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Philips Patents Technology to Force Ad Viewing
An anonymous reader writes "According to New Scientist, Philips has filed a patent for technology to force viewers to watch the ads in a program. Basically they plan to add extra flags to the Multimedia Home Platform that would stop controls from working until the ads are finished." From the article: "Philips' patent acknowledges that this may be 'greatly resented by viewers' who could initially think their equipment has gone wrong. So it suggests the new system could throw up a warning on screen when it is enforcing advert viewing. The patent also suggests that the system could offer viewers the chance to pay a fee interactively to go back to skipping adverts."
When ads are on I go read articles on /.
Do you see what I did there?
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Hard to resent something you will never buy.
I need to get snacks and go to the bathroom.
a tv that realizes you've gotten up to get a sandwich and replays the commercials when you return.
MY GOD, THIS IS PROGRESS?!!?
the next step is to simply have metallic arms come out of your chair, pin your arms down, peel your eyeballs open, and moisturize those pupils for 3 minutes.
"when you fall in a bottomless pit you die of starvation."
And my friends laugh at my 19" Zenith TV with real knobs (including fine tune rings!) to change the channels! Force that, Philips!
You know, if you just pirate the movie you can skip the adverts.
Hmm... There should be some lesson in there about giving consumers more for their money, but as far as I can tell that just means more adverts.
The ______ Agenda
I'm not watching porn ! *Clicks button desperately*
I don't think you get it. You're FORCED to watch the advertisements.
Part of this system will be eye-instruments similar to the ones used in A Clockwork Orange that keep the lids of your eyes fully open and staring directly into the screen. There will be no way of skipping the ads nor averting your eyes away from the ads.
Of course, for a small fee you can avoid all of this.
"Leo Fender was in a 'state of grace' when he designed the Stratocaster." -- Paul Reed Smith
Pretty soon it will be cheaper and less annoying to go see movies in the theater.
I guess I'll have plenty of former TV time to perfect my Civilization IV skills. Or I could write another book.
But Civ IV first.
I wholeheartedly support this idea.
To patent the electrification of the fridge handle and the toilet seat during commercials...
Awesome furniture, accessories and cabinetry in Santa Rosa, CA: http://humanity-home.com/
It seems likely that we have until the patent expires before non-Phillips products can use this technology without paying licensing fees. :-) Also means no open source implementations for about 17 years...
LedgerSMB: Open source Accounting/ERP
I think I'm going to file a patent that requires you to watch the Super Bowl. No longer will you be allowed to skip through the game and just view the commercials...
I'm not fat, just big boned...
"Warning: Phillips electronics engineers are clueless asspirates. Their marketing weasels are worse. While you're watching this shit, they're busy thinking up the next stupid-ass idea."
Also known as extortion.
The joys of VLC media player and a video-out socket.
I'm also very fond of whoever authored my Buffy CDs, since they seemed to have somehow locked the "next scene" function on the piracy warnings, but not the "skip to scene". Much appreciated.
Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean there isn't an invisible demon about to eat your face
Did you set it on fire for a reason?
I don't preview or spellcheck.
Two wrongs make a right is like saying "two lefts make a right"
They don't. Two lefts means you're going backwards.
So what you are saying, and let me make absolutely certain that I understand your reasoning here, you are saying that *three* wrongs make a right?
In the free world the media isn't government run; the government is media run.
And I quote:
"Where I was taken to, brothers was like no cinnie I ever viddied before. I was bound up in a straightjacket and my gulliver was strapped to a headrest with like wires running away from it. Then they clamped like lodlocks on my eyes so that I could not shut them, no matter how hard I tried."
Sorry guys. This has already been done by the guys who made A Clockwork Orange, circa 1971.
"No problem. I have the capacity to do infinite work so long as you don't mind that my quality approaches zero."-Dilbert
I was born here. I guess the cost would be whatever you would value a broken condom at, in early 1970s dollars :).
Yaz.
They show you the commercials and then in order to view the next segment you have to
answer a quiz about the commercials that were on. If you fail the quiz you have to watch the commercials
over you failed on. Questions could be as easy as "Why is XYZ so yummy!" Answer: Ad slogan to
difficult question like "Please mark the commercials that showed a dog".
I just got this idea from a science fiction story I read as a kid where people lived in a society where
they had to attentively watch the evening news - or be severely punished for missing them. The "News Police" would
ring doorbells at random and give pop quizzes. I'd say a rather scary thought, especially with the implication
that you have to be home after 8pm so they can check up on you.
"sex toys or resurrection machines" Those would be seen as the same thing for quite a few couples...
...said one Phillips executive as he vanished in a cloud of his own vomit.
So, if he were a vampire, would that make him Count Barfula?
Or maybe he'd be Count Bulimia! Oh noes! Look out! It's Count Bulimia! He strikes fear into 7-Elevens, all-you-can-eat-buffets, ice cream aisles and toilets everywhere!
Constitutional rights may be respected, repealed, or modified; but they must never be ignored.
Actually, I find this far more offensive morally than a suicide machine.