Lambda Labs launching facial recognition API for Google Glass

Dystopian future, here we come! Google Glass is about to receive access to a new facial recognition API, courtesy of Lambda Labs. The new API should be out within a week, provided that all goes as it should.

Who is Lambda Labs? They are a small startup that released a non-Glass facial recognition tech API just last year, and currently have over 1,000 developers using it. Now they are taking this experience and tailoring it specifically to Google Glass apps.

This means that the door could soon be open to Glass apps that allow you to match names with faces, get detailed info about landmarks and much more. Of course there is also a pretty big limitation here – it doesn't work in real time, due to the Google mirror API.

The Mirror API doesn't allow for live streaming camera data to be sent over to a developer's server. That means that you will need to snap a picture, send it in to Lambda, and then wait for it to be analyzed. After a few seconds, you will then receive a notification with the results.

So does this technology mean that a perfect stranger could look at you, snap a picture and receive detailed information about you? Short answer, no. Long answer, it can only take data specifically from Lambda's database, which includes things like pictures of well-known celebrities and important landmarks...

Read the full story here. Source: Android Authority 

Philips Releases Open APIs and SDK for iOS Controlled Hue Lighting System

TechCrunch reports that Philips has created an official developer program for its Wi-Fi connected Hue home lighting system, which includes an SDK for iOS and APIs to allow hardware and software developers to integrate Hue into their products. 

Hue, which is exclusive to iOS, allows users to control LED lightbulbs via the iPhone and an accompanying bridge that uses the ZigBee communication protocol. 

"We're now at a point where there are already about 10 applications that have been shared and built from the unofficial developer community for new applications around Hue," explained George Yianni, Hue System Architect in an interview. "Now what we want to do as Philips is we actually want to help and grow and encourage this community, and give them tools and proper documentation. Also, we want to give them commitment that this is the API and we’re going to support it and it won’t change overnight."

Though Hue-integr additional ated third party apps such as last week’s Ambify have been released, these solutions do not use official APIs. According to Yianni, the unavailability of official APIs is the main reason that the Hue has yet to be integrated into apps and connected home devices. 

The new Hue tools are freely available for all developers interested in creating a product or an app that connects to the system

Philips plans to add additional functionality to the Hue in the future, focusing on geofencing, scheduling, and other sensor capabilities. The company is also working on expanding the Hue line with new lightbulb types.

[Source: MacRumors]

PayPal introducing new iOS SDK, APIs at SXSW

PayPal has announced that it's bringing a new iOS SDK and some new API tools to SXSW next week. As you might expect, the API will allow apps to use PayPal's tools to integrate payment information directly rather than having to go through a separate authorization page. As you can see on the official website, devs will be able to simply use a few method calls to set up PayPal payments, and get proof back that payment has taken place.

The API also includes credit card scanning software from Card.io, which PayPal acquired last year. And finally, PayPal's also released some code to work with other platforms and languages, including some Javascript buttons, as well as APIs for REST, OAuth and JSON.

So developers will have a lot of new tools to work with PayPal's payment system. It's unclear, however, what Apple thinks of this development -- it seems to me that paying through PayPal from an iOS app gets around Apple's requirement of taking a cut from everything sold on the App Store. But that's something that Apple and PayPal will need to work out. If you're a developer who wants to dive in to what's available here, you can download the PayPal iOS SDK for free right now.

Update: PayPal president David Marcus just contacted me via Twitter to say that this SDK is meant for service transactions, not digital sales, so it doesn't fall under Apple's rules. In other words, the tools here are to be used for selling things outside the iPhone with Apple's device, not selling iPhone content or other items directly.

[Source: TUAW]

Twitter's API v1.1 rules put user caps on third party clients, exert more control overall

Last spring an announcement from the platform team at Twitter not-at-all-subtly suggested developers of third party clients should find something else to do, and today a list of changes to its API turns that whisper into a firm nudge. The limit that most directly affects any of the unofficial clients you may be interested in using is that existing apps currently servicing more than 100,000 individual user tokens will be allowed to double their current count, but cannot add any users past that without Twitter's permission. Going forward, any app that needs more than 100,000 tokens to do things like access the timeline, show DMs or anything else a client app might do will also need Twitter's permission to operate. Other changes include that any pre-installed client app on something like a phone, computer, or TV will need Twitter's permission before it ships (sensing a trend here?), or potentially face revocation of its application key. Moving on, the Display Guidelines about the information any app that displays tweets must provide are shifting to Display Requirements, with violators potentially losing that application key. Those Twitter Cards that started rolling out over the last few months are also getting a big push, with plans to include other ways for developers to bring their rich content to Twitter, and embed real-time Twitter content on existing websites.

[Source: Engadget]