Below is a viral video of a black male and a white female demonstrating how the facial recognition feature on HP’s webcams has a glitch. Apparently the webcam fails at recognizing the face of Desi (black male), but it works on Wanda (white female).

Rather than flipping out in response to the video, Hewlett Packard issued a politically correct statement pointing out what is wrong technically with the webcam.

Below is a full response from HP Community Manager Tony “Frosty” Welch:
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

And below is the video:

Ford Motor Company (NYSE:F) and Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) is working with developers to put together a prototype of what could be one of the first automotive application stores.  The application store will utilize all forms of social media.

“While Facebook probably isn’t the best thing to be concentrating on while driving, what if an app existed that allowed you to update your Facebook status with your location during a road trip? Or what if you wanted your phone to read someone’s Twitter feed? It’s totally doable, and using Sync you’ll never have to touch your phone, let alone look away from the road,” wrote Autoblog editor Jonny Lieberman.

Another strategy Ford has to pursue while developing an application store is to convince developers that they should spend time making applications for cars.  They need to make it fun and give them a financial motive.  Ford Sync has open APIs and tested them with six computer science students at the University of Michigan to make two mobile phone based applications.  One of the applications showcased by the students was called Follow Me.

Follow Me is an application that helps drivers following each other keep track of where they are at all times.  Sometimes there are situations where you are following a car and it goes through a yellow light, while you get stuck at the red light.  The Follow Me app makes it so that you don’t lose the other driver. Another application that was made by a developer uses Sync commands to play specific radio stations using voice commands, including custom radio stations on Pandora.

Content delivery network (CDN) company Limelight Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:LLNW) has announced an agreement to acquire EyeWonder, Inc. EyeWonder is an online advertising company that works with Forbes 2000 advertisers, agencies, and content publishers. EyeWonder is expected to service about $500 million in media spend. Below is the full press release:

Limelight Networks Announces Agreement to Acquire EyeWonder, Inc.

TEMPE, AZ and ATLANTA, GA–(Marketwire – December 21, 2009) – Limelight Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ: LLNW) today announced a definitive agreement to acquire privately held EyeWonder, Inc. The transaction is expected to close in the first half of 2010.

“Today, two best-in-class companies are combining to capitalize on the clear opportunity created by a macro shift of content consumption and advertising spend away from legacy channels and towards the growing world of Internet-connected devices. Limelight and EyeWonder bring together deep technical and operational skills for creating a brilliant online experience anywhere, on any device, and the ability to help advertisers and publishers monetize that experience,” said Jeff Lunsford, chairman and chief executive officer, Limelight Networks, Inc. “We believe joining forces with the EyeWonder team will help us build long-term value for our shareholders and further establish Limelight Networks as an important, at-scale participant in the rapidly growing rich media, video, mobile, and web TV advertising sectors.”

Several valet drivers at a Hyatt Hotel in downtown St. Louis, Missouri actually filmed and uploaded a video of themselves abusing cars. The video includes flooring the accelerator while the car is in park, drifting vehicles, and doing donuts. The owners had no idea that their cars were being abused after dropping it off at the hotel.

“I’m not freaking out about it, but it isn’t that funny,” stated Kyle O’Brien, one of the car owners. “I would just think a valet service at a nice hotel would have to have more responsibility.” The Hyatt Hotel general manager confirmed this did take place in his hotel and said that the valet company has been fired. AAA Valet in Atlanta, Georgia is the company behind the car abuse.

O’Brien said that he stayed at the Hyatt for only one night. When he got his Dodge vehicle back, the valet driver asked him if his car was for sale. The valet driver also said that he had nice tires. Then O’Brien said he noticed his car was driving funny and had to replace the spark plugs. Below is the video of the valet drivers.

Even though Accenture decided to completely abandon Tiger Woods amidst all of the controversy, TAG Heuer really wants people to know that they stand by him to a certain extent. This image is a thumbnail of a massive banner that the watch company put on their homepage. Clicking the image on the TagHeuer.com homepage links to a press release that the watch company sent out.

“The partnership with Tiger Woods will continue,” stated TAG Heuer President and CEO Jean-Christophe Babin in the press release, “but we will downscale the use of his image in certain markets for a period of time, depending on his decision about returning to professional golf. We will continue to actively support the Tiger Woods Foundation.”

General Motors will soon start experimenting with a project that involves running factories 24 hours per day. GM wants to become more efficient than Toyota through this experiment. As a result, GM will shut down some factories but will do some additional hiring at other facilities.

For example the Kansas City, Missouri General Motors facility will add 900 more jobs. And two other GM plants will add a third shift. The shift to 24 hour manufacturing was a strategy put together by the Obama administration auto task force. Currently the automotive industry standard for running at 100% capacity is when two shifts are operating during 250 days per year. The auto task force expects to see GM operating at 120% capacity based on industry standards.

ReachLocal is a Woodland Hills, California based online marketing company. ReachLocal has just filed a $100 million IPO paper. ReachLocal works with SMBs for help with retaining and gaining customers through the Internet. ReachLocal currently works with 17,600 campaigns across 14,500 advertising partners. Each of these partners spend about $500-$3,000 per month with ReachLocal.

ReachLocal made about $143 million in revenue during the first three quarters of 2009. The company made $100 million during the same period in 2008. The company made $11.66 million in profit in 2009 and had a loss of $4.47 million in 2008. ReachLocal raised about $68 million in total VC funding from VantagePoint Venture Partners, Rho Ventures, and Galleon Group.

Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales was on Bloomberg TV earlier this week to clarify that there has not been a mass exodus of voluntary editors.  Wikipedia is still very much driven by the community.

Wales also revealed some interesting numbers about Wikipedia.  To maintain Wikipedia, it costs around $10 million per year.  The website survives primarily off of donations.  So far Wikipedia has over $3 million in donations for the year.

Personally I’m impressed by how little it costs to maintain Wikipedia.  On a per day basis, it costs about $27,397.26 to keep Wikipedia running.

What about some of the other top websites?  As a comparison, YouTube costs about $2 million per day in just storage and bandwidth.  Facebook most likely costs close to $300,000 per day considering that they are hosting 10 billion photos.  In 2007 and early 2008, Facebook spent around $67 million on rackable servers.  Facebook most likely spends $500 million per year between servers, employee salaries, infrastructure, office space, and other miscellaneous costs.

Below is a video of the interview [via BusinessInsider]: