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Mannequins That Watch Shoppers
SternisheFan writes with news of a creepy mannequin that watches you as you shop. From the article: "Benetton Group SpA is among fashion brands deploying mannequins equipped with technology used to identify criminals at airports to watch over shoppers in their stores. Retailers are introducing the EyeSee ... The 4,000-euro ($5,072) device has spurred shops to adjust window displays, store layouts and promotions to keep consumers walking in the door and spending. The EyeSee looks ordinary enough on the outside ... Inside, it's no dummy. A camera embedded in one eye feeds data into facial-recognition software like that used by police. It logs the age, gender, and race of passers-by. Demand for the device shows how retailers are turning to technology to help personalize their offers as growth slows in the $245 billion luxury goods industry. Bain & Co. predicts the luxury market will expand 5 percent in 2012, less than half last year's rate. 'It's a changing landscape but we're always going to be sensitive about respecting the customer's boundaries,' said spokesman Colin Johnson. ... Since the EyeSee doesn't store any images, retailers can use it as long as they have a closed-circuit television license."
Since the EyeSee doesn't store any images, retailers can use it as long as they have a closed-circuit television license."
Can someone European (or British, I expect?) explain this point? I know about the Beeb's "TV license", but thought that applied only if you use a TV to watch OTA content. For closed circuit, what the hell do you pay for?
I thought that theories about human races have been debunked as unscientific myths a long, long time ago?
Compromise: $30 shoes which last 6 months.
... is pretty frightening when you get down to it. The government doesn't have to do a thing it will all happen to "stop the bad guys" under the guise of legitimate reasons.
since when? agree to be filmed? which magical kingdom is this where store owners need such permissions?
it'll just tell you what kind of people visit your store. this is of limited use to very few stores on earth where the store owner or any employee doesn't bother to visually see what kind of people are coming to the store. the article mentions personalization many times but the product mentions many times it only stores information that's not identifiable to a person.
the real statistic that the store owner cares is quite simply what products are selling - and they have that. it's not like their profiling is going to tell what product will sell 6 months from now, they'll just know what size people come in and oogle at their novelty mannequin. and if they're going to really start personalizing offers.. fuck no, I hate haggling - especially robot haggling.
also - 4000 bucks for a webcam? that's luxury product right there.
world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
And you have a complete store security system. The mannequin spots the shoplifters, and the Boxer whacks them.
Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
They'll send Jim Caviezel to follow you around if you decide not to buy anything.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_law_of_diminishing_returns
There's a price point well below the maximum price point for any given product where you're getting the best value for your currency of choice. After that, there's this thing called diminishing returns; you get *LESS* value for your currency of choice! At the very top-end, you're running in to what I call the "PT Barnum effect", i.e.: "There's a sucker born every minute."
You can't simply spend the most possible on product 'x' and expect quality 'y'. You have to invest your time to research the best possible quality for your target price point. Even that has diminishing returns; you don't want to spend too much time researching as time is money as well. You have to prioritize what you want and how much work you're willing to do to get it.
It's like I'm writing the source code for common-fucking-sense.
Retailers have used cameras hidden in mannequin eyes for over 20 years. And they have been using facial recognition on CCTV feeds since the technology became available to them. This just puts the two products together inside one package.
John
Now shops will make mannequins even more creepy.
Don't worry, they'll dress it up in a cute exterior with an old light bulb, and call it the Flying Bluelight.
He'll say such things as "It looks like you're fondling the coffee table. While I call security, I've found you some special sales on matching sofas and ottomans, today only!"
You can hold down the "B" button for continuous firing.
I'm a human and I can't accurately judge age, gender, and race very well a significantly portion of the time. There's no way a robot could do better at such a subjective, human-specialized task.
i have clothes from Wal Mart that have outlasted some of the snobby store shit i've bought for 10 times the price
most of this luxury crap is crappy quality wrapped up in a snobby store experience
i used to buy $350 Mephisto shoes until they started to fall apart on me after 6 months. I can buy $150 shoes that last longer
There's "luxury" brands that get sold to the bourgois, that's you, that are of mediocre quality, not much better than the cheap stuff, but sometimes slightly better. Usually you get a better warranty and customer service from the company. Gucci and stuff of that calibre fall into this category. You never see "real" wealthy people using this shit. It's typically easy to spot because the label is huge.
Then there's "luxury" brands that get sold to poor people. These are almost always shoddy quality, they're expensive. They are primarily a label, which will be highly visible somehow (like red label on the fly of the blue jeans). These will fall apart just as quickly as cheap shit.
