For Discussion: Is It Possible for an HP Computer to be Racist???

Posted on December 23rd, 2009 - By Bossip Staff

Categories: KKK, News, SMH, What the Hell???

We posted a video about this two days ago under our Video section. HP (Hewlett-Packard) has come out with a new webcam equipped with face-tracking software that designed to follow the movements of the user but there is just one little problem. The camera only recognizes white people and not black people.

Don’t Believe Us… Peep the Video Under the Hood

Click Here to Watch Video

Wow… Now, that is crazy!!! How could HP not catch this problem before they released this product. Does HP not test their products on a wide range of people before releasing it to the public. Apparently NOT!!! However, they have seen the video that these two individuals made and released this statement:

Hewlett-Packard’s Statement:

It’s no secret that I feel privileged to work with one of the largest and most innovative teams in the technology industry. On any given day, I might collaborate with HP employees in regions ranging from Japan to India and Latin America to Europe.

Everything we do is focused on ensuring that we provide a high-quality experience for all our customers, who are ethnically diverse and live and work around the world. That’s why when issues surface, we take them seriously and work hard to understand the root causes.

Some of you may have seen or heard of a YouTube video in which the facial-tracking software didn’t work for a customer. We thank Desi, and the people who have seen and commented on his video, for bringing this subject to our attention.

We are working with our partners to learn more. The technology we use is built on standard algorithms that measure the difference in intensity of contrast between the eyes and the upper cheek and nose. We believe that the camera might have difficulty “seeing” contrast in conditions where there is insufficient foreground lighting. While we work on this, take a look here for more information on the impact of lighting on facial tracking software, and how to optimize your webcam experience: http://bit.ly/7HsZHD

We will continue to listen to you and work to deliver great experiences. We invite you to connect with us on the discussion boards and forums here on The Next Bench or on Twitter at @HP_PC.

So, they want to blame it on lighting… YEAH OKAY!!!

  • Somali Ninga

    uh oh

  • LADY CALI

    2nd sactown killa kali

  • LADY CALI

    2nd

  • http://esaw@rock.com REAL TALK

    YEAH ITS BORDER LINE,THEY NO WHAT THEY
    DOING,BU BETTER YET H?ONKEYS NEVER DO
    THINK ABOUT S?HIT LIKE THIS REAL REAL TALK

  • http://esaw@rock.com REAL TALK

    YEAH ITS BORDER LINE,THEY NO WHAT THEY
    DOING,BU BETTER YET H?ONKEYS NEVER DO
    THINK ABOUT S?HIT LIKE THIS REAL REAL TALK..

  • AWWWWWWWWWWSHADDAAAP!!!!!

    LOL @ ‘We thank DESI.’ Ain’t that a b.i.t.c.h.

  • http://esaw@rock.com REAL TALK

    YEAH ITS BORDER LINE,THEY NO WHAT THEY
    DOING,BU BETTER YET H?ONKEYS NEVER DO
    THINK ABOUT S?HIT LIKE THIS REAL REAL TALK
    P.S AND HIER PRODUCTS S?UCKS 2 THATS WHY
    HIER EAMING WITH DR DRE ON A COMPUTER
    WITH SOFTWARE FOR MUSIC IS S?UCKS A
    BIG D?ICK LIKE DR DRE BE DOING IN THE
    SUDIO BEHING CLOSED DOORS S?HI TUPAC
    ALREADY EXPOSE HIM THAT WHY HES DEAD
    REAL REAL TALK

  • drenk

    heres the thing what if youre “high yaller” or “red bone”??? And how does it react to dark south asians?

  • learn2loveurself

    Oh well it is what it is next…………..

  • http://esaw@rock.com REAL TALK

    YEAH ITS BORDER LINE,THEY NO WHAT THEY
    DOING,BU BETTER YET H?ONKEYS NEVER DO
    THINK ABOUT S?HIT LIKE THIS REAL REAL TALK
    P.S AND HIER PRODUCTS S?UCKS 2 THATS WHY
    HIER EAMING WITH DR DRE ON A COMPUTER
    WITH SOFTWARE FOR MUSIC IS S?UCKS A
    BIG D?ICK LIKE DR DRE BE DOING IN THE
    SUDIO BEHING CLOSED DOORS S?HI TUPAC
    ALREADY EXPOSE HIM THAT WHY HES DEAD
    REAL REAL TALK..

