How-Old.net, A Site That Tells You How Old You Look, Will Make or Break Your Day

If you're reading this, you're probably a human, which means you most likely worry about your age. Just think back to your 20th birthday (and every birthday thereafter) when you cried "I am, like, so old!!!" Because of our culture's obsession with youth and beauty, most of us have developed strategies to look better/younger in photos ("can you get my good side?”) and have come to feel flattered when a bouncer or bartender still thinks to card us.

It's that same kind of OMG-I-did-or-did-not-get-carded feeling that fuels How-Old.net. A couple of guys from Microsoft were playing around with the company's newly released Face detection API’s and created a tool that will analyze a photo and determine the subject's age. Putting yourself at the mercy of this technology could go either way obviously.

It can either flatter you by predicting that you're younger than Lauren Conrad (yes, I really did meet her!).

Or it could predict that you're the same age as your mom.

If How-Old.net assumes you're younger than you are, you'll keep uploading photos to get further validation. If it thinks you're super duper old, you'll keep uploading photos to prove it wrong. Either way, you're about to spend a good chunk of time on the website. Before you dive in, my advice is to remember what the wise prophet Aaliyah once said about age:

Another thing to keep in mind is that you are beautiful no matter what they say. No go forth and either become best friends or worst enemies with How-Old.net.