Apple Tablet Likely to Include Front Facing Camera?

re: security

I dunno... They've been trying to do computer security with body-part recognition devices for a while now, and so far, all the consumer-grade stuff is basically a failure.

Ever use one of those IBM Thinkpads with the fingerprint reader on it? They included software for Windows so you could log in with just a press of your finger on the little pad. Sounded really cool, but only worked like half the time. Everyone I saw with it wound up just typing in their password instead.

Same with this facial recognition. In iPhoto, Apple can only get it right occasionally. I'm constantly having to help it along, showing it who is who so it can learn enough to guess a FEW more photos properly. If a tablet starts using it to decide if you're the "authorized user", just wait until people have issues because they went to the beach and got a tan, and now it won't let them in .... or their identical twin keeps borrowing their tablet and signing in as them, screwing with their email. :)


guzhogi said:
Facial recognition is cool. I'm sure some people would also want rear facing camera, too so they can take pictures/movies with it. Though I'm also sure there are people think that's the most idiotic thing they've ever heard.

One thing that would be interesting (not necessarily good or bad, just interesting): fingerprint scanner. Would help making things more secure.

Also, would be nice to have an SD card reader, too. Just thinking out loud.
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Buy one, get one free?

If you buy the Apple tablet over the Internet, you will get one free -- if you buy it within the first 30 seconds online.
Only, of course, if you are using a Mac.
(And, no, it will NOT julienne potatos. It will, however, mash them.)
Thanks to the frontal camera, you will be able to see into the future, though that will cost $60 a month, unless you are a MobileMe member and costs you $99/month.
Take out the Apple care policy and you may call Mr. Jobs by his first name. Limitation: Please do NOT call him.

Q: Finally, what will we all do on January 28?
A: Carp, find fault, belittle device, bet first upgrade will be announced Jan. 29. Ask why it has a memory of only 120gb and cannot flush the toilet in public places.
 
How many more rumors?

How many more front page rumors do you think we will get about the tablet before the the event on the 27th? I'm going with 17.
 
Why only one way?

Sony had a good idea a while ago (what? It can happen): They put the camera on a swivel, so you could aim it either forwards or backwards.
 
nsayer said:
Sony had a good idea a while ago (what? It can happen): They put the camera on a swivel, so you could aim it either forwards or backwards.
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Moving parts suck. Something that twist doubly so. I worked repairing laptops for a while. Gateway has tablet(persay) that scree rotates. IF the hinges wasn't bad it was the wires getting frayed from the constant rotation. No moving parts on the tablet. Except maybe a stand that pops from the back(I highly doubt that too.)
 
Grimace said:
I'm not sure trivial was the best word choice :rolleyes:

iChat over WiFi? Bring it.
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I agree. I choked on that word when I read it. It's "just a port" of iChat, but keep in mind:
* a new UI framework, I assume.
* Very different physical UI
* Very different hardware
Even if it is not for WiFi, it's not trivial. Very doable, but not trivial.
 
bmaltais said:
Found this new potential picture of the iPad and it would certainly fit the "has a camera" rumor. It appear to have a top and bottom "button" (home button and possible camera).

http://netputing.com/2010/01/21/possible-picture-of-apple-ipad/

http://netputing.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/Prototype352.jpeg

Might be an old picture, I have not seen them all but it look like a real thing... or a really good fake.
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arn ...you got any more scoop on this image? This one looks like one of the more decent i've seen yet. Any way of screening for photoshop manipulation?
 
GeekLawyer said:
That may be the most useless collection of words I've ever read at the same time. Thanks.
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Wow. It's like one of those annual "worst novel" contests:

"Dear imminent newborn world-altering Apple iWondergizmo, you who is right now being hyped to breathless orgasmic meganirvana by every tech columnist, gizmo blogger and swooning gadget pundit from here to Steve Jobs' personal foot masseuse..."

