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New Ad Technology Tracks Consumer Movement

Posted by michael on from the wallets-with-legs dept.

mingrassia writes "Over at CNN: New technology tracks consumer movement, flashes messages and calls out to passersby. Meet the Human Locator. It's a new technology developed by Canadian ad agency Freeset Interactive that purports to detect when humans are near, track their movement, and then broadcast messages directed at them on a nearby screen. Conspiracy theorists can relax, however. The Human Locator can't yet identify, say, obese pedestrians and then bombard them with images of a cheeseburger and fries."

31 of 263 comments (clear)

  1. Hey, I saw this by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    In Minority Report. Next thing you know I'll have to change my eyes.

    1. Re:Hey, I saw this by boarsai · · Score: 3, Funny

      I'm just waiting for the day some bastard goatse's a electronic bill board overlooking a highway... lets hope they're smart enough to keep them "unplugged" from the net. It could happen to your (net) fridge - good way to keep people away from the fridge tho... we shall call it the goatse diet. Keeping fatties thin. U G H .

  2. or yet... by vistic · · Score: 5, Funny
    The Human Locator can't yet identify, say, obese pedestrians and then bombard them with images of a cheeseburger and fries.
    ....or yet identify a slashdot geek and advertise case mods, acne cream, video games, and dating services.
    1. Re:or yet... by evslin · · Score: 3, Funny

      ....or yet identify a slashdot geek and advertise case mods, acne cream, video games, and dating services.

      Or how about a new copy of 1984?

      /ducks

  3. real-world popup ads :( by terrymaster69 · · Score: 5, Funny
    So they've finally found a way to bring pop-up ads into the real-world...

    I guess it was only a matter of time. Now I need some kind of pop-up blocker!

    Hmm...maybe a tinfoil hat will work??

    1. Re:real-world popup ads :( by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      Hmm...maybe a tinfoil hat will work??

      How about a baseball bat?

    2. Re:real-world popup ads :( by penguinoid · · Score: 3, Funny

      1) Take several catalogues, newspaper adds, etc. You will need about 5 kg, or less if it is packed tightly.
      2) Throw ball of adds at "pop-up" add machine. You can say, "Well, it bombarded me with adds first!"
      3) Last step left as an exercise to the reader.

      --
      Don't waste your vote! Vote for whoever you want, unless you live in a swing state it won't matter anyways
    3. Re:real-world popup ads :( by syousef · · Score: 3, Funny

      Have you never heard of billboards?

      --
      These posts express my own personal views, not those of my employer
    4. Re:real-world popup ads :( by Volmarias · · Score: 2, Funny

      Billboards are like banner ads. You can look at them. Or not.

      You're thinking of "Gremlin holding wheaties advertisement popping out of your steering column and blocking your vision of the road for the next 3-4 seconds until your car crashes while you try and kill it (except every time you smack it another one pops out!)"

  4. GRETINGS!!!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    YOU DO NOT KNOW BE MUT PLEASE TO INTRODUCE myself. i mean know harm to , and god willing, only good shall come from this video screen. i am alandra seko seso, of the african republic of....

  5. Hmmm by value_added · · Score: 3, Funny

    "It's a new technology ... that purports to detect when humans are near, track their movement, and then broadcast messages directed at them ..."

    Seems to me I already get that at freeway off-ramps.

  6. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 4, Funny

    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  7. Say... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    "Hello, Sir. You look like a man who nees a larger penis!"

  8. OK.. by dr_labrat · · Score: 2, Funny
    Conspiracy theorists can relax, however. The Human Locator can't yet identify, say, obese pedestrians and then bombard them with images of a cheeseburger and fries.


    Sooo. What fucking good is it, then???

    --
    The secret of success is honesty and fair dealing. If you can fake those, you've got it made. (Marx)
  9. -1, Flamebait, but... by penguinoid · · Score: 5, Funny

    In Capitalist America, adds watch YOU!

    --
    Don't waste your vote! Vote for whoever you want, unless you live in a swing state it won't matter anyways
  10. Interesting thought by toetagger1 · · Score: 3, Funny

    So when I walk out of Victoria Secret, will I see some advertisement with pritty woment withouth much clothign?

    --
    who | grep -i blond | date cd ~; unzip; touch; strip; finger; mount; gasp; yes; uptime; umount; sleep
  11. Re:How long before they do identify you? by Snad · · Score: 2, Funny

    I think age would come before sex

    Surely dinner and a movie comes before sex?

