Wearable cognition

James Kobielus at IBM:

OK, I've never been good with faces and names. I am quite nearsighted. And I am getting older. But this is ridiculous. Facebook is getting so good that I'd like to embed its smart, facial recognition software in my otherwise dumb, ordinary eyeglasses.

Wearable facial analytics? That sounds like a perfect application for Google Glass and other smart eyeglasses that rivals will almost certainly introduce in the future. The ideal scenario would be if the smart spectacles sported computer-vision capabilities, embedded the facial recognition feature and were able to whisper the mystery face's name into the wearer's ear via a Bluetooth connection. If the wearable discreetly revealed the approaching party's name a split second before they offered the wearer their hand, it would save many an awkward social situation.

Let's not trivialize the potential impact of such a feature. For people afflicted with various forms of dementia, facial recognition often becomes difficult if not downright impossible. Many Alzheimer's sufferers would still be able to live productive, dignified social lives if they could rely on high-tech memory prosthetics to fill in the situational blanks.