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Long Range Eye Tracking for Advertisers
holy_calamity writes "A Canadian firm has launched a device that can track the gaze of multiple people from up to 10 metres away. Originally developed at Queen's University, Ontario, they hope to sell it to advertisers to allow them to monitor how many people look at their ads. Admittedly they are trying more benign stuff too like better hearing aids, but I doubt that will make up for movie posters that make a song and dance whenever you glance their way."
1. "Honestly honey, I was not looking at her breasts and that camera is a lying snitch".
2. "Hey Bob, couldn't help to notice that you were staring at your crotch. Could I interest you in a Corvette?"
3. "PLEASE PULL UP YOUR PANTS".
we'll just be living in it.
I hope some privacy groups outlaw this. I understand that being in public means you're open to any prying eyes about how you're dressed, which direction you're heading in or even the things to say to other people in the open. But tracking eye movement? I`m not sure if that feels "ok" with me... It's common understanding that even in public your "thoughts" are private and your own.. wouldn't it also apply to what your mind decides to look at?..
If I decide to sneak a peak at an ad that shows a gay couple.. or shows an ad on how to deal with drug addiction.. will I be labeled as a gay drug addict to that/those companies?
Maybe I should take off my tin foil hat for a bit and get some fresh air.. hopefully I`m just over reacting.
The magical number is: 09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0
I hope they don't start building these devices into women's clothing.
just a low-tech thought... But where will I find a pair that don't clash with my tinfoil hat?
Using your eyes as a mouse has been tried before, but I've heard from user researchers that the eye jiggles around too much to make a reliable pointing device. If you've ever been at a usability study where there's an eye tracking device, you know what I mean -- the eye tracking dot dances all over the text, and even when a user's focusing on a button the eye dances around the corners of the button, and to the nearby buttons, while the user processes the button's meaning and makes sure he's clicking the right thing. One thing I can't explain is how the military uses eye tracking to aim missiles -- it seems like that system would run into the same problems.
My basic feeling towards your idea is that it's absolutely great for disabled people, but personally I like being able to look at one thing but have my mouse hovering over something else.
my blog
I'd rather see this technology used to track my focus on the desktop.
If I were them, I'd make it so they moved more when you looked away - causing you to look back.
In all seriousness though, this technology is a little creepy. Not only that, but tracking eye movement has to have better applications than simply refining the process of ad targeting.
Marketing is one of the most obnoxious influences in modern history, perhaps only lawyers and religion are as destructive.
There are people like engineers, programmers, farmers, teachers, machinists, etc, who do productive work. These people *create* goods and services. They *generate* stuff that people enjoy, the result of their work is more than the input.
What marketing does to their customer is, if everything goes well, to increase market share, which means another corporation loses an equivalent market share. Marketing generates nothing. The result of marketing is always less than the input.
In Soviet Russia, movie posters watch YOU!
Just because it can't be explained doesn't mean it isn't true. Science fits into reality... not the other way around.
Such devices already exist. They're called tits.
Have gnu, will travel.
for this technology: Apple Computer announced today that it has developed a computer chip that can store and play music in women's breast implants. The iBreast will cost $499 to $599. This is considered to be a major breakthrough because women are always complaining about men staring at their breasts and not listening to them. Imagine if, everytime you looked at a breast, it played music!