Manner of Speaking
Joined: 09 Jan 2003
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 Posted: Sat May 31, 2008 9:46 pm Post subject: Cameras, Cameras Everywhere... |
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The latest in technology? Billboards that look back
By Stephanie Clifford
Friday, May 30, 2008
NEW YORK: In advertising these days, the prize goes to those who can measure everything - how many people see a particular ad, when they see it, who they are. All of which is easy on the Internet, and getting easier on television and radio.
Billboards, on the other hand, are a different story. For the most part, they are still a relic of old-world media, and the best estimates about viewership numbers come from foot traffic counts or highway reports, neither of which can guarantee that the people on hand were really looking.
Now some entrepreneurs have stepped forward with a technology to solve the problem. They are equipping billboards with tiny cameras that gather details about the passers-by - their gender, approximate age and how long they looked at a billboard. These details are transmitted to a central database.
Behind the technology are small start-ups that say they are not storing actual images of the passers-by, so privacy should not be a concern. The cameras, they say, use software to determine that a person is standing in front of a billboard, then analyze facial features (like cheekbone height and the distance between the nose and the chin) to judge the person's gender and age. So far they are not using race as a parameter, but they say that they can and will soon.
http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/05/30/business/billboard.php |
George Orwell called these "telescreens", didn't he?  |
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