Intel's new TV box to point creepy spy camera at YOUR FACE Intel has confirmed it will be selling a set-top box direct to the public later this year, along with a streaming TV service designed to watch you while you're watching it. The device will come from Intel Media, a new group populated with staff nicked from Netflix/Apple/Google and so forth. Subscribers will get live and catch- …
Except that the STB will belong to the cable co, not you.
Intel missed a trick though. They should have framed it as facial recognition to automatically filter content based on rating. So a parent gets kid to sit in front of box and snaps a picture, enters birth-date and all content rated above child's age is filtered if the child is in the room.
Consumers weren't afraid to buy that...
Microsoft's patent on using Kinect to charge for the number of users watching a movie.
http://www.digitaltrends.com/gaming/microsoft-patents-kinect-anti-piracy-capabilities/
Microsoft's plans on using Kinect to look for logos on shirts etc, so they can serve up up even more adverts in the Xbox dashboard.
http://www.nbcnews.com/technology/ingame/kinect-lets-you-interact-ads-may-spy-your-mood-828447
How about a teeny round mirror right in front of the camera lens so they can watch themselves - or better yet, make the initial setup and ID using photos of someone out of a National Geographic, or a tabloid pic of a celebrity!
Oh, if the thing updates across a cloud, you *could' use someone else's face and possibly end up with their suggestions, no? Endless ways to fuck with it..
The fine article said there is a shutter.
More importantly, you still have Winston Smith's problem... how do you block the audio?
I see lots of 1984 references, with these kind of articles, but noone even sees the problems the book saw. How many people actually read it?
Not sure if this is the one you're thinking of?
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/11/07/microsoft_drm_spy_patent/
MS have a patent on facial recognition stuff with set top [x]boxes identifying who is watching a film so as to charge based on number of viewers etc. Seems a very similar patent to the one that Intel apparently have?
Given how often the facial recognition technology in e.g. Picasa asks me to create a new person when it's spotted a particular configuration of tree branches or light switches or 3-pin socket or shadow on the wall...
Mind you, it wouldn't be too bad for Dr Who, as we all hide behind the sofa when that's on anyway.
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