Finally there's actual quality goods. These will last for a long ass time, the company will typically provide superior customer service, etc. The label will be hard to spot, if it exists at all. In clothing look for hand sewn button holes, real pockets (not false), etc. Shoes won't have a mark that you can see during normal use. If you know what hand sticthing looks like, look for that.
The price for the last category is typically justified even for the bourgeois as the goods really will last a lot longer. The trick is knowing which goods fall into that category, these companies tend to not advertise much, the advertisers are the shit brands and the brands like Gucci.
I can already see the anecdotes of Nike running shoes lasting forever below here, lol, yeah sure. Not if you use them for running they won't at least not in a condition that won't screw up your feet or knees. I suspect some people are happy to wear worn out shit, hell, I've done it myself.
Just remember, when you see a wealthy person wearing clothes that "look like yours", they aren't like yours, those t-shirts are tailored to fit them, that's why they look so good. Those jeans are as well. None of that stuff is "off the rack". There's whole books on simply how to select a quality men's suit, and frankly, with all there is to know, yep, it's a bit justified.
You may not care, fine, but there is a difference in real, high quality goods.
Hardly. This is much more insidious.
systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
What're you lookin' at? Huh? You lookin' at me? ANSWER ME!
If Slashdot were chemistry it would look like this:Cadaverine
Santander bank is on the case:
http://gizmodo.com/5512140/banks-headquarters-are-so-big-that-you-need-robot-guides
"When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
Most of the Faded Glory stuff you get at Walmart is pure shit that won't last 6 months but their jeans are good. I have several pairs of FG jeans which cost me $8-10 that are still wearable (though a bit faded) 3-4 years after I bought them even after being washed several times a week during the winter months. More expensive jeans had holes in them after a year or less. My $20 Walmart shoes have lasted 7 months, about as long as shoes that cost >= $60.
"It is a denial of justice not to stretch out a helping hand to the fallen; that is the common right of humanity."
They should create a mannequin that morphs into the person it's observing, maybe it could just steal the face of the person since body sizes are so drastically different, but then you could "see yourself" in the clothes that the mannequin is modeling. That'd be cool, and super creepy. Just the sort of future we here at Slashdot prefer! :)
http://www.beanleafpress.com
Until it has ass recognition, it will remain blind to Freemasons everywhere.
Plan B: Use Weeping Angels as department store mannequins. The problem is the damn things won't stay still long enough.
Also Mad TV's Killer Mannequin.
I miss my old Toughskin jeans. I did indeed grow out of them before they wore out.
Oh, say does that Star-Spangled Banner entwine / The myrtle of Venus with Bacchus's vine?
So you've discovered that "you get what you pay for" is a lie? Good for you, I don't know why anyone ever believed that horse shit. I don't understand what (except ignorance or stupidity) would have someone buy a can of name brand corn when it's exactly the same corn as generic, except at half the price. I can't understand why anyone would buy Alieve when it's three times as costly as generic naproxin when naproxin is all Alieve is.
I paid seventy five cents for my Nike tea shirt at a garage sale. People are stupid and wasteful.
Free Martian Whores!
Why are they placing this in mannequins' eyes? They just figured that mannequins approximate people and people see with their eyes, so voila? There are many face-level places to stash a camera that wouldn't "spur shops to adjust window displays and store layouts" and cause owners to rearrange the store to place a dummy somewhere that doesn't make sense. Forget the mannequin and put the camera in the wall! Place it in the rear of a window display! Stick it in a mannequin's eye if you want to! Then wire the data to the security room and analyze and log it there.
Or, just stop being invasive and don't do it at all. I would love to find a way to determine actual ROI on this type of investment. I would guess (and hope) that the results would be dismal.
Or to simplify (perhaps oversimplify) : there is an inverse relationship between advertising and quality.
I mean advertising in all forms : television and radio commercials, logo emblazonment, product placement, celebrity endorsement, etc.
And it's true on more than just clothes. Food, beer, sporting and outdoorsy equipment, computer operating systems, just about anything. Even in markets that are completely and utterly flooded with advertisements (cars come to mind most prominently) I've found, anecdotally, that the companies with smaller ad campaigns and less pomp and circumstance tend to provide better quality.
Really, it just comes down to what the consumer wants. Do you want a product that announces to the world "I spent $500 on this purse, $200 on these ripped jeans" with instantly recognizable logos all over them? Or do you want to spend a quarter of that for a highly functional product with no logos, from a brand you haven't heard of? I'd wager most readers here are in the latter category, though there's clearly a big enough market to keep the former in business.
This signature is false.
