically take photos in this way.

"It's something most people have no idea about, as they think the camera is only being used if they see the camera content or a LED is blinking," Krause told Motherboard in a chat over Twitter direct message. Krause currently works at Google, but performed and published this research independently of his work there.

Read more: Turning Off Wi-Fi and Bluetooth in iOS 11's Control Center Doesn't Actually Turn Off Wi-Fi or Bluetooth

What's worse is that, unlike on Mac computers—which show a solid green light when the camera is active—the iPhone has no mechanism to indicate to a user that the camera is on.

"You can get full access to both cameras without indicating that to the user," Krause told me.

To test this functionality, Krause created a custom app called "watch.user" and shared it with me. I installed it on my iPhone and verified that, indeed, the app took pictures of me while I was simply scrolling through it, and it was even running a hidden facial recognition engine.

Krause's app does not upload photos anywhere, nor it stores them in your Photos app, but there's nothing stopping an app from taking pictures and uploading them somewhere without you noticing.

Again, this is not a bug or something you should be too worried about. But it's good to be aware of how much power you're giving apps when you grant them access to your iPhone's cameras.

Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Got a tip? You can contact this reporter securely on Signal at +1 917 257 1382, OTR chat at lorenzo@jabber.ccc.de, or email lorenzo@motherboard.tv

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Source: PSA: With Camera Permission, iPhone Apps Can Take Pictures And Videos Without You Noticing

Best Camera-Based Apps

As the cameras that are found on mobile devices continue to improve in quality with every new version, many new apps have been created which take advantage of these developments. As an alternative to expensive and large dedicated cameras, these apps can be applied to many industry verticals as the cameras are only a fraction of the overall technology. For example, while the camera may capture the images, the processing occurs within the app, something that is not possible with dedicated cameras. This article explores the best apps which utilize the camera to perform their core functions to provide a tremendous amount of value.

Photomath – Camera Calculator (iOS/Android)

Given the simultaneous importance and complexity of math, several different apps revolving around teaching math have been created. However, one of the most comprehensive apps is Photmath which introduces a new realm in terms of solving math problems. All that a user needs to do is open the app and take a picture of the math problem while the app converts it into a digital version and solves it. As the app is so easy to use, millions from around the world can find it extremely helpful in helping to understand the problems. Although the camera is not commonly associated as a tool that can be used for learning in math, its integration into Photomath demonstrates the unique nature of the app. Furthermore, not only is the answer shown, but also the steps to derive the answer are also provided so that users can get the best understanding of the problem. As a camera-based app that is designed to help students better understand math problems in a unique and creative way, Photomath is an a pp that has applied the use of a camera in the field of education like never before.

PictureThis – Plant Identification (Android)

As so many plants exist in different forms, many people hope to identify the species and strands that they see. However, it can be extremely difficult to find the exact name and description given that many other plants have similar characteristics. For example, if a user came across a plant with yellow pedals, it would be extremely difficult to describe the plant in a search engine to identify it given the thousands of plants that exist with yellow pedals. For this reason, PictureThis is a powerful tool which leverages the camera as a way to identify plants in an easy manner. All that a user needs to do is take a picture of a plant and then the app will automatically identify what it is. Extremely intuitive to use, the app is one that is very accurate in being able to distinguish between different plants that are similar. In leveraging the camera as the main identifier, PictureThis is extremely unique in its offering although other similar apps are starting to emerge in the plant identification space. Beyond just being able to identifying the plant, other information is also presented to include the genus, type, family and description so that users get a comprehensive overview of the overall plant. Given that so much information can be derived from just a picture, PictureThis is one of the best apps that leverage the device's camera.

picturethis video

PictureThis is a photo sharing and visual recognition platform that accurately identifies thousands of plant species in seconds – and growing!

Google Translate (iOS/Android)

Although this is a feature that not many people are familiar with, Google Translate lets users translate text from simply taking a picture of it. Using the camera as a method of input as opposed to having to enter text manually, this feature can prove to be extremely helpful, especially for those who are travelling and need to understand what a menu or sign says. As one of the best apps for translating text, it not only lets user input languages by picture, but also by text, handwriting, and even speaking, making it a highly comprehensive tool for translating various forms of communication. Although the camera translation only works for 37 languages, other forms of translating works with over 100 such as text input. Furthermore, one of the best features of the app is that the languages can be downloaded so that translations can be done even when there is no internet connection. As a unique and simple way to translate text, Google Translate is a great tool that utilizes the camera as a method of translating.

READ  Outfit Gurus – An app which helps you decide what to wear

Morpholio Trace – Sketch CAD (iOS)

As a tool that is designed to make the designing and sketching part easier for architects and creative, Morpholio Trace allows its users to draw over pictures as a way to play with potential designs. By integrating the camera as a core function of the app, it is able to help users get a template for their drawings in an easy way. For example, if a redesign of a room needs to be completed, all a user has to do is open the camera app on the Morpholio Trace app and then capture an image of the space. From there, they have the ability to sketch various designs right onto the photo instead of having to print out sophisticated blueprints or templates. Furthermore, the designs can be done right on the device instead of requiring additional software on a desktop computer. With such a high degree of interaction between virtual designs and reality through the use of photos, Morpholio Trace is app that has successfully integrated the use of cameras to make the design and sketching process ea sier.

As cameras continue to improve in performance and speed on mobile devices, many functions are now made possible in a way that was not feasible in the past. With this, many apps have integrated its use to increase efficiency and convenience. From those that are designed to help users identify plants to others that help in better understanding math problems, these apps have integrated the camera not in a superficial manner, but in a way that is able to provide a tremendous amount of value to its users, making them highly recommended.

Source: Best Camera-Based Apps

New app uses AI to find naked photos on your camera roll and securely lock them away

Is your camera roll filled with pictures of your junk? Whether you've decided to capture images of your nether regions for romantic, narcissistic, or comedic reasons, you'll probably want to avoid accidentally showing them to friends and family when trying to bring up a picture of your pet labradoodle.

Manually finding nudes, moving them to secure locations and deleting any from your camera roll/cloud backups is a laborious procedure. If only there were an app that could do all the work for you. Thankfully, there is; one that's appropriately named Nude: The Sexiest App Ever.

Nude's creators may have found one of the best uses ever for machine learning: finding your naked photos and locking them away. After installing the app, its algorithms can check your camera roll for what it believes are nudes, before moving them to a PIN-protected folder inside the application. After getting confirmation from the user, it will then delete the sensitive images from the camera roll and cloud, if that's where any backups are being stored.

