Using Facial Recognition To Find the Best Bar

nonprofiteer writes "Soon bars will be using facial recognition technology to tell you who's there and their gender breakdown. A start-up called SceneTap is rolling out a new service next month for bars and the patrons who love them: facial detection cameras that will keep track of the number of people in a bar, including a running tally of ladies and gents. Smartphone users will be able to download a free app to 'tap the bar scene' before deciding where to go."

Comments

Munchkins, all of them

[Mindcontrolled]

Gender ratio? Are we minmaxing on the chances for a bar hookup now? Powergaming the scene? Casual fucks for munchkins? Come on, guys, what happened to just hitting the road and, you know, just go out? First hole in the wall that strikes your fancy? You never know what you will find. Oh, and get off my lawn and take your smart-arse-phone with you.

Re:Munchkins, all of them

[travdaddy]

Look at it this way, now nerds are getting money for helping people hook up in bars. Of course, the nerds are still not hooking up in bars, but at least it's an improvement.

Re:Munchkins, all of them

[Pope]

First hole in the wall that strikes your fancy? You never know what you will find..

Eh, I prefer bars to glory holes, but whatever floats your boat.

Re:Munchkins, all of them

[gad_zuki!]

>Gender ratio?

Whoa, this place called the "Pink Triangle" is like 99% women!

Imagine the possiblities

[Anonymous Coward]

I can just see a drunk bunch of bridesmaids being guided to a biker bar.

Avoid the sausage fest...

[Sponge Bath]

...and end up at a transvestite convention. Ah, technology!

Possible failure case?

[Marc Madness]

Tranny night at the local watering hole: someone may wind up choosing a bar to go to based on ratio and show up with the wrong expectations. On a more serious note, if enough people know about and use this system, wouldn't this approximately model simulated annealing as people leave the bars with unfavorable ratios and go to bars with more favorable ratios? By the end of the night, all bars in a geographic area will probably exactly represent the ratio of all bar patrons that night divided according to gender preference. Thus defending the system against itself.

Re:Possible failure case?

[jeffmeden]

On a more serious note, if enough people know about and use this system, wouldn't this approximately model simulated annealing as people leave the bars with unfavorable ratios and go to bars with more favorable ratios? By the end of the night, all bars in a geographic area will probably exactly represent the ratio of all bar patrons that night divided according to gender preference. Thus defending the system against itself.

Think of it as creating a more efficient "market". Just as the electronic exchanges allow stocks and commodities to be traded with incredible efficiency, so to will these sorts of tools allow for the socializing "market" to be made much more efficient. Just think, no more sausage-fest over-supply of dudes at one bar and a severe under-supply at another just a few blocks away. I would think the equalization of supply and demand would be the ultimate goal of such a system. It will leave the free market forces to settle on the value of attractiveness in order to lure patrons. That is, until it starts porting the faces to hotornot.com, developing a "hotness quotient" for the bar's attendees...

Facial recognition is useless.

[Thanshin]

Looking for useful data?

1 - Replace camera for full body scanner.
2 - Order pictures by cup size.

Re:Facial recognition is useless.

[hedwards]

Ultimately, we're going to need genital recognition software to solve the problems this system is supposed to solve.

Will be exploited by bars who need more people

[suso]

So there is an application, that will try to indicate which bar is the hip one to be at? Yeah, that will last about a month before bars with less customers figure out how to fake their stats.

Re:Will be exploited by bars who need more people

[fuzzyfuzzyfungus]

Arguably, this technology will actually help in selecting the best bar: Any bar for which facial recognition camera data are not available receives bonus points.

Re:Will be exploited by bars who need more people

[cayenne8]

Any bar for which facial recognition camera data are not available receives bonus points.

Yep...any bar that has this tech and uses it that I know of.....loses MY business, and I will pass the word around not to go to those either.

What's next...all this software is put up against what you order/drink, and sent straight to the squad car sent outside? Or maybe to your health insurer so he can see your 'healthy' habits and adjust your premiums accordingly?

WTF is with the war on every day life anonymity?

Re:Will be exploited by bars who need more people

[interkin3tic]

Yep...any bar that has this tech and uses it that I know of.....loses MY business, and I will pass the word around not to go to those either

I'm guessing this will be utilized mainly by the "clubs" that have lines of undesirables waiting outside for a chance to get in. To make two generalizations that I think most people will agree with:

1. The jersey-shore types who wait in line for an hour to get into the "hottest" club and pay a 300% markup for a tiny fruity drink are the type who would look at you like you were talking about space aliens if you started talking about privacy. They're the ones who will find this just OMGF AMAZING!!1! They're the type who will be using this service and who will be abused by this service.

2. Slashdotters and most of their friends who -do- see this as an idiotic thing aren't going to be going to bars that would even consider this. If they go to any bar aside from the fridge in their parents' basement anyway. We already weren't going to those bars, or if we were, it's because we were forced to by a significant other or sheer desperation out of not having a significant other, and this won't change that.

this place is a sausage-fest

[jsepeta]

i go there to drink in peace

Good

[Taibhsear]

It'll let me know what bars NEVER to go to.
Also, isn't this like a blatant rip off of some episode of that show where the main character reads micro-facial expressions to tell when people are lying? (which was a blatant parallel to facebook/Zuckerberg)

Re:Good

[mwvdlee]

"Micro-facial expressions"... Is that what people look like after they get really tiny facials (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Facial_(sex_act))?
(ps I know you meant microexpressions (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microexpressions)).

People are clueless.

[geekmux]

Completely floors me what people will give up with regards to privacy. Then again, this is yet another shining example that sex sells.

This is really necessary? I probably would NOT end up going to bars that use this technology, but then again, I'm not one of the ignorant sheep who feels this is an "innocent gesture" or a "cool app to have on my phone". Big Brother at it's finest, portraying themselves as the sheep in wolves clothing.

Oh and for you married folks out there, might want to reconsider hitting the bars looking for your next extramarital affair. I can already see this tech being (ab)used by divorce attorneys and private investigators.

Re:People are clueless.

[ox01a4]

What till your insurance is able to pull up the amount of time that you spend in a bar. I'm sorry your rates are going up because you will need a new liver soon.

Re:People are clueless.

[gstoddart]

Completely floors me what people will give up with regards to privacy. Then again, this is yet another shining example that sex sells.

This is really necessary? I probably would NOT end up going to bars that use this technology

That was my first reaction ... I'm not sure I'm comfortable with random commercial establishments doing full-on facial recognition. It's sure as hell not opt-in, and at what point does this happen every public place I'm in? Way too much erosion of privacy and way too much surveillance society.

The whole notion kind of skeeves me out a little ... as you say "Big Brother at it's finest, portraying themselves as the sheep in wolves clothing."

Do not want.

Doomed Idea

[ThomasBHardy]

this whole idea is doomed to failure. Think this through.

Salesman: "Hey, barkeep. Would you like to hook up some cameras and advertise your male to female ratio?"
Barkeep: "Huh? What?"
Salesman: "It's a new thing. You put up some cameras and our software tracks how many males and females come in so guys around town can look up and see how many girls are at your bar. Cool, huh?"
Barkeep: "What's it cost?"
Salesman: "For only $1,200 you can get started today"
Barkeep: "How many guys in my town use your app?"
Salesman: "Seven"
Barkeep: "So let me see if I have this straight. I pay you $1,200 (salesman interrupts "plus $19.95 a month") to advertise to seven guys that my bar is filled with mostly guys."
Salesman: "Great, isn't it? Can i sign you up now?"
Barkeep: "GTFO and don't come back"