The best value by far in shoes is Dr Martens. Especially if you drag your feet. You see, they have a guarantee on the sole of the shoe. If it wares out before the rest of the shoe, you can take yours into any retailer and trade them in for a new pare for free. I bought my first pair of Dr Martens over 15 years ago and haven't bought another pair since. I trade them in about every 1.5 to 2 years.
Sometimes, sure. I normally burn through shoes. As in, have tears in a pair in a year given daily use, and sometimes even holes in the sole. I also normally buy shoes that cost no more than $50 or so. This year, I decided to try something different and bought a pair of Doc Martens for $100. I've hit a year and so far they've held up better than any other shoe I've given the same amount of punishment to. Verdict is still out on whether or not they will survive at least two years, which will determine whether it was a financially sound decision, but these also have the added bonus of being more comfortable.
Granted, this is anecdotal and doesn't necessarily imply that a $200 pair of shoes would be twice as good as these are, but there is sometimes a difference in quality between the immediately cheapest option and something somewhat more expensive. Having that been said, I enjoy my off-brand veggies and canned goods, and most of my clothes come from the bargin bin at Target, and a lot of my dress clothes come from Goodwill.
Support the EFF and Creative Commons. The war is coming, and they're supporting you...
Have a listen :)
Or the people who think a $25 bottle of wine is automatically better than a $5-8 bottle...
or even a $2 bottle! True in the case of Charles Shaw Wines ("2 buck Chuck") which has garnered many awards: ...and many other medals in the results of three wine competitions.
Pinot Grigio, California -- Gold Medal/Best of Class
Merlot, California -- Silver Medal
Pinot Grigio, California -- Gold Medal
White Zinfandel, California -- Silver Medal
Shiraz, California -- Double Gold Medal/Best of Class
http://www.wineindustryinsight.com/yourturn.php?id=381
My shoes ... Size 13 Costco Court Classics, are 1 1/2 years old, worn just about every day, and are just now needed replacement. Cost $15. Hard to justify spending more on other shoes.
Agent K: A *person* is smart. People are dumb, stupid, panicky animals, and you know it.
Two Buck Chuck was good years ago. I can't stand it now that other wineries are doing basically the same thing. However, you are right, you can find some really good wines in the $5 - $10 range. You can find crappy wines in the $20-50 range. I have yet to find a Shiraz that I like, at any price, and I've just stopped trying.
Agent K: A *person* is smart. People are dumb, stupid, panicky animals, and you know it.
I always feel like somebody's watching me.
I'm just an average man with an average life
I work from nine to five, hey, hell, I pay the price
All I want is to be left alone in my average home
But why do I always feel like I'm in the twilight zone
I always feel like somebody's watching me
And I have no privacy
I always feel like somebody's watching me
Tell me is it just a dream
When I come home at night
I bolt the door real tight
Visit CryptoGnome in his home.
I'll plug good shoes instead of crap:
Ecco
Worth every penny. The one time I had a pair that I actually finally wore through the sole, they sent me a new pair.
They are branded on the boots, but it's embossed in the leather, and small.
-nb
whois gawk date unzip strip find touch finger mount join nice man top fsck grep eject more yes exit umount sleep dump
I'm picturing a very bored T-1000. Perhaps one of the underachievers that never quite mastered human extermination.
I concur about the Ecco shoes, and you've got the best sig on /.
We play the game with the bravery of being out of range
If you remember, they also appeared in the first Jon Pertwee serial, although then the nestene consciousness was working for the Master.
The best value by far in shoes is Dr Martens. Especially if you drag your feet. You see, they have a guarantee on the sole of the shoe. If it wares out before the rest of the shoe, you can take yours into any retailer and trade them in for a new pare for free. I bought my first pair of Dr Martens over 15 years ago and haven't bought another pair since. I trade them in about every 1.5 to 2 years.
Maybe in england, but here in the USA Dr. Martens don't last. I will crack the sole of the shoe in less then a year. Of course, this was back in the 80's & early 90's.
Another thing I found about Dr. Martens if it's freezing out, once the bottom of the shoe freezes you lose all traction. Like you strapped ice to your shoes.
Don't get me wrong, i loved the Dr. Martens, but they were NOT made to last.
Be seeing you...
Does it set off the shoplifting alarm automatically when it sees three or more young black males enter the store together? It's bad enough that the police use this sort of profiling to harrass certain groups, but rolling it out to the private security firms that monitor store CCTV is really distasteful.
Me too!
In terms of laptop chassis they are a better buy over the dell/hp/asus round up but they use the same commodity parts. Apple is notorious for using the cheapest boards they can get. Alineware & Falcon just charge a great deal for options since you've already paid for the better chassis and each upgrade is a bit of free profit.