It's happened to all of us. You're watching a movie or television show and see someone familiar and either can't remember their name or want to know what else they have appeared in. It can drive you nuts. The Skakash app is putting an end to it.
The way Skakash is described by the developers is “Shazam for celebrities.” That's the perfect description. Just as you can aim your iPhone at a radio, movie, or television screen to see what the song is with Shazam, you can do the same to find out a celebrity's name with Skakash.
The app is still in development, but I was honored with a chance to try it out ahead of time and test the progress. They don't have a full catalog of recognizable celebrities yet, but they're working on it. All major celebrities are in there, including others that are somewhat surprising such as Jodie Sweetin. Not sure who she is? She's the middle daughter on Full House You can see a list of celebrities that are already included in the app in the database.
Ironically, when I first received the early release of the app, my son and I were trying to remember an actress' name. We were watching the movie Holes, and both knew who she was, but couldn't recall her name, only every movie she'd been in, such as Aliens and Gorillas in the Mist. That's right; it was Sigourney Weaver. I used Skakash, and it gave me a choice of three, including Weaver. It also identified Shia LaBeouf from the movie.
Using the app is as simple as using Shazam. Simply point your iPhone at a celebrity's face and make sure you have the switch toggled to On. It runs through the faces in its database and presents you with three choices and a percentage that it's the right person. If you click on a name, it will take you to their Wikipedia page to find out more.
I tried it again on the movie Green Hornet. I pointed my iPhone at Seth Rogen and Cameron Diaz, but it's hard in an action movie, as they're always moving. The people need to be looking forward, or at least in the direction of the pictures they're being matched to. The picture in the celebrity list of Rogen has him wearing glasses, so that could have been why it wasn't finding him. He obviously isn't Jet Li. Diaz is such an animated person, it was hard to get her with a still face, even while using Pause.
Skakash shows a lot of promise. They're still working on it and note that they're only halfway through development. It's a great idea, and with face recognition technology, it's bound to just get better and better. You can find out more about it at the crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo
