The world is going gaga over the Facebook security breach, but Facebook seems to be still going strong.
Facebook is all set to launch Portal, a camera that is going to reside in your home so that you can talk and make video calls to people you love the most.
The idea behind the portal is to make you feel connected to your loved ones by providing a casual at home video call with voice and video clarity.
The device is capable of residing anywhere inside your home let it be your kitchen table, living room or bedroom.
It is programmed to capture quality sound, minimize the background noise, provide real-time video call experience to users.
You can get the device into ACTION by saying, “Hey Portal”. Portal is equipped with a camera that can pan and zoom to places automatically making the video call responsive. The device is capable of taking voice input from all angles with the aid of 4 microphones.
You can carry Portal with you to places so that there is this way to remotely accompany people you love to spend your time with! Sounds cool? Well, the idea is similar to teleport communication used for physically challenged people. Teleports were designed to give a real time visit experience to physically challenged people who cannot visit places they liked.
The Portal’s launch was expected at F8 this year but got delayed due to the scandals engulfing Facebook.
Though the reveal doesn’t seem to be made at an ideal time, the current security breach seems to push things the other way.
With the launch of portal comes the Facebook’s first hardware product. This new addition to the Home-Device market is in its pre-sale already. But there are still a lot of security concerns associated with Facebook’s Portal making it to homes. We have already read about the massive security breach that affected 22.2 million Facebook users. Acknowledging what just happened, Facebook made some statements to ensure that Portal was secure, saying:
“Facebook doesn’t listen to, view, or keep the contents of your Portal video calls. Your Portal conversations stay between you and the people you’re calling. In addition, video calls on Portal are encrypted, so your calls are always secure.”
“For added security, Smart Camera and Smart Sound use AI technology that runs locally on Portal, not on Facebook servers. Portal’s camera doesn’t use facial recognition and doesn’t identify who you are.”
“Like other voice-enabled devices, Portal only sends voice commands to Facebook servers after you say, ‘Hey Portal.’ You can delete your Portal’s voice history in your Facebook Activity Log at any time.”
Well, it seems like Facebook learnt a lesson already! Let us know if Portal excites you as much as it excited us!
Dr. Hafsa Akbar Ali
Muhammad Abdullah
