Slashdot Mirror
Tokyo Rail Billboards Scan Viewer's Age, Gender
eldavojohn writes "The AFP is reporting on digital billboards in Tokyo that scan for a viewer's age and gender to tailor the message to them. It's a Digital Signage Promotion Project that 11 railway companies are debuting. The head of the project said, 'The camera can distinguish a person's sex and approximate age, even if the person only walks by in front of the display, at least if he or she looks at the screen for a second.' Philip K. Dick's Minority Report draws closer every day."
::pause::
OK, move along.
Living With a Nerd
Automatic recognition, on a wide scale / network, of young females, in Japan? Oh my...
One that hath name thou can not otter
- Escort ads for those who appear middle-aged and alone
- Diet Services for those who appear overweight
- Viagra ads for those who appear to have undersized genitals
Something that can determine Pat's gender.
...I doubt they get much accuracy in age, and probably a large number of "indeterminate" or false positives on gender...
If some electronic add calls me a chick, I'm punching its lights out!
RIP America
July 4, 1776 - September 11, 2001
If you wanted to be really evil, you could program it to identify socially awkward teens and have it identify them as the opposite gender.
Well, it has never been successfully tested.
Giggity.
Isn't that the one about the three muses who can see the future and predict crimes before they happen? And there are three so that if one is wrong the other two can overrule it? And the cop who gets notification to arrest himself because he's going to murder someone and runs away? And then it turns out that they disagree because they make their prediction serially, so the future changes between each prediction based on the knowledge of the future provided by the previous prediction, so essentially it's a time travel paradox story? And he ends up killing someone else in self defense for trying to arrest him even though he's innocent? I'm no Philip K. Dick fan, so maybe I'm wrong, but how is this like Minority Report at all?
So this tech will not work against two types of foes:
Muslim women with only their eyes exposed
Those of us who will see these billboards everywhere in 30 years and start dressing lie ninjas in public.
Because it would creep too many people out and drive them away from the store.
Technoli
This is Japan we're talking about. Have the system identify all males as tentacle monsters.
... you're giving them ideas!
Slashdot: Where people pretend to be twice as smart as they really are by behaving like children.
Hi Bob,
As a 47-year-old married guy with two teen-agers who is having trouble paying his bills, we don't want to make you feel worse by showing you ads for products you can't afford, like new cars. We show those ads to Dave, next door. What you need is ... Pepto-Bismol, and maybe some antidepressants, right?
Oh, hell. Maybe they are doing that and I haven't caught on yet.
"Hello [scanning] sir."
"Now that you are [scanning] in the prime of middle age, couldn't you see yourself in a brand new Generic Sport Sedan From GeneriCo?"
"Yes, sir, approach this kiosk, and I will display the many features of the Boring Oval Shaped Sedan 300Q"
"It is not necessary for you to hold a [scanning] metal pipe to view this ad."
"Neither is it necessary for you to [bzzzt] strike this kiosk with the [blargle] metal pipe."
"Please [buzz] stop [skree] hitting [roar] me, [bzzzzrrrzzzzzzzzzz] sir"
"[zzzzz] maintenance required [skttttttktktktk] please [bzzzzz] Daisy daisy [zzzzzz] rosebud"
"sssssssssss boop!"
(blessed silence)
I don't see any indication that these cameras can predict future murders.
But if they could, they would be more likely to offer ads for weapons, ropes, shovels and lotion rather than report you to authorities.
Since the system is being developed in Japan, we know that crossdressing guys will be identified as evil because of the Square-Enix rules.
As a 47-year-old married guy with two teen-agers who is having trouble paying his bills, we don't want to make you feel worse by showing you ads for products you can't afford, like new cars. We show those ads to Dave, next door. What you need is ... Pepto-Bismol, and maybe some antidepressants, right?
"Money problems? Did you know there are places in this world that will buy your children? Press "9" on your television remote for further details."