Want to know how old you look? Try Microsoft's new app now

If you are curious about how old you look, log on to a new website called How Old do I Look ( how-old.net/ ) created by Microsoft. Using Microsoft's Face recognition Application Programming Interface (API), the app predicts how old you look.

Once you upload a photograph, Microsoft's face recognition API will predict the age and gender of any faces recognized in that picture. This is still in the experimental mode, and Microsoft confesses by saying,"Sorry if we didn’t quite get the age and gender right - we are still improving the feature"

You can even use the search functionality (Search Faces) to search for images on the web. For example, when we tried putting the photograph of our PM, Narendra Modi, it predicted it nearly right by estimating his age as 66. Narendra Modi was born in the year 1950.

We also experimented with the online images of celebrities. For example, we used images of Amitabh Bachchan, which were posted online at different stages of his career, and it predicted his age. Amitabh currently is 72 years old.

While this looks like a fun activity, Microsoft also gets a chance to get real data for improving its face recognition technology. Face recognition technologies can hold a lot of potential if their accuracy increases. For example, if the images from CCTV cameras are put into a system equipped with face recognition capabilities, criminals can be identified by matching them against a set database. Using the same analogy, missing people can be tracked.

For now, have fun by uploading your photo and tell us if you really look as old as Microsoft is telling you!