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Posts Tagged ‘minority report’

The billboards they are developing rely on the RFID chips that are increasingly being built into credit cards and cell phones as a means of storing data that is accessible by contact-free sensors (like the "touch pay" feature on some credit and debit cards that doesn't require the user to swipe). A sensor on the billboard picks up on that RFID signal as the cardholder passes by, tapping information like name, age, gender, shopping habits, and personal preferences.

From there, the billboard could display an ad that is customized particularly for that person, ostensibly even calling his or her attention to it by name. It's all very Minority Report (remember when Tom Cruise passes that billboard that shouts, "John Anderton. You could use a Guinness right about now"?), but it will likely draw the ire of privacy groups who will view it as an unsolicited extraction of personal data.

Because it is. But IBM and advertising groups view it as a way to make advertising more relevant to the user, thus making consumers' lives easier and more efficient as they would no longer be bombarded by advertising that doesn't apply to them.

[Telegraph]

The engineering students' project costs less than $100

MIT students Tony Hyun Kim and Nevada Sanchez created the electrical engineering project in 2009, and put together the entire package for less than $100. The glove allows users to zoom around a map application, like using a smartphone touchscreen without the screen -- the gloved hands can "grab" the map and do the familiar pinching motion with their fingers to zoom in.

The more recent wireless addition this month came courtesy of cheap radio transmitters and receivers, with microcontrollers transmitting the finger "button presses" via RF waves. Gestures are all captured via LED lights in front of a basic webcam. Take a look:

[MIT Glove Mouse]