  12. fat family by eliphas_levy · · Score: 2, Funny

    The Human Locator can't yet identify, say, obese pedestrians and then bombard them with images of a cheeseburger and fries.

    They already do that, it's called TV ads. Maybe it can go a way ahead targeting the dud that got outside to buy more cheeseburger and fries.

    --
    eliphas
  13. nice, but... by PsiPsiStar · · Score: 2, Funny

    can it pick up chicks?

    Wasn't this technology developed by construction workers quite some time ago?

    It's sad when a human being's job is replaced by a machine. Of course, it it can't recognize fat people, then I suppose the technology still has a ways to go in this regards.

    --

    ___
    It's the end of my comment as I know it and I feel fine.
  14. Re:Yuuummm.... by dr_labrat · · Score: 2, Funny
    Or get the urge to

    Get a free Fucking Ipod

    --
    The secret of success is honesty and fair dealing. If you can fake those, you've got it made. (Marx)
  15. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 4, Funny

    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  16. Contradiction in terms? by menscher · · Score: 2, Funny
    ...can't yet identify, say, obese pedestrians...

    Have you ever seen an obese pedestrian? No? Didn't think so. Obese people don't walk. That's why they're obese.

    Humbly submitted to the mods, who can fight over whether this is insightful, funny, troll, or flamebait.

  17. Advertising directed only to humans by bayerwerke · · Score: 3, Funny

    Imagine how much advertising is wasted on animals, objects, the sky, moon, ect.. Now the technology is here to target only people. What a breakthrough !

  18. Re:Fried detetor by AndroidCat · · Score: 2, Funny

    "Sorry officer, but I was trying out this new super bubble-gum and I was standing a bit too close..."

    --
    One line blog. I hear that they're called Twitters now.
  19. As for me, the average male... by DarkHelmet · · Score: 3, Funny

    Any technology that will prevent me from ever having to see or hear a tampon or yeast infection commercial ever again is fine by my book.

    --
    /^[A-Z0-9._%+-]+@[A-Z0-9.-]+\.[A-Z]{2,4}$/i
  20. I saw this too by cgenman · · Score: 4, Funny

    I went to the grocery store the other day, and as I was walking up close to the door the darned thing opened for me. It was the weirdest thing ever. Then, when I got to the other side... It closed.

    Creepy.

    --
    The ______ Agenda
    1. Re:I saw this too by krogoth · · Score: 3, Funny

      Here's your chance to get on the slashdot frontpage! Submit something about how stores... no, the government... wait, the Illuminati, that's it, are tracking you, and using their telekinesis powers to open doors in front of you. They're only doing it in stores now, so it can be explained away with technology, but it's only a matter of time before they have total control over us.

      That would be about as accurate as this story, so you should have no trouble getting it accepted.

      --

      They that quote Benjamin Franklin on liberty and safety deserve neither.
    2. Re:I saw this too by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      Once I was walking into a Target, and the automatic door failed to open when I approached it. I stopped about 1 inch from the door.
      I yelled out, "I have no soul!"
      My friend walked up behind me, and the door opened.

      Slightly more creepy.

  21. After a long day at the office... by Infonaut · · Score: 3, Funny
    one of the guys at Freeset Interactive gets home, and sits down for a bottle of beer. His dear mother calls him on the phone. "Honey, what did you do at work today?"

    Proud of his latest effort, our hero replies, "Well Mom, we just discovered a way to help advertisers track people and shove ads down their throats at every possible opportunity. I think this is going to make us a big bundle of money!"

    Dear sweet Mother replies: "You know, I've never told you this until now, but you're adopted. We picked you up from an adoption service in the States."

    --
    Read the EFF's Fair Use FAQ
  22. Conspiracy theorists by Colonel+Cholling · · Score: 3, Funny

    Conspiracy theorists can relax, however.

    Sure, that's just what THEY want us to do...

    --

    I am Sartre of the Borg. Existence is futile.
  23. Can't wait to blow some little robot's CPU by divot2001 · · Score: 2, Funny

    I for one eagerly await the growing population of quasi-intelligent robots just so I can torment them on new and exciting levels. Such as going to stores in order to find a combination of items that when obtained will overload the robots memory capacity and literally blow it's little mind.