Add it "a shot rang out" and "it was a dark and stormy night" and it would win.
 
cmaier said:
Wow. It's like one of those annual "worst novel" contests:

"Dear imminent newborn world-altering Apple iWondergizmo, you who is right now being hyped to breathless orgasmic meganirvana by every tech columnist, gizmo blogger and swooning gadget pundit from here to Steve Jobs' personal foot masseuse..."

Add it "a shot rang out" and "it was a dark and stormy night" and it would win.
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Exactly! And apparently there are a few useless non-words in there, too. "Meganirvana?" Shouldn't American columnists write in, you know, English?
 
Lesser Evets said:
Why can't these people take REAL photos of the product... oh, because they are fake.

It would be more interesting to see the docking port, the back with the possible stripe, the words written on the back. Two home buttons? That's over kill.
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This picture actually goes quite well with the AppleInsider post where they claim that this image:

apple_tablet_rendition-100121.jpg


is pretty close to the real thing... The white back could also point to a "plastic" back like the iPhone and would possibly be available in different colors? Very interesting.

Update: This is the summary of what apparently is missing from the above picture:

It would be more precise, they add, if it weren't missing a handful of design elements of the iPhone.

Nestled in an aluminum shell that leverages the Apple's expertise in unibody construction but thinner proportionality than the original iPhone, the tablet reportedly sports all of the same buttons found on the handset, right down to its iconic home button -- which, like the volume toggle, is missing from the rendering.
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So that other picture show pretty much that to the perfection (at least for what can be seen).
 
kingtj said:
Same with this facial recognition. In iPhoto, Apple can only get it right occasionally. I'm constantly having to help it along, showing it who is who so it can learn enough to guess a FEW more photos properly. If a tablet starts using it to decide if you're the "authorized user", just wait until people have issues because they went to the beach and got a tan, and now it won't let them in .... or their identical twin keeps borrowing their tablet and signing in as them, screwing with their email. :)
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I find that the facial recognition works quite well (21.5" iMac) --I would say it's accurate in my photo collection well over 90 % of the time. I'm not sure if that's enough to use as biometric authentication or not, but it's not all that bad!
 
AtHomeBoy_2000 said:
I thought that was just a mockup of what one MIGHT look like.
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it is a mockup. The only reason I even give a second thought to that first image is we are getting pretty darn close to the event and I have to imagine more people probably got their hands on the device to practice for the presentation next week.

and those carpets /cubicles look like a new york times office haha.
 
Let us not forget...

...about a year ago Apple filed a patent for a camera that would be integrated behind the screen so that the user would be able to look directly at the person they are video conferencing with.

Might we see this technology in the tablet? I think it seems like a great place to launch such a technology. I also think it helps validate the recent pictures of the bezel that have been making the rounds. The extra hole in the corner is the mic that will accompany the screen-integrated camera.

Just a thought.
 
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DoktorFaust said:
I don't even know why this was ever much of debate -- Apple must have been planting these conflicting camera rumors for some reason. All of Apple's iDevices have cameras -- why would this be an exception?
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iPod touch doesn't have a camera. Yet!!
 
thezonie said:
If the iTablet has a front-facing camera and 3G connectivity then I highly doubt that the mobile carriers would allow video conferencing on their networks for two reasons: 1) If it used the "unlimited data plan" then you wouldn't have to use mobile phone minutes to make video phone calls. 2) The amount of additional bandwidth required to make video calls would absolutely decimate the already overloaded mobile networks.
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Video calling has been part of the UMTS standard forever (this of course doesn't cover iChat/Skype, but phone-to-phone video calls - having said that they could implement a gateway to achieve it). I don't think the US networks implement it, since the Nokia smartphones released over there seem to get the front camera removed.

I have had phones that can video call for about 7 years (it was the initial "killer application" for UK 3G - except no one used it as it was never part of any contract and costs 50p/min. There are Nokia Internet Tablets that have front-facing cameras too, since they have integrated Skype (and possibly video over SIP)
 
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