  • http://esaw@rock.com REAL TALK

    YEAH ITS BORDER LINE,THEY NO WHAT THEY
    DOING,BU BETTER YET H?ONKEYS NEVER DO
    THINK ABOUT S?HIT LIKE THIS REAL REAL TALK
    P.S AND HIER PRODUCTS S?UCKS 2 THATS WHY
    HIER EAMING WITH DR DRE ON A COMPUTER
    WITH SOFTWARE FOR MUSIC IS S?UCKS A
    BIG D?ICK LIKE DR DRE BE DOING IN THE
    SUDIO BEHING CLOSED DOORS S?HI TUPAC
    ALREADY EXPOSE HIM THAT WHY HES DEAD
    REAL REAL TALK…..

  • http://esaw@rock.com REAL TALK

    YEAH ITS BORDER LINE,THEY NO WHAT THEY
    DOING,BU BETTER YET H?ONKEYS NEVER DO
    THINK ABOUT S?HIT LIKE THIS REAL REAL TALK
    P.S AND HIER PRODUCTS S?UCKS 2 THATS WHY
    HIER EAMING WITH DR DRE ON A COMPUTER
    WITH SOFTWARE FOR MUSIC IS S?UCKS A
    BIG D?ICK LIKE DR DRE BE DOING IN THE
    SUDIO BEHING CLOSED DOORS S?HI TUPAC
    ALREADY EXPOSE HIM THAT WHY HES DEAD
    REAL REAL TALK……….

  • fantasy

    We believe that the camera might have difficulty “seeing” contrast in conditions where there is insufficient foreground lighting.

    <>

  • AWWWWWWWWWWSHADDAAAP!!!!!

    O, my God – AHAHAHAHAAA! The computer was in love with Wanda, dancing all over the place with her but once Desi stuck his face back in front, it froze.

    Laughing my a.s.s. off at the line, “Worst thing is I bought one for Christmas.” AHAHAHAHAAAAAA!!!!

  • Miss B

    WOW. They set the face recognition to recognize white is right.

    But in HP terms, “the color hue/ contrast was not set properly before distibuting.”

    For some reason I think was done on purpose. If not on purpose, someone needs to be fired for this crap.

  • getting down

    These people are experts and knew exactly what they were doing. This is just another example of how white people deems ethnic races as obsolete and invisible.

    They claimed that, “The technology we use is built on standard algorithms that measure the difference in intensity of contrast between the eyes and the upper cheek and nose.”…..This would mean that the product doesn’t detect the HIGH cheekbones that most beautiful black people have…..White people do not have the high cheekbones so it sounds like the algorithms measures ONLY FACE. lol

    It seems to me like the racism has escalated since President Obama took office. And it’s noticeable in small things during everyday life like, going to grocery store, some co-workers acting differently, some neighbors, …..I’ve just noticed a difference in attitudes and behaviors.

  • pynk♥ {Bossip is getting BORING!}

    LMAO!!! Hilarious!!!

  • KeepNit2Real

    it’s possible. There was an ad that a computer company *cough* Microsoft!…did that showed a Black man originally in the ad and when it went over seas to they put a White head on the guy. Problem was? The hand was Black from the original ad in the US.

    The country was in Russia I think…so it shows you that there is still a huge contingency that would rather not use Blacks in ads or develop computer software around the fact that Blacks are consumers as well.

  • Miss B

    Everyone who brought this product needs to return and dell should not charge them and also throw in a free item or gift card.

  • Miss B

    Not dell* sorry. HP should.

  • pynk♥ {Bossip is getting BORING!}

    Miss B
    12/23/09, 11:26:am

    Everyone who brought this product needs to return and dell should not charge them and also throw in a free item or gift card.

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    Baby girl, this is an HP pc. lol

  • drenk

    @ KeepNit2Real

    it was in poland, and they still despise jews and gypsies their, so i dont think theyre gonna be any more accepting with blacks

  • drenk

    F&CK HP AND DELL IM ALL ABOUT THE ABACUS!!! BRINGING IT BACK TO BC TIMES!

  • AWWWWWWWWWWSHADDAAAP!!!!!

    @ Getting Down

    I’ve noticed a difference in attitudes and behaviors myself. It’s not just you. Normally, I’d expect whites I come across to automatically avert their eyes or pretend you’re invisible. Especially in upper scale regions or the suburbs. Since Obama, and I swear I’m not being hyper-sensitive, I’ve noticed more of an immediate increased tension when I’m in the midst of Caucasians. It gets thicker in the air. But it amuses me. I can’t help but think to myself, “You see me now, b.*.t.c.h?”

