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TiVo Plans RFID-Aware PVR
Dotnaught writes "New Scientist has spotted a patent application from TiVo that suggests the company is "working on a PVR that will recognise one of several individual users, and respond to their personal preferences." The patent application describes the invention as "a multimedia mobile personalization system provides a remote control that detects a user's electronic tag, e.g. an RFID tag." It also promises personalized viewing at a variety of locations, detailing how TiVo might forward stored shows from home to a TV in a hotel room, for example. It remains to be seen whether hotels will be eager to help TiVo undermine their pay-per-view video revenue."
Indeed. The hotels will simply provide a high-speed pipe for $4.95/hour or something like that. Really, though, the TiVo itself is unnecessary. The provider in this case needn't be the user's home machine (or whatever), but instead would be the networks themselves, who would provide the shows for a fee.
Ooh, a sarcasm detector. Oh, that's a real useful invention.
This use of RFID tags will destroy my privacy! You just watch...overnight, we'll have a terrible Orwellian police state where we're all branded with the RFID tag of the beast on our foreheads!
Forget about putting allergy information on the product: we'll just tag the people.
(Great for insurance companies too!)
It's not about hotels, it's about houses. (Geez, sounds like Monopoly here.)
TiVo has access to a lot of user preferences information. Companies like Nielsen and Arbitron have made large businesses out of tracking consumer behavior, but TiVo's use of technology would make it much more accurate.
The problem is, the content providers only want accuracy if it benefits them. The old "journal" system for radio and TV habits reflected what the user liked but not what they necessarily watched. There was quite an uproar when Nielsen switched to an electronic system, precisely because it indicated a drop in viewership.