The 2014 fappening incident, which saw intimate photos of many famous actresses stolen from their iCloud accounts and posted online, highlighted the potential dangers of storing compromising images on cloud services.

Nude's secure vault can also be used to store content other than people's genitals. Copies of driver's licenses, passports, IDs, and credits cards can also be safely kept here, though it doesn't appear that the algorithms will automatically detect and move these, too.

Another great feature is the way the app uses a device's front-facing camera to take a photo of anyone who tries to guess the vault's PIN and fails.

Nude is only available on iOS right now, though an Android version is in development. It costs $1 per month, or $10 for a year's subscription.

Source: New app uses AI to find naked photos on your camera roll and securely lock them away

The Pixel 2 camera app APK is now available for older Pixel and Nexus devices

The Pixel 2 camera achieved one of the highest DxOMark ratings of any smartphone on the current market but much of that performance is down to software.

The improved Google Camera app has some pretty significant features that help the Pixel 2 take some amazing pictures. Officially, it's only available on the new Pixel 2 devices but those over at XDA have managed to port it to the older Pixel and Pixel XL devices from last year.

You will be able to enjoy several new features of the camera app including Motion Photo and Face Retouching. Motion Photo is akin to the iPhone's Live Photos feature that captures a few seconds before you press the capture button into a mini-GIF.

While the camera port works on Nexus devices too, you'll only get a better UI and increased framerate; the new features, unfortunately, won't work so you'll need a Pixel device for that. Non-Google devices will have to wait a little while longer, although the group is said to be working on an APK for other Android devices.

Until a point at which the port is available for a wider array of devices, if you have a Pixel or Pixel XL, you can download the APK from here.

Source: The Pixel 2 camera app APK is now available for older Pixel and Nexus devices

This App Could Turn Your iPad’s Camera into a Working Button

Apple's iPad models were given a host of new software-based skills and enhancements as part of the latest iOS 11 update — however one third-party app developer has since created an entirely new, app-based feature that would theoretically employ the tablet's existing hardware in a truly revolutionary way.

Enter Astro HQ — the same team of developers who brought us the popular Astropad drawing app for iPad. In its latest endeavor, the team has created a remarkable app for iPad and Mac dubbed Luna, which will, among other things, turn your iPad's front-facing FaceTime camera into a "button," which can be tapped to reveal an on-screen panel of control options.

It's a novel idea, actually, which Astro HQ says is meant to free up screen space by taking iOS' on-screen controls and placing them in an easily accessible, off-screen panel. Just tap the FaceTime camera once, and the window pops out. Tap it again, and it's gone. It's that simple. Check it out in the video below.

Unfortunately, the feature is contingent upon the camera being constantly on, active, and scanning for input, which means there are a few loose strings attached to using it. On one hand, there are the obvious concerns not only over security, but also battery life. To address the former, devs say they've designed the feature to "blur camera imagery to the point of not being able to see any data coming in," and as far as battery life, devs note how iPad's FaceTime camera requires "less than 1% of CPU power at any given time," anyways. Therefore, it's hardly going to affect overall battery performance.

Also, for those who'd rather not use the FaceTime camera button, it'll be just one feature among a much larger, cross-platform app called Luna, which Astro HQ is currently in the final stages of producing amid its wildly-successful KickStarter campaign. In addition to the FaceTime camera button, which can be disabled at the user's request, Luna will offer iPad and Mac owners a powerful hardware-based display mirroring solution — effectively allowing them to mirror their Mac desktop to an iPad wirelessly.

While its goal is to launch Luna by May of next year, Astro cited how it's still trying to decide what it'll do for those against using the FaceTime button over security concerns, especially since Apple won't allow the use of iPad's hardware volume controls, according to CEO Matt Ronge, who also noted that his team is still waiting for final approval on its FaceTime button feature.

"We looked through the App Review guidelines, and we don't see a reason why the Camera Button wouldn't be allowed," Ronge wrote in an email to The Verge, acknowledging that the decision is ultimately Apple's. Ronge noted, however, that "other apps have done similar things with the proximity sensor on the iPhone in the past" — and though iPad doesn't have one of those — "there is precedent there."

Read Next: China Cuts Apple Watch LTE Support over 'Security Concerns'

Source: This App Could Turn Your iPad's Camera into a Working Button

Best Camera-Based Apps

As the cameras that are found on mobile devices continue to improve in quality with every new version, many new apps have been created which take advantage of these developments. As an alternative to expensive and large dedicated cameras, these apps can be applied to many industry verticals as the cameras are only a fraction of the overall technology. For example, while the camera may capture the images, the processing occurs within the app, something that is not possible with dedicated cameras. This article explores the best apps which utilize the camera to perform their core functions to provide a tremendous amount of value.

Photomath – Camera Calculator (iOS/Android)

Given the simultaneous importance and complexity of math, several different apps revolving around teaching math have been created. However, one of the most comprehensive apps is Photmath which introduces a new realm in terms of solving math problems. All that a user needs to do is open the app and take a picture of the math problem while the app converts it into a digital version and solves it. As the app is so easy to use, millions from around the world can find it extremely helpful in helping to understand the problems. Although the camera is not commonly associated as a tool that can be used for learning in math, its integration into Photomath demonstrates the unique nature of the app. Furthermore, not only is the answer shown, but also the steps to derive the answer are also provided so that users can get the best understanding of the problem. As a camera-based app that is designed to help students better understand math problems in a unique and creative way, Photomath is an a pp that has applied the use of a camera in the field of education like never before.

PictureThis – Plant Identification (Android)

As so many plants exist in different forms, many people hope to identify the species and strands that they see. However, it can be extremely difficult to find the exact name and description given that many other plants have similar characteristics. For example, if a user came across a plant with yellow pedals, it would be extremely difficult to describe the plant in a search engine to identify it given the thousands of plants that exist with yellow pedals. For this reason, PictureThis is a powerful tool which leverages the camera as a way to identify plants in an easy manner. All that a user needs to do is take a picture of a plant and then the app will automatically identify what it is. Extremely intuitive to use, the app is one that is very accurate in being able to distinguish between different plants that are similar. In leveraging the camera as the main identifier, PictureThis is extremely unique in its offering although other similar apps are starting to emerge in the plant identification space. Beyond just being able to identifying the plant, other information is also presented to include the genus, type, family and description so that users get a comprehensive overview of the overall plant. Given that so much information can be derived from just a picture, PictureThis is one of the best apps that leverage the device's camera.

picturethis video

PictureThis is a photo sharing and visual recognition platform that accurately identifies thousands of plant species in seconds – and growing!

