TECHNOLOGY EVER INCREASING

Apple's Echo rival could see you with built-in camera The giant has been exploring including facial-recognition tech in its device, by Shara Tibken, May 27, 2016.    

Apple's rival to the Echo could know who you are just by looking at you. The consumer electronics giant has explored putting a camera in its device, which could come in the form of a smart speaker like Amazon's Echo , according to people familiar with Apple's plans. It would be "self aware" and detect who was in the room using facial recognition technology. That would let the device automatically bring up a person's preferences, such as the music and lighting they like, the people said. The hardware could be released by year's end, but it's more likely to be available in 2017, the people said. They cautioned that Apple could change its plans to include a camera -- or even scrap the device entirely. Apple declined to comment.  Where's Apple's answer to Amazon Echo? Apple building Amazon Echo competitor HomeKit apps: The good, the bad and the clumsy Your home is increasingly turning into a battleground for tech giants looking to sell you new, connected gadgets. It's part of an emerging area called the Internet of Things, which links together just about anything that plugs into an electrical outlet so they can talk to one another. Thanks to the Echo and its built-in voice assistant called Alexa, Amazon is already playing a central role in that transition in people's homes. Apple finds itself behind the pack even though it launched Siri before digital assistants came into vogue. Neither the Echo nor Google's recently announced device, Google Home , currently have cameras. They're both voice-activated speakers that let you control your home appliances by saying commands out loud. Apple's device also will obey voice commands through Siri, The Information reported earlier this week.  Putting intelligent cameras into devices is a risk for companies since it raises questions about privacy. Intel planned to release a TV box with a camera , but it ditched that plan for its first product. It said that was because of cost and the time it would take to build the device, but Intel also faced backlash over concerns that the box would watch you all the time (which is pretty creepy). Intel ultimately sold that business, called OnCue, to Verizon, which did away with the hardware in favor of a streaming service called Go90. . Still, proponents of smart cameras in devices say there's little privacy or security risk to consumers as long as the camera is turned off by default, and consumers have to opt-in to use it. .