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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."
Compromise: $30 shoes which last 6 months.
No no no! They race humans for sport. I've seen it.
They'll send Jim Caviezel to follow you around if you decide not to buy anything.
I would assume this isn't a license for the screen, but rather a license for the privilege of recording. I'm sure the logic was something like 'Without a mandatory license, there would be no way to prosecute people who record others through a bedroom window without their knowledge.'
I'm sure it can detect more than just race. For example, if you are fat then maybe there will be a big ad for McDonalds just ahead. And if you look starved then maybe there will be a big ad for McDonalds just ahead. And if you have kids with you then maybe there will be a big ad for McDonalds just ahead. And if you are wearing a vegan or vegitarian t-shirt then maybe the security guards will be waiting ahead to escort you to either McDonalds or the street.
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
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.
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
Humans are shitty at guessing race. My brother is half Hawaiian, but living in Arizona not a single person could guess his race correctly. Growing up in Hawaii, a Filipino friend of mine related his experience living in Wisconsin: everyone thought he was black and called him the N-word constantly. Humans are the ones programming these racial profiling algorithms, and thus will always be shit poor at it.
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
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.