Google Translate (iOS/Android)

Although this is a feature that not many people are familiar with, Google Translate lets users translate text from simply taking a picture of it. Using the camera as a method of input as opposed to having to enter text manually, this feature can prove to be extremely helpful, especially for those who are travelling and need to understand what a menu or sign says. As one of the best apps for translating text, it not only lets user input languages by picture, but also by text, handwriting, and even speaking, making it a highly comprehensive tool for translating various forms of communication. Although the camera translation only works for 37 languages, other forms of translating works with over 100 such as text input. Furthermore, one of the best features of the app is that the languages can be downloaded so that translations can be done even when there is no internet connection. As a unique and simple way to translate text, Google Translate is a great tool that utilizes the camera as a method of translating.

READ  Ingenious Integration of Augmented Reality with IKEA

Morpholio Trace – Sketch CAD (iOS)

As a tool that is designed to make the designing and sketching part easier for architects and creative, Morpholio Trace allows its users to draw over pictures as a way to play with potential designs. By integrating the camera as a core function of the app, it is able to help users get a template for their drawings in an easy way. For example, if a redesign of a room needs to be completed, all a user has to do is open the camera app on the Morpholio Trace app and then capture an image of the space. From there, they have the ability to sketch various designs right onto the photo instead of having to print out sophisticated blueprints or templates. Furthermore, the designs can be done right on the device instead of requiring additional software on a desktop computer. With such a high degree of interaction between virtual designs and reality through the use of photos, Morpholio Trace is app that has successfully integrated the use of cameras to make the design and sketching process ea sier.

As cameras continue to improve in performance and speed on mobile devices, many functions are now made possible in a way that was not feasible in the past. With this, many apps have integrated its use to increase efficiency and convenience. From those that are designed to help users identify plants to others that help in better understanding math problems, these apps have integrated the camera not in a superficial manner, but in a way that is able to provide a tremendous amount of value to its users, making them highly recommended.

Source: Best Camera-Based Apps

New app uses AI to find naked photos on your camera roll and securely lock them away

Is your camera roll filled with pictures of your junk? Whether you've decided to capture images of your nether regions for romantic, narcissistic, or comedic reasons, you'll probably want to avoid accidentally showing them to friends and family when trying to bring up a picture of your pet labradoodle.

Manually finding nudes, moving them to secure locations and deleting any from your camera roll/cloud backups is a laborious procedure. If only there were an app that could do all the work for you. Thankfully, there is; one that's appropriately named Nude: The Sexiest App Ever.

Nude's creators may have found one of the best uses ever for machine learning: finding your naked photos and locking them away. After installing the app, its algorithms can check your camera roll for what it believes are nudes, before moving them to a PIN-protected folder inside the application. After getting confirmation from the user, it will then delete the sensitive images from the camera roll and cloud, if that's where any backups are being stored.

The 2014 fappening incident, which saw intimate photos of many famous actresses stolen from their iCloud accounts and posted online, highlighted the potential dangers of storing compromising images on cloud services.

Nude's secure vault can also be used to store content other than people's genitals. Copies of driver's licenses, passports, IDs, and credits cards can also be safely kept here, though it doesn't appear that the algorithms will automatically detect and move these, too.

Another great feature is the way the app uses a device's front-facing camera to take a photo of anyone who tries to guess the vault's PIN and fails.

Nude is only available on iOS right now, though an Android version is in development. It costs $1 per month, or $10 for a year's subscription.

Source: New app uses AI to find naked photos on your camera roll and securely lock them away

A dormant chip in the Pixel 2 will soon let developers write better camera and AI apps

Here's a surprise: Google's Pixel 2 phones include a custom system-on-a-chip (SoC) that's optimized for image processing — but it currently just sits there, doing nothing.

Google says it'll turn this chip on in the coming weeks as a developer option in the preview of Android Oreo 8.1. This will enable developers to include the same HDR+ image processing that allows Google's camera app to produce great pictures with hardware that is, at least on the spec sheet, not up to par with that of its competitors.

This custom system-on-a-chip (SoC) marks Google's first foray into custom chips in a consumer product. This chip, the "Pixel Visual Core," features eight custom-designed image processing unit (IPU) cores and 512 arithmetic logic units. This allows the Pixel's camera to shoot images that use the company's HDR+ algorithm for a wider color spectrum (by quickly taking and combining multiple images at different exposure levels) with none of the delay you'd typically expect for HDR images. Google says that using the Pixel Visual Core speeds up HDR+ processing by 5x, all while using only a tenth of the energy of running that same algorithm on a regular CPU.

Google notes that the IPU uses two domain-specific languages: Halide for image processing and — no surprise there — TensorFlow for machine learning applications.

It's pretty curious, though, that right now, Google says this chip just quietly sits on the phone, doing nothing. It's not even being used by Google's own camera app. As a Google spokesperson told me, the company has "managed to achieve the HDR+ through tight coupling of hardware, software and ML." There must be some speed and power advantages to using it even in Google's own applications, though, so my best guess is that the chip was a very late addition to the phone's hardware — so late that Google wasn't even able to work with third-party developers to write public demo apps and tout it in its launch keynote.

For now, the focus here is squarely on allowing developers to use HDR+ in their applications, but given that this is a programmable chip, it's no surprise that Google plans to open it up to other use cases over time, too. "HDR+ is the first application to run on Pixel Visual Core," Google notes in today's announcement. "As noted above, Pixel Visual Core is programmable and we are already preparing the next set of applications. The great thing is that as we follow up with more, new applications on Pixel Visual Core, Pixel 2 will continue to improve."

Source: A dormant chip in the Pixel 2 will soon let developers write better camera and AI apps

How to Get the Pixel 2's New Camera App On Your Old Google Phone

One of the Pixel 2's top features is its camera, which scored an unprecedented 98 out of 100 from the camera quality testers at DxOMark. You'll have to pay up to get your hands on that new hardware, but you can try some of the Pixel 2's fancy new camera features right now on your current Google phone.

That's right, the new Google Camera app has already been cracked. You can grab it now from XDA-Developers and install it on your current device with a little extra work.

How to Install the New Google Camera App

You can download the app file right here and install it on any Google device running Android 8.0 Oreo. That includes the Pixel and Pixel XL, along with older Nexus products that support the latest version of Android like the Nexus 6P. However, some of the new features will only work on a Pixel phone, and others are limited to the Pixel 2 entirely.

