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Computerized facial recognition has been in development since the 1960s. Progress was steady but slow, though, until the recent arrival of advanced artificial neural networks — i.e., computer systems modeled on animal brains that can recognize patterns by processing examples — which have allowed human programmers to feed these networks many photos of faces and then step aside while algorithms teach themselves what faces look like and then how to tell those faces apart and eventually how to decide if a face in one photo is the same face in a different photo, even if that face is wearing sunglasses or makeup or a mustache or is poorly lit or slightly blurry in one image but not the other. The more photos an algorithm has to learn from — millions or billions, ideally — the more accurate it becomes.
Some companies asked you to upload your vacation photos and tag yourself in them. And others asked for a selfie in exchange for an autogenerated cartoon caricature of you or to tell you which celebrity or Renaissance painting you most resemble. And then some companies got impatient with all this asking, so they acquired the other companies that had already collected your photos, or they scraped public images of you from social media and dating sites, or they set up hidden cameras in public spaces to take their own pictures.
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Stop breadboarding and soldering – start making immediately! Adafruit’s Circuit Playground is jam-packed with LEDs, sensors, buttons, alligator clip pads and more. Build projects with Circuit Playground in a few minutes with the drag-and-drop MakeCode programming site, learn computer science using the CS Discoveries class on code.org, jump into CircuitPython to learn Python and hardware together, TinyGO, or even use the Arduino IDE. Circuit Playground Express is the newest and best Circuit Playground board, with support for CircuitPython, MakeCode, and Arduino. It has a powerful processor, 10 NeoPixels, mini speaker, InfraRed receive and transmit, two buttons, a switch, 14 alligator clip pads, and lots of sensors: capacitive touch, IR proximity, temperature, light, motion and sound. A whole wide world of electronics and coding is waiting for you, and it fits in the palm of your hand.
Have an amazing project to share? The Electronics Show and Tell is every Wednesday at 7:30pm ET! To join, head over to YouTube and check out the show’s live chat and our Discord!
Python for Microcontrollers – Adafruit Daily — Python on Microcontrollers Newsletter: CircuitPython 2025 Wraps, Focus on Using Python, Open Source and More! #CircuitPython #Python #micropython @ThePSF @Raspberry_Pi
EYE on NPI – Adafruit Daily — EYE on NPI Maxim’s Himalaya uSLIC Step-Down Power Module #EyeOnNPI @maximintegrated @digikey
