Logitech has (or had) a Skype camera that you’d clip to a TV to do a similar thing; it’s been around for years.
Facebook launches Portal TV, a $149 video chat set-top box
61–70 of 81 posts
Re: Facebook launches Portal TV, a $149 video chat set-top box
#62Many people here (myself included) are anti-FB due to privacy issues and then some, but I think this is pretty great. The smart camera panning using facial recognition looks very useful. Right now I Facetime a lot with my iPad and will prop it up to chat with folks and often move around but then run back to come into the field of view. This solves that problem (for people who use Facebook and have a TV). And Watch Pa…
>> I can see this being a fun interaction.
Oh for sure, unfortunately, it's the Facebook label that makes this cool product toxic. Since the Facebook brand is synonymous with poor privacy practices (Firefox even has a 'facebook container' to help reduce tracking), I don't see how someone didn't think to market this under a different parent company and make it 'facebook compatible'.
Re: Facebook launches Portal TV, a $149 video chat set-top box
#63More info about the underlying technology: https://ai.facebook.com/blog/smart-camera-portal-advances More info about the privacy settings: https://portal.facebook.com/privacy/ Disclosure: I work at FB, my team developed the underlying MaskR-CNN technology.
What exactly is the benefit of this? The video says it uses neural networks and fast algorithms, but doesn't say what they're used for, or how it would benefit me as an end user.
It's fully buzzword-compliant.
Re: Facebook launches Portal TV, a $149 video chat set-top box
#64Earlier quoted context omitted.
>You can completely disable the camera and microphone on Portal with a single tap or with a sliding switch. A red light next to the lens indicates the camera and microphone are off. I think a hardware breakdown video would go a long way. For example, an engineer showing that the kill switches actually work correctly. Either way, I hope somebody vets this.
I love how they have redefined a red light to mean "not recording", instead of it's ubiquitous interpretation of "recording right now".
Not to mention that even assuming it works as described; it puts the onus on the user to explicitly turn it off and if they don't it may be recording.
Re: Facebook launches Portal TV, a $149 video chat set-top box
#65More info about the underlying technology: https://ai.facebook.com/blog/smart-camera-portal-advances More info about the privacy settings: https://portal.facebook.com/privacy/ Disclosure: I work at FB, my team developed the underlying MaskR-CNN technology.
I don't worry so much about cameras but about microphones. Is the microphone off button physically disconnecting the mike wires so it can't be software-enabled?
If so, you don't have to trust Facebook, which is nice. But it's why I'd like to see this in the hands of a reverse engineer.
Maybe Purism can review it haha.
Re: Facebook launches Portal TV, a $149 video chat set-top box
#66More info about the underlying technology: https://ai.facebook.com/blog/smart-camera-portal-advances More info about the privacy settings: https://portal.facebook.com/privacy/ Disclosure: I work at FB, my team developed the underlying MaskR-CNN technology.
> More info about the privacy settings: https://portal.facebook.com/privacy/ I'm just saying, the privacy page doesn't address a lot of real concerns. It talks about being able to shut down the camera and microphone. That's cool. But if one were to enumerate all the ways in which a Facebook gadget might compromise your privacy, they'd go through many other items, and much more basic tech, before getting to covert sur…
Assuming the hardware kill switches work, you're right that the wake word is a big issue.
Would be nice if it worked offline with something like this: https://picovoice.ai/products/porcupine.html
A demo of it working without any internet would be cool (even though calls require internet)
Re: Facebook launches Portal TV, a $149 video chat set-top box
#67I wouldn’t be surprised if they are not generating any revenue by selling it at this price point considering manufacturing, designing, hardware, and engineering costs.
Re: Facebook launches Portal TV, a $149 video chat set-top box
#68Many people here (myself included) are anti-FB due to privacy issues and then some, but I think this is pretty great. The smart camera panning using facial recognition looks very useful. Right now I Facetime a lot with my iPad and will prop it up to chat with folks and often move around but then run back to come into the field of view. This solves that problem (for people who use Facebook and have a TV). And Watch Pa…
>> I can see this being a fun interaction. Oh for sure, unfortunately, it's the Facebook label that makes this cool product toxic. Since the Facebook brand is synonymous with poor privacy practices (Firefox even has a 'facebook container' to help reduce tracking), I don't see how someone didn't think to market this under a different parent company and make it 'facebook compatible'.
That would become another press bomb in the future. They can’t keep that a secret forever.
Re: Facebook launches Portal TV, a $149 video chat set-top box
#69Earlier quoted context omitted.
The first Portal devices as well as this Portal TV are using an OS based on Android AOSP. So porting Fire TV or Android TV apps will be much more easy for developers who want to offer their content on the Portal TV.
I just don't have any faith that any of the major streaming services will want to port their services to this device, even if it's simple and straightforward for them to do technically. In fact it's more likely that they will try to come out with their own hardware IMO. At every step of the way streaming companies have made it harder and harder to actually use their services. From exclusivity deals with one vendor ov…
They already have integration with Alexa voice commands, so maybe there's some hope of adding prime video
Re: Facebook launches Portal TV, a $149 video chat set-top box
#70Earlier quoted context omitted.
Do you trust Facebook to adhere to their publicly stated privacy policy? Do you think they have honored those policies in the past?
>Do you trust Facebook to adhere to their publicly stated privacy policy? Yes. Definitely. > Do you think they have honored those policies in the past? I believe they have though I have not been at Facebook very long so I don't have full visibility on this. But I don't think that's the most important question. The most important question is: were these policies strong enough? The answer is definitely no and that's wh…
Does it concern you that so few people in this thread (your peers within the industry) share your trust n Facebook to honor their privacy agreements? There is ample evidence they have not honored those agreements in the past. How do we trust a Facebook “pivot” when there is no financial or regulatory benefit to pivoting?