  • pynk♥ {Bossip is getting BORING!}

    It’s a damn shame! Cause I LOVE HP computers. This might change the way I view their products now… This is no simple mistake.

  • pynk♥ {Bossip is getting BORING!}

    drenk
    12/23/09, 11:29:am

    F&CK HP AND DELL IM ALL ABOUT THE ABACUS!!! BRINGING IT BACK TO BC TIMES!
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    you’re a fool. lol

  • WhiteHittinCoon

    I get the overwhelming feeling Desi is choppin Wanda down!

  • Miss B

    drenk
    12/23/09, 11:27:am

    @ KeepNit2Real

    it was in poland, and they still despise jews and gypsies their, so i dont think theyre gonna be any more accepting with blacks
    ………….

    These companies willing to change their ads for comsumers do not help the cause of racism.

    I wonder if research was done to show if the black face was used, would their sales drop. This type of marketing is what keeps racism alive.

  • SHIFFON

    How can they blame the lighting when, the man & the woman are in the same room. When they say lighting are the talking about the diffrent lighting of the skin I am confused. The man did not turn the light off & sit in frint of the PC & the woman did not turn the light on while she was infron of the PC SMDH….

  • http://www.twitter.com/mastermk7 MasterMK

    I Love White People! Now I am a racist?

  • Redd Tony (Never been afraid of a lil work!!!)

    Nah HP needs Black software testers. Since all of them are probably caucasian the camera defect was overlooked….

  • Redd Tony (Never been afraid of a lil work!!!)

    Hey Film whats going on blood, Im good

  • KeepNit2Real

    drenk

    12/23/09, 11:27:am

    @ KeepNit2Real

    it was in poland, and they still despise jews and gypsies their, so i dont think theyre gonna be any more accepting with blacks
    _________

    That’s right…Poland.

    And I worked with a girl from Poland when I worked in VA. She was gorgeous too…yummay!

    She was mad nice too….loved Black guys. *wink*

  • AWWWWWWWWWWSHADDAAAP!!!!!

    I’m usually with you on your points, Tony, but I think if you have manufactures who are not even cognizant of a multi-cultural consumer base during testing of the merchandise, and proceed with respect to that, that in and of itself is very telling.

  • daahlingnikki

    Let him steal something…I bet you it will recognize him then…LOL…

  • AWWWWWWWWWWSHADDAAAP!!!!!

    *manufacturers

  • I’m Just Me: Keeping It Real Since: 1983 MERRY CHRISTMAS BOSSIP FOLK….IF YOU CELEBRATE!!!

    Let him steal something…I bet you it will recognize him then…LOL…

    *******************************************************

    FLATLINED!! WHEW!!!

    BUT VERY VERY TRUE!!

  • Redd Tony (Never been afraid of a lil work!!!)

    12/23/09, 11:57:am

    I’m usually with you on your points, Tony, but I think if you have manufactures who are not even cognizant of a multi-cultural consumer base during testing of the merchandise, and proceed with respect to that, that in and of itself is very telling
    ———————–

    I agree, but didnt HP have Jay-Z and Serena in their commercials advertising their note book

  • tg

    Well – It’s sad – but we don’t exist as human beings to a lot of people – so I’m not surprised. But that’s why Black people have to care, appreciate and be there for each other. We are actually all we got – because Lord knows no one else cares about us and as you can see, barely recognizes us as being here. You may think I’m taking it personal that black people were left off and I say to you “I am”. So if I can help it, “F” HP – I won’t support their company either.

  • Redd Tony (Never been afraid of a lil work!!!)

    Speaking of computers, anybody have an Apple? Im thinking of purchasing one…

  • Txhustla15

    @Redd Tony – I have four fam and hold all the certs what you need to know about em ?

  • AWWWWWWWWWWSHADDAAAP!!!!!

    I wasn’t big on Apple until I returned to school. I got to like them so much I replaced all my pcs and laptops with Apple. They’re excellent if you work heavily with graphic-oriented software. A definite ‘must-have’ if you’re a graphic designer. I highly recommend them.

  • Film

    Redd Tony

    I doing well.

    ‘Speaking of computers, anybody have an Apple? Im thinking of purchasing one…’

    Yeah, I have a MacBook Pro, and an iMac. I have Final Cut Studio 2 and Vectorworks on my computers, and I’ve never had a virus, or any problems with my OS X software.

    What are you thinking about purchasing?

  • Film

    I’m doing well. TYPO

  • the sane one

    this isnt racist but HP needs to fix this for real.