Which Camera Features Work on Which Phones?

Face Retouching, which lets you add filters and remove blemishes in your selfies, and Motion Photo (basically Google's version of Live Photos on iOS) both work on first-generation Pixel phones. However, Google's cool new AR Stickers are limited to the Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL.

Unfortunately, if you're using an older Nexus device you won't be able to use any of the new Google Camera features, but installing the app should still improve general performance. According to XDA-Developers, the updated app is snappier to use with a higher frames-per-second rate for the viewfinder. So it may still be worth installing if you can.

Source: How to Get the Pixel 2's New Camera App On Your Old Google Phone

Pixel 2 camera app available for all, Motion Photos and other features working for some

You can now download the Pixel 2's camera app ahead of the phone's official release, but there's a lot you should know before making the plunge.

There's a lot of excitement still brewing for Google's Pixel 2, and the official launcher that debuted on the phone was just recently made available as an APK download for everyone to check out on their current devices. Shortly after that release, the camera app for the Pixel 2 has seen similar treatment, and there's a lot to talk about with this one.

The app was once again ported by Android Police, and while there's plenty that's different compared to the current Google Camera app on the Play Store, not all of the changes are noticeable right off the bat.

Starting first with the app's interface. the top controls have been spaced apart and moved closer towards the top of the screen, whereas the bottom capture controls have remained mostly unchanged. Tapping on the hamburger menu icon to view your different shooting modes reveals the same set of controls, but the Lens Blur option now features a flower icon rather than a camera lens (likely to better indicate that the mode is to be used for close-up shots).

Google Camera 4.4 (left), Google Camera 5.1 (right)

Opening the settings page, you'll see that Google has done away with the dark upper bar with white text and replaced it with a white background and blue text. This helps to keep the look of the settings in-line with the white and blue design found throughout other parts of the Pixel Launcher and Android 8.0, and along with this, the placement of certain items has been switched around.

Google Camera 4.4 (left), Google Camera 5.1 (right)

In regards to new features, there are actually quite a few. Motion Photos (Google's version of Apple's Live Photos) was spotted working on the 5.0 version of the app, but in the 5.1 variant that I downloaded, the feature is nowhere to be found. It should still work if you download the 5.0 version of the Camera app on a first-generation Pixel or Pixel XL, but if you have another device or download the 5.1 file, you're out of luck.

Google's also updated the UI for adjusting your auto-focus and auto-exposure so that it's much easier to lock your focus and exposure in place once you've got it set at the desired level. This is something that you could previously do with older versions of the app, but it's now much more visible to users. Along with this, there's an updated interface for viewing photos/videos that you've captured, "face retouching" for selfies, an improved version of HDR+ called "HDR+ enhanced", and a warning on the screen when flash is turned on.

Unfortunately, the breakdown for who gets which features is quite confusing at the moment. Downloading the camera app on a Pixel or Pixel XL will provide you with certain features that other users won't have access to, the 5.0 and 5.1 versions of the app are also tweaked with what's available and what isn't, and downloading 5.0 on a Pixel will give you different features than what you'll see on 5.1.

We understand the want to rip your hair out, but this sort of thing is to be expected with ported versions of applications. They're fun to mess with, but complications are to be expected.

If you still want to give this a shot, you can download the 5.0 APK file here, and the updated 5.1 version here.

Source: Pixel 2 camera app available for all, Motion Photos and other features working for some

Hollywood’s fave iPhone app supports Apple’s go-to video format

iPhone filmmakers get HEVC support in Filmic Pro update.Photo: Filmic

Filmic Pro, the gold standard iPhone app for filmmakers to achieve near-cinematic quality, released an update today to support the new HEVC format in iOS 11.

HEVC stands for High-Efficiency Video Coding (also called H.265), a compression standard that reduces the file size of videos while retaining much of the quality. This means users can store twice the number of videos on their iPhones or iPad Pros.

Apple adopted HEVC encoding and decoding support (alongside the JPEG-killing HEIF format for photographs) when it released iOS 11 and macOS High Sierra last month. However, HEVC recording is limited to devices with the A10 chip or later. These include this year's iPad Pro, all iPhone 7 and iPhone 8 models, and the forthcoming iPhone X.

Filmic Pro is an app used by professional filmmakers and mobile journalists. It offers greater control over the iPhone video camera and features a number of professional settings not standard with the native camera.

The updated app, free to existing users or $14.99 in the App Store, also includes an HEVC recording option in the resolution settings and a Time Code Track feature that reduces editing time.

Source: iDownloadBlog

Source: Hollywood's fave iPhone app supports Apple's go-to video format

Maximus Camera Floodlight Is The All-In-One Security System For Monitoring Outside Your House

If you're going to set up home security, the inside of your house isn't the only place that requires a camera – the exterior sections, like the lawn and the backyard, probably need the same amount of vigilance, too (which is why there's now an outdoor-grade Nest Cam). And while there are many solutions for outdoor security cameras, the Maximus Camera Floodlight offers some features that make it quite an enticing choice.

A security camera with an integrated floodlight, the device can automatically fill the outside of your house with a bright light when it detects potential intrusion, providing an element of deterrence that can discourage intruders from proceeding with any of their plans. It can do that whether you're home or not, too, so this gives you a way of preventing potential break-ins even when you're in another part of the world.

The Maximus Camera Floodlight has a sensor that captures 1080p video, with a 155-degree field of view, so you can see a wide section of your home's exterior. Make sure to position it at an angle where you can see the entire area, since the camera position can't be adjusted from the app (you can manually adjust it by 40 degrees both vertically and horizontally during set up, though). It pairs the camera with a 2400-lumen floodlight that serves as a potential deterrent apart from giving you the ability to clearly see what's been detected by simply looking at the live feed from the companion app. You can set the floodlight to switch on as soon as an event is detected or you can opt to have it controlled manually through the app, in case you want to avoid disturbing the neighbors with a bright light in the event of a false alarm. The light is dimmable, too, so you can lower it down to a soft light in case there doesn't appear to be any danger.

A passive infrared motion sensor detects any potential movement within the perimeter, which triggers the camera to automatically immediately begin recording. It can detect movement within 70 feet, which should be enough to serve most common households. If the movement continues being detected for the next 10 seconds, it's flagged as an event, at which point the homeowner gets an alert on their phone.

