'Cara' Webcam Software Sizes You Up Immediately

**beanlicker** · 05-14-2013, 04:28 AM

by Marshall Honorof
May 08 2013 04:25 PM ET

Webcams can capture footage and stream it online.
CREDIT: Public DomainView full size image

NEW YORK — When you converse with someone via webcam, you can probably determine his or her age, sex and level of engagement pretty accurately, even if you've never met before. Now, a new piece of software

, called 'Cara,' allows almost any webcam to do the same thing.

Cara comes from IMRSV, a New York-based startup, and doesn't require much power to run. Any computer with an Intel Duo Core processor

and any webcam with a resolution of at least 640 x 480 pixels (nearly all modern computers and webcams meet or exceed these requirements) can run the software, which takes only seconds to identify a subject's most salient features.