I saw a lot of interesting new consumer electronics and tech at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas in January. The big-ticket items like massive TVs, self-driving cars, and mockups of smart homes draw attention, but a smaller product caught my eye: OrCam MyMe or “AI for Humans.“
Keeping up with what you need to know for IT services in Salinas, CA, I like to look for small tech products that could be especially useful in people’s lives and OrCam’s MyMe could be one of them. Currently, in a prototype version, OrCam’s MyMe is a small camera you could clip on your collar or lapel. The camera is connected to facial recognition software and can recognize the faces of people in any room you enter. It lets you know who they are via a smartphone app.
OrCam MyMe links to your smartphone or similar device and can look up a lot of information about the people the camera sees. It might look up someone’s LinkedIn or Facebook profile and let you know many details about the person. As I said on-air, “it gives you all that information ahead of time about that person. You can walk up to them and have an intelligent conversation.“
Obviously, OrCam’s MyMe is a potentially game-changing new product offering personal-level business intelligence access. At a cost of $200 to $350, the combination of a mini-camera and facial recognition software linked to your smartphone brings advanced tech into a practical, human-level environment. I can see a lot of potential for a great networking device with this product as well as social support. Imagine walking into a party or networking event and knowing who the people are, even if you’ve never seen them before. It will let you know who the people are, what their title is, and what their roles are. The device also has a relatively long battery life of about 48 hours, extending its usefulness, possibly through a two-day conference or another similar event.
I see OrCam’s MyMe as part of the suite of devices and tech that are making our lives easier, like smart home assistants like Amazon’s Alexa. In addition to recognizing people and letting you know who the person is (even if you haven’t met them before), the device will also let you add people you meet to your contacts list seamlessly while you’re wearing it.
OrCam MyMe can also be a support and help for people with vision or hearing impairments, allowing them to recognize the people in a room or at an event and connect with friends and associates. The device also lets you monitor and increase or decrease social or work time, giving you more control over who you’re spending time with and your productivity and social life.
One of OrCam’s goals is to assist blind or vision-impaired people with going about their daily life. OrCam is using some of the most advanced facial recognition, AI, machine learning, and personal big data analysis technology to deliver its product to consumers. The device can also assist with reading; it can recognize and read text for the user.
OrCam launched MyMe successfully on Kickstarter in December 2018 and orders are being accepted online via OrCam’s website. Keeping track of new tech is part of our job providing the top IT Services In Salinas, CA. Nobody can keep track of every single piece of new tech out there, but I like to spot trends and products that can really be game-changers. In this case, OrCam MyMe could benefit business networkers, sales professionals, and people with vision impairments or anybody who wants to know who they’ll be meeting when they walk into a room for the first time. The company already has some successful products for vision-impaired people out there and this is the next evolution for a real small-tech innovator.