Aside from the floodlight, the Maximus Camera Floodlight comes with a two-way intercom that allows you to talk to whoever's on the property, making it possible to have a conversation if it's people you actually know. In case it's actual intruders you find on the feed, you can activate the integrated siren (which, according to the outfit, is louder than a motorcycle), as well as have it play pre-recorded deterrent messages.

All recorded videos are saved on the outfit's servers, so you can get access to them whenever you need to provide authorities with footage from your property. Of course, it's fully weatherproof, with an IP44 rating, so you don't have to worry about the darn thing giving out in the event of inclement weather.

The Maximus Camera Floodlight will be priced at $250.

Check It Out
Source: Maximus Camera Floodlight Is The All-In-One Security System For Monitoring Outside Your House

GoPro HERO6 Black Action Camera Review

 

The GoPro HERO6 Black is the latest action camera from the number 1 brand associated with these small but robust cameras that capture video and stills. 

The HERO6 is powered by GoPro's custom-designed GP1 processor, features the most advanced video stabilisation ever achieved in a GoPro and it can capture 4K video at 60fps as well as 1080p at 240fps. The HERO6 also has an improved dynamic range for better low-light performance, a new digital zoom, touch zoom and the camera automatically backs up to the cloud.

As for cost, the GoPro HERO6 Black is available now for £499.99 but is it worth it? We find out as we put its video and stills capturing capabilities to the test. 

 

GoPro HERO6 Black Features

The GoPro HERO6 is unmistakingly an action camera with its box-like shape. In fact, it shares the same design as the GoPro HERO5 and will fit the Karma Grip, and other accessories, should you already be a GoPro owner. 

While we're talking about accessories, one slight niggle we have with the GoPro HERO6 Black is the lack of accessories you get with the camera. Yes, it arrives with housing and two mounts but this is quite limited when compared to some other, less expensive, brands who seem to include more. 

Anyway, back to the new GoPro... You can control the GoPro HERO6 Black via the camera's touch screen and buttons or remotely by connecting it to your smartphone via the GoPro app. There's also a Quick edit app available for smartphones or desktop computers which creates, what GoPro call, 'Flashbacks' every week. The 'Flashbacks' are just quick ways to see what you've captured over the last week. There's also an option to view/create 'My Stories' which are slideshows of photos you've captured and these are fully editable so you can add music, effects and change the order in which photos appear. 

Photo modes include auto, night and burst, all of which capture images at 12MP and each mode has its own settings. You can also shoot in RAW but zoom must be off, field of view must be set to wide and HDR must be switched off. Two field-of-view options are available along with a time-lapse mode and some manual options which we'll go into more detail in the performance section. 

As for video modes, the GoPro HERO6 can record 4K, 4K 4:3, 2.7K, 2.7K 4:3, 1440p, 1080p (Full HD) and 720p. There are 3 field-of-view options: SuperView, Wide and Linear plus, interval shooting is available. Electronic video stabilisation is built in but you can't use it when recording 4K video at 60fps, 4K 4:3, 2.7K at 120fps, 2.7K at 60fps 4:3 and 1080p at 240fps. Auto Low Light allows you to shoot in low-light environments or when quickly transitioning in and out of low-light conditions and there are also a few manual controls available. 

As well as better resolutions and frame rates, the dynamic range of the camera has been improved so low light footage is more impressive and Wi-Fi transfer speeds are quicker. We didn't mention the ability to capture FullHD at 240fps earlier either so we are now as the ability to capture super slo-mo footage is pretty cool and it's all thanks to the new GP1 processor built in. 

GoPro HERO 6 Key Features:

Powered by GoPro's Custom-Designed GP1 Processor

4K @ 60fps and 1080p @ 240fps Video

QuikStories Enabled, GoPro App Compatible

Most Advanced Stabilization of any HERO camera

All-New Touch Zoom

3x Faster Offload Speeds via 5GHz Wi-Fi

Waterproof to 33 Feet (10m)

Compatible with Karma and Existing GoPro Mounts

Improved Dynamic Range and Low-Light Performance

RAW and HDR Photo Modes

Voice Control in 10 Languages

GPS, Accelerometer and Gyroscope

Wi-Fi + Bluetooth

GoPro HERO6 Black Handling

As already mentioned, the overall design hasn't really changed so it still fits well in the hand and sits securely in its housing which you use to secure it to mounts. There's no tripod socket but you can purchase an adapter so you can use it on a standard tripod mount.

The touchscreen on the back still only measures 2-inch but it's pretty responsive and easy to view even in bright light. Those with larger fingers may find it a little fiddly but apart from that, it works well. There's also a small LCD screen on the front of the camera that relays information such as power level, how much space is left on your memory card, recording status, mode, resolution and frame rate. It's useful for quick glances but as soon as the sun goes down, it's pretty much useless outside as it's not backlit so you can't read what's on it. 

 

Overall, it's compact, feels well built and is also waterproof down to 10m (without housing) which, unless you plan on going scuba diving, does mean you don't have to pack housing in your case when going on your travels. One problem with the compact design is that everything is packed in so well, the battery and Micro SD memory card can be a little tricky to remove but it's not impossible. 

The memory card slot and the battery can be found in one compartment and the USB-C and micro HDMI ports can be found in another on the side of the camera. Both are protected by a waterproof, removable door that's actually very satisfying to open and shut thanks to the mechanism used. Both doors feel very secure and the housing you sit the camera into fastens shut just as sturdy. In fact, I had to ask a colleague to open it up for me! The battery is charged in-camera and it doesn't take too long to get the battery back up to full charge. In use, the battery lasted a decent amount of time (around 1.5-2 hours) when shooting a mixture of 4K footage and stills. 

If you don't want to press buttons you can use voice controls to start/stop video and to capture images but the command of 'GoPro, start recording' was often ignored by the camera so I wouldn't rely on it. You can also switch the device on with your voice if you set it to listen but again, we didn't have much success with it. Mind you, as there are only two buttons, it's not like the device is so overly complicated that using voice control makes it easier to use anyway. 

The mode button (where you also power the camera on/off) cycles through the main modes (photo, video, burst, time-lapse) and the shutter button can be found on top. Changes to the main modes have to be made in the menus accessible via the touchscreen. 

 

There's a new digital zoom which you can alter via the app or directly on the camera's touchscreen but as with most digital zooms, it's best avoided.

While in use, the camera did freeze once and as a result, the battery soon heated the camera up to a point it actually felt incredibly hot but a reset and some time for the battery to cool soon fixed the issue. It was probably a blip but we thought we'd mention it and we will contact GoPro about the issue. 

