People love to use their smartphone cameras to see a different take on their appearance, as evidenced by the popularity of the likes of FaceApp and SnapChat’s various animated lenses. Now, Microsoft is getting in on the fun with a new app called Face Swap.
Face Swap is all about inserting the user’s face into an existing image without the need for any manual editing. The results are often quite silly, but the technology underpinning the app is actually rather advanced, bringing together the power of Bing image search with facial recognition technology developed by Microsoft Research.
To get started, users simply need to take a selfie, or choose a photograph of themselves from the image library on their phone. They’re then prompted to perform a Bing image search to find an image that they want to insert themselves into, swapping out the subject’s face for their own.
The app is sophisticated enough to tailor the user’s image so that it can be integrated into any scene. It can make subtle changes to things like lighting and skin tone, with the latter functionality even working on nonhuman pigments like the stony complexion of a statue.
Face Swap is the latest project to come from Microsoft Garage, according to a report from Android Police. The Garage is a program that allows employees to work on projects that aren’t related to their primary role in the company, which is housed in Bill Gates’ old office at its campus headquarters in Redmond, Washington.
The app was apparently developed from concept to release in just five months, by a group largely comprising members of the Bing team. There are apparently plans to provide extended support, including several new features set to be rolled out to the app over the coming months.
Face Swap is available to download now for free via the Google Play Store. Alternatively, users can download and install the package manually by grabbing the necessary files from APKMirror.
Two new highly requested iCloud plugins just got added to ChatGPT, giving people who rely on Apple’s Mail and Calendar services a way to search emails, check appointments, and manage their schedules directly through the chatbot.
The integration is rolling out to all ChatGPT plans, including the free tier. You can access it on the web, desktop, and iOS.
Google Play is borrowing one of the Nintendo Switch’s most useful little tricks. A new Sidekick tool called Playbacks captures a short clip after something interesting has already happened, sparing players from running a screen recorder throughout an entire game.
Playbacks is part of Google Play Store v53.8 and keeps saved clips on the phone. Google first announced it earlier this month, but the new Play Store update marks its arrival for players. Anyone who has watched a perfect win vanish because the record button came too late already understands the appeal.
Samsung’s scandal over its Game Optimizing Service, or GOS, has returned with a bill attached. South Korea’s Fair Trade Commission has tentatively fined the company 20.1 billion won, or about $15.1 million, over gaming claims made for the Galaxy S21, Galaxy S22, and Tab S8.
The regulator says Samsung promoted the devices as gaming powerhouses without disclosing that GOS placed preset CPU and GPU limits on certain demanding games. Samsung disputes that conclusion, calling GOS a legitimate way to manage heat.