Google can search for faces

Facial expressions…and perhaps ultimately for your mug…

Facial recognition slipped into Google image search

Google upped its stalker factor this week by adding face recognition abilities to its image search. While currently unofficial and unannounced, users can now search for images that only contain faces by appending a query string onto the end of a search URL. For example, a general image search for “Ars Technica” produces a variety of image results, but when appending “&imgtype=face” to the end of the URL, all new results contain photos of people.

Microsoft’s raises patent hackles at Wine?

Does Microsoft have Wine in its patent sights? - CBRonline.com

While the patent cooperation agreement between Microsoft and Novell included a covenant from Microsoft not to sue Novell customers for their use of open source software, it appears the offer does not extend to the Wine and Open-Xchange projects.

Is Sun too expensive…

…for government work?  Also mentioned are Accenture, HP, Dell, and EDS.

GSA to cast shadow over Sun? | Tech News on ZDNet

Recent 2.0 acquisition roundup.

Following the rumors of Microsoft buying Yahoo, and the completed acquisitions of YouTube, Flickr and MySpace,

eBay Acquires StumbleUpon: Financial News - Yahoo! Finance

SAN JOSE, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–eBay Inc. (Nasdaq:EBAY - News) today announced it has acquired StumbleUpon, an early-stage company that helps people discover and share content online, for an aggregate transaction value of approximately $75 million.

MySpace’s parent buys Photobucket

NEW YORK - The parent of MySpace is buying the media-sharing site Photobucket for about $300 million, bringing together two of the Internet’s most popular hangouts.

Last.fm scrobbled for $280m | The Register

Media conglomerate CBS has bought Last.fm, the London-based social music network, for $280m.