Apart from the one issue, the camera was quick to respond and saved photos as well as video footage quickly. Although, it's not the most intuitive camera I've ever used and if you're new to GoPro cameras, patience will be needed when learning how to operate it.  

GoPro HERO6 Black App 

 

As GoPro cameras are all about getting out there and enjoying life, it makes sense they have an app so you can always be connected to the world via your smartphone device. The camera features both Bluetooth and Wireless connectivity so you can quickly share and save images or use your smartphone as a remote control. GPS is also built in so you can keep a track of where images/video was captured. 

The App is available for both iOS and Android and it's a doddle to set-up as the app gives you step-by-step instructions on Bluetooth pairing so you can quickly connect your smartphone to your GoPro HERO6 Black.

I didn't actually use the remote control aspect of the app all that much as I didn't need to leave the camera anywhere but it's there if you need it. The GoPro app automatically scans and downloads media from the camera but it can take quite a few minutes to complete (depending on your file sizes) and it does eat the battery power of both devices while it's happening. You can, also, transfer files manually which I had to do a couple of times as the automatic transfer didn't pick some video files up.

       

Once you've moved your images and videos across, you can use QuickStories (another app) to edit your footage into, what are essentially, slideshows. The whole process is actually automated but you can add titles, adjust the music and swap images/clips in and out if you want to. It's rather self-explanatory and straightforward to use. Some may find the whole process a bit cheesy but as I said, you can edit the footage to turn it into something that's much more suited to your personal taste so if the app does create something you feel's a little dated, just edit it. 

Editing video, I will admit, is an art and it can be frustrating and seem like hard work if it's not something you're used to doing but do persevere with it. As well as an app for your phone you can use the software to edit footage on a desktop computer which makes it slightly easier to do just because you have a bigger screen to work with. 

If you're worried about storage space on your smart devices, 4K footage captured at 60fps, along with a couple of other high frame rate options, is compressed with HEVC (high efficiency video coding) which, if you have a smartphone that supports it, can drastically reduce file sizes and as a result, files will transfer quicker and take up less room on your smartphone. 

Source: GoPro HERO6 Black Action Camera Review

Google's New Camera "Clips" Uses AI To Automatically Get Great Shots

Wait, but what do you mean it automatically takes candid photos?

Yeah, so, here's where the camera gets weird.

The camera uses artificial intelligence to both evaluate picture quality and see if someone it "knows" is within view. If it decides that something is a good picture and it recognizes the subject (which could be a person or a pet), it takes a short clip — which can be saved as a video, a GIF, or as one of Google's newly announced Motion Photos. You can also select still images if moving pictures are not really your thing.

It saves a stream of these photos to its internal memory. Then, it connects wirelessly to your phone and a new app called Clips shows a feed of "suggested clips." You then have the option to save these, or delete them. (You can also set it to save all the suggested clips if you want.) You have the option to export photos to third-party apps, like email or Instagram.

Where the AI comes in

It is important to stress here that the camera isn't continually shooting and saving pictures, or taking them at set intervals. Rather, it is making value judgments about the shots it selects. It effectively acts as a personalized photo editor.

Google says it wanted to automate the process of both capturing and selecting great images. Which means it wanted to alleviate the tedious process of flipping through lots of shots to find a good one, or scrolling through video to find the perfect moment. So it evaluates those photos on the device as they happen to determine what to save to memory. What's more, it's taking more pictures than it shows you in suggested clips. You can can toggle a switch to see all the photos it takes. The suggested ones are the clips that the camera has judged to be delightful enough to rise to your attention.

Juston Payne, the product lead for Clips, told BuzzFeed News that the camera looks at many different elements in a clip to make those call s. It wants to see if the shot is stable and well lit. It looks for clips where people are smiling and have their eyes open. It has a bias for jumps and motion that indicate action. And most importantly, it has face detection that looks for a familiar face. (There are dog and cat classifiers too, Google says.)

Blaise Aguera y Arcas, a principal scientist with Google's machine intelligence, says that the camera is powered by neural nets that were trained by human curators. (In essence, people helped the camera's machine learning software understand what makes a good shot.) When it matches the attributes of a good shot with a subject it knows, it shows you that clip.

Aguera y Arcas predicts that, going forward, the Clips cameras will begin to learn what types of photos specific people love. "That's very much our hope, where we can develop modes based on people's tastes."

What's also compelling about this, from both a privacy and performance perspective, is that all this happens in the camera itself.

Traditionally, pulling off this kind of image selection and processing would have had to take place "on a bank of desktops somewhere with powerful GPUs", Aguera y Arcas told BuzzFeed News. "This is the first moment that it could plausibly be done on the device," he said. "It was a process of getting a chip specifically designed to run neural nets at very low power."

And because this happens in the camera, it means that it can get better battery performance than it would if it were processing in the cloud. It doesn't expend resources transferring data to and from a remote server to be processed.

(Google claims three hours; we found it to be better than two but not up to three on a prototype running beta software.)

Also, on-device AI means that if your camera automatically captures an embarrassing moment, you can kill it before it anyone else ever sees it. For example, the photo of my kid playing in the sprinkler was cute , true, but you could really see my back fat where I was bending over in the corner of the shot. Deleted.

Speaking of privacy!

There are several things Google did here to address privacy. For starters, it's offline. The photos are only stored on the device, unless you connect it to your phone and move them over (or set it to automatically do that). This means you have the chance to locally review everything it has shot. There's also a pulsing LED light that shows when it is active.

And finally, Clips purposefully looks familiar. Payne says Google wanted it to be instantly recognizable as a camera, and that "we were trying not to make it feel too much like a tech product." If someone else is wearing it clipped on their clothes, for example, you would immediately recognize that this thing is a camera and that it's maybe capturing your picture.

Here are some technical specifications.

The camera has a 12 megapixel sensor and shoots video at15 fps. It has 16 GB memory and a 130-degree field of view. There is no microphone, no display, no speaker. File transfer to your phone is via Wi-Fi and Bluetooth Low Energy. At 54 x 54 x 36mm, and 55 grams, it is quite small. (We temporarily lost ours in the couch.)

It did a great job (mostly).

With the caveat that this is an early-release device, running beta software, Clips was mostly impressive. Especially if you think of it as a gee-whiz, rather than must-have, product. (In fact, Aguera y Arcas went so far as to say it was "very much a V1, or even experimental, product" and that he was "not expecting a best-seller".) Image quality was good. But in the era of high-end phone cameras, it's not going to blow you away.

