My Celebrity Matches

I'd seen this
Celebrity Face Match site before but a recent Facebook post made me realise it now had all kinds of fun new options to create collages and share your results. (You can click on any collage on this page to try it yourself – and make sure you post your results to your Facebook or personal blog too!)

I've also done the (non-computer assisted) “Which Celeb Do I Look Like?” thing before but it's interesting to see how a “neutral” computer program finds me versus who I think I look like myself (I thought I looked like Tom Hanks circa “Castaway”)

The “My Celebrity” match web site wouldn't recognize the FIMS “stalker page” photo I used in that original link but here's what a similar photo produced (and no Tom Hanks to be found)…

…and not to bring up my “Your Digital Footprint” genealogy presentation again but one thing I off-handedly mentioned in that was that facial recognition would have a major impact on the Internet, allowing people to be recognized in Facebook and Flickr photos and eventually, even in videos on YouTube, even if they're aren't identified by name. Then, there will be less hiding behind pseudonyms and initials which obviously, has all kinds of positive and negative aspects.

At the time I talked about facial recognition, I was thinking more in terms of the TV show Las Vegas where they have super-amazing software that ID's any crime suspect in the casino in about three seconds, no matter who they are or where they're from (unless the plot needs to be stretched out, in which case the suspect is wearing glasses or a disguise or has their face turned slightly to the left.)

But anyhow, it turns out that facial recognition stuff is closer to being a reality for everyday, non-NSA use than I realised and coincidentially, it's a genealogy web site that's publicizing it. It's not perfect yet and picking which celebrity you look like might not be the most efficient use of this type of technology but it does get people interested and using it. Plus, if I'm ever in Las Vegas, I'll make sure I'm not wearing an Elvis costume or writing unreadable novels set in Dublin and I should be fine.

Anyhow, the day where you can be found not only by text searches but by the contours of your face, is coming faster than we realise and even though, that has some negative aspects as I mentioned, I think it's pretty exciting and cool – especially if people are going to confuse me for George Clooney!