Sensor To Monitor TV Watchers Demoed At Cable Labs

An anonymous reader writes "Cable operators at the semi-annual CableLab's Innovation Showcase have informally voted as best new product a gizmo that can determine how many people are watching a TV. Developed by Israeli company PrimeSense, the product lets digital devices see a 3-D view of the world (the images look like something from thermal imaging). In other words, that cable set-top box will know whether three people are sitting on the sofa watching TV and how many are adults vs. children. Do we really need cable and/or video service operators knowing this? It all happens via a chip that resides in a camera that plugs into the set-top box."

Comments

Re:duct tape

[RetroGeek]

And then the box detects its 'blind' and refuses to run your movie

At which point I return the box/tv set, yell at the salesperson, and behave badly.

This is like the Panasonic patent which blocks channel changing during commercials. Some *AA exec is wetting his pants, but the public WILL NOT put up with this.

This kind of intrusion is a revolution just waiting to happen, sheeple or not.

Re:Phone home

[xigxag]

The manufacturer's homepage seems to imply that the device could be used for gesture-controlled applications, such as changing the channel without a remote control.

In other words, something like Natal.

Or to rephrase that, what does this device do that Natal doesn't have the capability to do? And that being the case, shouldn't people be equally worried about Natal spying on its users?