While it is certainly capable of taking beautiful pictures, the magic is not in the image quality as much as its ability to easily get things that you simply previously could not. You can really see the AI at work when you swap between the raw stream of stuff it has captured, and the suggested clips. As Aguera y Arcas put it, "there are a broad set of moments that are just below the waterline."

That is, it takes a lot of the photos that may not quite rise to the level it sets for suggesting them to you. (You can still go in and look at them an d select and save the ones you want.) I did end up grabbing a lot of these. But for the most part, they were junk. It was stuff that was ultimately a waste of time and space.

And that's what it is meant to do: It elevates the interesting so that you don't have to. In some ways, its mission is the same as Google Photos itself, which also tries to find and organize your best images for you. And it mostly pulls it off. Save for the occasional shot that reminds me I need to get to the gym.

Mat Honan is the San Francisco bureau chief for BuzzFeed News. Formerly a senior staff writer at Wired, he has been writing about the technology industry and its impact on society for nearly 20 years.

Contact Mat Honan at mat.honan@buzzfeed.com.

Got a confidential tip? Submit it here.

Source: Google's New Camera "Clips" Uses AI To Automatically Get Great Shots

Smiles trigger selfies with Camera+ app update

Camera+ adds features like smile mode and depth support.Photo: David Pierini/Cult of Mac

Even when your arm is stretched out as far as possible, it can be a struggle to get a finger or thumb on the shutter of your iPhone camera to take that selfie. An update to the app Camera+ trips the shutter with a smile.

Version 10 of Camera+, one of the more popular apps for iPhone photographers, announced new features this week with improvements that take full advantage of iOS 11.

"One of the additions we are most proud of is the new Smile mode," Pedro Cuenca wrote on the Camera+ blog. "It works like the stabilizer, but for smiles. Now you can simply smile, and the photo will be shot. (It) works for the back camera too, and for any number of people. Just point the camera at them and tell a funny joke."

Camera+ now allows shooting in the new HEIF format, a smaller file size with supposed jpegs quality so more photos can be stored on your phone.

The app also provides full depth support, which will give iPhone photographs the ability to makes color or tonal changes to a background to make a foreground subject standout. App developers did not have access to depth information under iOS 10.Depth support lets a user desaturate the background to make the foreground stand out.Photo: Camera+

Camera+ also made changes to its interface, including a shooting bar that gives a user quicker access to features on both the app and the native camera features, like Portrait and Macro modes.

A (+) button gives users access to settings previously buried in a menu.

Camera+ is available for a $2.99 download for iPhone and $4.99 for iPad in the App Store. A version will fewer features is also available for free download.

Source: Smiles trigger selfies with Camera+ app update

Latest Update Improves Essential Phone Camera App

One of the downsides of Essential Phone is the camera app and the founder of Essential Phone, Andy Rubin who is also the co-founder of Android OS said at some point that the company was aware of the situation and an update will be released to fix it. Well, the update has finally arrived and this update is expected to place this bezel-less smartphone camera on the same level with other Android flagship smartphones.

To get this update up and running, you need to install the latest system build (NMI81C), which adds "improved performance and bug fixes.". It has a size of just 72MB thus it should be downloaded and installed seamlessly. After this, you can now update the phone camera app. To do this, go to Google Play Store and search for Camera app update. Make sure you install the latest version. The upgrade as affirmed by Essential includes

Boosted capture speed in regular and low light to below 1 second (over 40% faster);

Improved brightness and performance in low-light;

Spatial sound when shooting in 360 (supported on device, Facebook, and YouTube);

Use volume up/down keys as shutter buttons in 360 mode;

Countdown timer when in 360 camera mode;

Bug fixes and overall reliability improvements.

HDR intensifications, live 360 streaming to Facebook and Periscope, animated 360 stills and filters, Portrait Mode and Pro Mode are some of many additional improvements to the Essential Phone camera which will be gotten gradually form updates via Google Play.

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I'm a professional geologist and an enthusiastic writer who is interested in technology. I sleep and wake with my mobile phone, data connection on 24/7. My PC is never more than a metre from me.

Source: Latest Update Improves Essential Phone Camera App

New! Mobile Photography, Art & Videography – App of the Day – Camera+

We are always working on new features and ideas here at TheAppWhisperer HQ, one that we are bringing to fruition today is to introduce a new Mobile Photography, Art or Videography App of the day, some you may of heard of, others might be completely new to you. Whatever your developmental stage into the beautiful immersive and supportive world of Mobile Photography, Art and Videography, we're hoping to keep you fully informed at all times.

The other point to bear in mind, is not all of the apps we introduce here will be for the iOS system, we have been testing the Huawei P10 for sometime now and we are hugely impressed with not only its camera but its photographic output as well including the apps from the Google Play store that fit it so well. It's a few years since I've written for Android Magazine, but it's an area I've kept a close eye on.

We always welcome feedback here at TheAppWhisperer, so if there's a particular app that you feel we really should be shouting about, please let us know in the comments below.

Camera+

Camera+ is one of the most competent and therefore it almost goes without saying, one of the most popular mobile capture apps.  It has now been updated with a new design, smile mode, support for iOS 11's HEIF format, full depth support, and an improved accurate viewfinder.

Take a look at what the developers, have to say about this new update:

We love the Portrait mode that Apple introduced in the dual-lens iPhones – y'know, that feature where you take a close-up and the background is nicely blurred and faded to draw attention to your main subject. Under iOS 10 we weren't allowed to read depth information from the system so we couldn't do anything like that. This all changed in iOS 11 – we are very happy to report that you can now capture Depth photos inside your favorite shooting app.

Note that we said "Depth" and not "Portrait" above. That's because you can use that information not only for portraits, but for a variety of other creative purposes as well. Most of the editing tools in The Lab have been enhanced to support Depth. This means you can now desaturate the background so the foreground pops in vivid color, or apply exposure compensation to a distant area of the image. We can't wait to see what you'll be able to do with it. Oh, and for those of you wondering, it works for pictures taken with the system camera too – if you have Portrait photos in your album, feel free to import them into Camera+ and see what you can achieve in The Lab.

All-new Camera Design

In Camera+ 10 we turned our attention to the camera itself. We came up with a new design that feels completely at home in iOS 11 but, more importantly, we've made sure that the most frequently used features and settings are closer at hand and easier to find. A new shooting bar is always present at the top of the screen, giving you quick access to the new Portrait/Depth mode, to the beloved Macro mode, and to frequently used controls such as the flash and the camera switcher.

