From Hobbes To Your Cell: Hail the Surveillance State
Omega - 16. May, 10:07
Big Brother
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New Technology Could Force TV Ad Viewing
By May Wong Associated
Press posted: 20 April 2006
12:11 pm ET
SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) -- In this era of easy ad skipping with TiVo-like video recorders, could television viewers one day be forced to watch commercials with a system that prevents channel switching?
Yes, according to Royal Philips Electronics. A patent application with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office says researchers of the Netherland-based consumer electronics company have created a technology that could let broadcasters freeze a channel during a commercial, so viewers wouldn't be able to avoid it.
The pending patent, published on March 30, says the feature would be implemented on a program-by-program basis. Devices that could carry the technology would be a television or a set-top-box.
Philips acknowledged, however, that the anti-channel changing technology might not sit well with consumers and suggested in its patent filing that consumers be allowed to avoid the feature if they paid broadcasters a fee.
On Wednesday, company officials issued a statement that noted the technology also enables the opposite: allowing viewers to watch television without advertising. The intention was never to force viewers to watch ads against their will, the company said of the technology.
"We developed a system where the viewer can choose, at the beginning of a movie, to either watch the movie without ads, or watch the movie with ads,'' the company stated. "It is up to the viewer to take this decision, and up to the broadcaster to offer the various services.''
The company also said it had no plans to use the technology in any of its products.
Philips wanted to provide the technology and seek the patent only as part of the broader developments within the industry, Philips spokesman Andre Manning said.
https://www.livescience.com/technology/060420_force_commercials.html
Peace - Anna
Press posted: 20 April 2006
12:11 pm ET
SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) -- In this era of easy ad skipping with TiVo-like video recorders, could television viewers one day be forced to watch commercials with a system that prevents channel switching?
Yes, according to Royal Philips Electronics. A patent application with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office says researchers of the Netherland-based consumer electronics company have created a technology that could let broadcasters freeze a channel during a commercial, so viewers wouldn't be able to avoid it.
The pending patent, published on March 30, says the feature would be implemented on a program-by-program basis. Devices that could carry the technology would be a television or a set-top-box.
Philips acknowledged, however, that the anti-channel changing technology might not sit well with consumers and suggested in its patent filing that consumers be allowed to avoid the feature if they paid broadcasters a fee.
On Wednesday, company officials issued a statement that noted the technology also enables the opposite: allowing viewers to watch television without advertising. The intention was never to force viewers to watch ads against their will, the company said of the technology.
"We developed a system where the viewer can choose, at the beginning of a movie, to either watch the movie without ads, or watch the movie with ads,'' the company stated. "It is up to the viewer to take this decision, and up to the broadcaster to offer the various services.''
The company also said it had no plans to use the technology in any of its products.
Philips wanted to provide the technology and seek the patent only as part of the broader developments within the industry, Philips spokesman Andre Manning said.
https://www.livescience.com/technology/060420_force_commercials.html
Peace - Anna
Omega - 21. Apr, 16:42
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Soul Catcher' Computer Chip Due
CliniClonic' Robo-Serfdom?
The End of Death: 'Soul Catcher' Computer Chip Due...
By Robert Uhlig
The Electronic Telegraph (England)
A computer chip implanted behind the eye that could record a person's every lifetime thought and sensation is to be developed by British scientists.
"This is the end of death," said Dr. Chris Winter, of British Telecom's artificial life team. He predicted that within three decades it would be possible to relive other people's lives by playing back their experiences on a computer. "By combining this information with a record of the person's genes, we could recreate a person physically, emotionally and spiritually."
Dr. Winter's team of eight scientists at BT's Martlesham Heath Laboratories near Ipswich calls the chip the 'Soul Catcher.' It would be possible to imbue a new-born baby with a lifetime's experiences by giving him or her the Soul Catcher chip of a dead person, Dr. Winter said. The proposal to digitize existence is based on a solid calculation of how much data the brain copes with over a lifetime.
Ian Pearson, BT's official futurologist, has measured the flow of impulses from the optical nerve and nerves in the skin, tongue, ear, and nose. Over an eighty year life, we process 10 terrabytes of data, equivalent to the storage capacity of
7,142,857,142,860,000 floppy disks.
Dr. Pearson said, "If current trends in the miniaturization of computer memory continues at the rate of the past 20 years - a factor of 100 every decade - today's 8-megabyte memory chip norm will be able to store 10 terrabytes in 30 years."
British Telecom would not divulge how much money it is investing in the project, but Dr. Winter said it was taking 'Soul Catcher
2025' very seriously. He admitted that there were profound ethical considerations, but emphasized that BT was embarking on this line of research to enable it to remain at the forefront of communications technology.
"An implanted chip would be like an aircraft's black box and would enhance communications beyond current concepts," he said. "For example, police would be able to use it to relive an attack, rape, or murder from the victim's viewpoint to help catch the criminal."
Other applications would be less useful but more frightening. "I could even play back the smells, sounds, and sights of my holiday to my friends," Dr. Winter said.
Informant: Vona Marengo
The End of Death: 'Soul Catcher' Computer Chip Due...
By Robert Uhlig
The Electronic Telegraph (England)
A computer chip implanted behind the eye that could record a person's every lifetime thought and sensation is to be developed by British scientists.
"This is the end of death," said Dr. Chris Winter, of British Telecom's artificial life team. He predicted that within three decades it would be possible to relive other people's lives by playing back their experiences on a computer. "By combining this information with a record of the person's genes, we could recreate a person physically, emotionally and spiritually."
Dr. Winter's team of eight scientists at BT's Martlesham Heath Laboratories near Ipswich calls the chip the 'Soul Catcher.' It would be possible to imbue a new-born baby with a lifetime's experiences by giving him or her the Soul Catcher chip of a dead person, Dr. Winter said. The proposal to digitize existence is based on a solid calculation of how much data the brain copes with over a lifetime.
Ian Pearson, BT's official futurologist, has measured the flow of impulses from the optical nerve and nerves in the skin, tongue, ear, and nose. Over an eighty year life, we process 10 terrabytes of data, equivalent to the storage capacity of
7,142,857,142,860,000 floppy disks.
Dr. Pearson said, "If current trends in the miniaturization of computer memory continues at the rate of the past 20 years - a factor of 100 every decade - today's 8-megabyte memory chip norm will be able to store 10 terrabytes in 30 years."
British Telecom would not divulge how much money it is investing in the project, but Dr. Winter said it was taking 'Soul Catcher
2025' very seriously. He admitted that there were profound ethical considerations, but emphasized that BT was embarking on this line of research to enable it to remain at the forefront of communications technology.
"An implanted chip would be like an aircraft's black box and would enhance communications beyond current concepts," he said. "For example, police would be able to use it to relive an attack, rape, or murder from the victim's viewpoint to help catch the criminal."
Other applications would be less useful but more frightening. "I could even play back the smells, sounds, and sights of my holiday to my friends," Dr. Winter said.
Informant: Vona Marengo
Omega - 12. Apr, 15:59