  • Redd Tony (Never been afraid of a lil work!!!)

    D*mn! Everybody got a Mac! lol Thanks Fellas

    @TX Hustla: Nah nothing in particular right now homie. I have Dell Latitude and always catch a virus here and there, and I heard Mac’s are virtually virus free.

    Will it take a lot of getting used to as opposed to using Windows based applications all my life?

  • DiamondDiva

    It’s TRUE!! omg
    I was taking holiday pics with my friends at school

    I’m one of two black girls and the other black girl is basically yellow..

    The camera could NOT

  • http://orhardlyworking.blogspot.com shaahn

    Seems to me if the tool measured the contrast between eyes and cheeks, that black people would definitely stand out being the whites of their eyes would stand out from the color of their cheeks. (well dark skinned)
    I would think the problem would occur with lighter peoples… Im just saying

  • Txhustla15

    Really it depends on what you need to do , most applications like word processing/excel/etc have the same software that runs on the mac platform, if needed you can just partition a piece of your drive and put windows on it – runs a little bit faster on the mac hardware.

    Theres still malware that exists for the Mac OS platform but the amount is virtually night and day compared to XP or Vista and most mac malware people obtain through pirated software or content so if you avoid that you pretty much can avoid most drama. Its just writing viruses and spyware for unix is pain compared to windows architecture.

    Machine wise if you looking to get into to mac without spending some change recommend either a mac mini, macbook or imac if you need a desktop or portable. You want something that flys get one of the macbook pros and they come in various sizes depending on what you need far as screen size.

  • Miss B

    Txhustla15……….

    You’re always on this site spitting knowledge, what University did you attend? or field you work in if you don’t mind me asking.

  • Sylmarvelous

    Yeah, that is a lil weird…

  • kaneesia

    he int gonna have a job the next day!!!

  • BapBarbie

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  • resurrected

    I would get a del way before I would get a HP computer on the consumer report HP is like the 5 of best computer to use Del and Apple were the top two…

  • Txhustla15

    @Miss B – St. Marys University @ San Antonio, TX . Have gig with IT/Network design and a production business. Hopefully the weather doesnt change in Texas..

  • uhh yeah ok.

    There a products out there that do capture us and they are slightly different… All they are doing is market segmentation. WE HAVE NUMBERS TOO..

    Jenny mccarthy has a work out product that i think might use the same tech. to produce work out routines based on your the tracking of your body (I think).. so This is just needs tweaking..

  • Geraldine

    I just recently purcahsed a new model HP laptop and these claims are 100% true!

    I purchased this laptop during cyber monday and my boyfriend and I (African-American) couldnt understand why it wouldnt work on us.

    Now we know “smh”

  • Redd Tony (Never been afraid of a lil work!!!)

    @TxHustla

    Had to step away for a while. Thanks for the info bruh. Computers are not my strong suit so I need all the useful information I can get. lol. Sounds like you are good at what you do. You are in a good field…

  • uhh yeah ok.

    Sure. They didn’t need to. Every time someone comes up with something new its published or that community knows about it.

    Its just the sneaky ones (or smart) who are thinking a head of the pack who take that persons work and revise one thing..

    vola- the orange is now the apple..

  • drenk

    @ enkogkneegro ( Uncle E…if you like )

    VERY true HP like ANY corporation only sees $$green$$

  • nosir

    obviously this is a racist attempt to not include blacks as customers because a multi-national corporation that exists solely to make money does not want black people’s money.

    It has nothing to do with the computer not detecting the guy because he’s dark complected, like a camera sometimes washes out white people when they are in a picture with blacks.

  • NorthernStar

    Redd Tony, you hit the nail on the head. The majority of these people developing computer hardware and software are white or asian males and apparently no one along the way to actually producing this thing said, “Wait, it doesn’t pick up darker skin tones!” HP FAIL!

    Ah well, just goes to show how ignorant and out of touch they are, not how racist (it isn’t racist, it’s colorist! Indians are dark, Latinos are dark… lots of other races are dark). Too bad they LEFT us in the dark.

  • Gmen

    Nique

    So basically their saying “y’all are too damn dark-turn the **********kin lights on and maybe it’ll have a chance on recongizing your black a$$es”

    …Did I read right??

    —-

    fake azz light skinned ppl not black and i not want be look like c r a k k e r $ so ugly self-hating looking Sammy Sossa b i t c h STFU!

  • Nfamous

    When all this was happening did we ever see either one of their hands?
    I dont buy it !!!

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