By tapping on the small (+) button next to the shutter you'll have easy access to tons of useful settings. You no longer need to open the menu to toggle the grid or the horizon level, and you can also quickly enable RAW capture. Additional shooting modes have been made available in that same place. Since it was getting a little crowded in there, we decided to introduce a 3D carousel you can flip to access whatever mode you want to try. One of the additions we are most proud of is the new Smile mode – it works like the stabilizer, but for smiles. Have you ever found yourself in a position where you are trying to shoot a selfie and got the framing just right, only to find you can't reach the shutter? Now you can simply smile, and the photo will be shot. It doesn't need to be selfies, it works for the back camera too, and for any number of people – just point the camera at them and tell a funny joke.

One last important detail in the camera is that now your viewfinder is always accurate. No matter what device you use, what your settings are or what controls you have on screen, the viewfinder will always show the exact area that will be captured. This was important for those photographers among you that like to carefully frame their photos, so we made sure that you get what you see.

HEIF format

Camera+ 10 supports the efficient HEIF format across the board. This image file format promises better efficiency than the more well-known JPEG. This means that if you do nothing, your photos will magically take up less space and will look the same or even better. Personally, we recommend you leave it on! The only downside is that HEIF is a relatively new format, so it still does not enjoy as much support as the venerable JPEG does. If you need to transfer your photos to a computer to continue working on them and are worried about compatibility, you can always choose to save your files in JPEG.

Camera+ is available for £/$2.99 from the App Store.

Hello again…

We wouldn't ask if it wasn't necessary for the future of TheAppWhisperer.com… More people than ever are reading TheAppWhisperer.com and we could not be more excited about that. We bring you ad-free journalism every day, so you don't have to close windows and be distracted with advertisements. We specialise in mobile photography and mobile art and we value all of our readers, writers, contributors and viewers but we do have costs and we do need to ask for your help. We at TheAppWhisperer spend many hours each day, each week and each month to bring you this high quality level of journalism. We do it because we are passionate about it and because we want others to be as passionate too.

If everyone who reads our website, who likes it, helps to support it, our future would be so much more secure. Please help us by offering a contribution or supporting us with a monthly donation of your choosing.

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Source: New! Mobile Photography, Art & Videography – App of the Day – Camera+

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Zyxel Aurora Cloud Access Camera review: This is a good camera that's hobbled by app issues

Zyxel, a company best known for its networking products, makes its first foray into the crowded home security camera space with the Aurora Cloud Access Camera ($160). While it makes a strong splash with its design, some app issues indicate it's still a work in progress.

The Aurora cuts a unique figure among its competitors. The camera is housed is triangular body that sits on a metal stem connected to its base. Altogether it stands just over 5 inches tall, and both its size and design are guaranteed to draw eyes to it, as is the triangular LED that rings the lens.

The camera's base is magnetic, so in addition to placing it on a table or shelf, you can mount it to magnetic surfaces. You can also mount it to a wall or ceiling with the included mounting kit or remove the camera body from its stand and place it flat side down.

Zyxel

The Aurora can be placed on a shelf or table or mounted to a wall, ceiling, or magnetic surface.

The Aurora has a 145-degree field of view with up to 1080p resolution. It can record video in 24/7 continuous mode or only when it detects motion. In the case of the latter, it can push notifications to you via the app or alert you with an email or both. It also supports night vision via LED and has a built-in mic and speaker for two-way communication.

You can store up to 16GB worth of video and screenshots in the camera's onboard module. This onboard storage isn't expandable, but if you need more, ZyXel's spokesperson says the Aurora is compatible with Synology NVRs and that company's Surveillance Station solution, which includes intelligent video analysis and additional video monitoring tools among other features. Check out Synology's site for more info.

Setup and usage Michael Ansaldo/IDG

The Aurora app has clean, intuitive layout.

My time with the Aurora got off to a promising start. Once I downloaded the Aurora app, I just plugged in the camera and followed the prompts to connect to my Wi-Fi network. It was a seamless setup and took perhaps two minutes to complete. The Aurora appeared on the My Cameras tab and we were up and running.

When I tapped on the Aurora to access the live feed, however, nothing happened. As a "connecting" message appeared, I gave it a full 60 Mississippis to launch, but it never did. I finally accessed it after a couple more tries. This would be a fairly consistent issue: When trying to access the live feed from a cold app launch, I'd have to tap the feed two to three times before I could see the live stream. That's particularly disconcerting when you get a motion detection alert and there's possibly an intruder in your home.

The camera's image quality is excellent, with crisp detail and rich color. It was good enough that I mostly stayed at 720p and spared myself some bandwidth. Night vision was great as well, with lots of contrast.

Despite the hiccups with the live feed, the Aurora app works fairly well and has a clean, intuitive design. Camera controls are placed above and below the streaming feed and include a toggle for the camera resolution, mute and mic buttons, and triggers for taking a snapshot or manually recording video.

Another menu on the My Cameras screen slides out when you tap it and provides access to more features and settings: turning the LED on and off, arming and disarming the camera, and accessing recorded video clips and other settings. Here again I ran into issues. When I first tried to turn the LED off it didn't go dark though the app showed it as off. And a few times when I tried to access my recorded video clips, the app said the camera was offline, even though it clearly wasn't.

Michael Ansaldo/IDG

Motion detection zones allow you to monitor for activity in defined areas and ignore others

Motion detection, on the other hand, performed faithfully. The app doesn't include sensitivity settings for the motion sensor, but you can reduce the incidence of false alerts using zone detection. This allows you to define specific areas to monitor for movement using by selecting up to 25 squares on a grid overlay on the image. I used it to block out the area where I pen my dog when I'm out, and it worked flawlessly.

By default, the Aurora is armed to record every hour of every day. You can change that in settings to either record only motion-detected events or schedule the camera to record during certain times of day, such as when you're at work and the kids are at school.

Bottom line

On the whole, the Aurora is a good security camera but its companion app, which admittedly is in version 1.0, really hobbles it. When you get motion alerts, the uncertainty of waiting to access your camera feed makes an already anxious situation unbearable. And the other misfires I encountered blemish the experience of what is otherwise a well-designed app.

Presumably, these issues will be resolved in future software updates, so it may be best to wait until the app matures before pulling the trigger on the Aurora.

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Source: Zyxel Aurora Cloud Access Camera review: This is a good camera that's hobbled by app issues