http://www.cnn.com/2006/TECH/ptech/12/28/t...d.ap/index.html
Full Version: Attention Tokyo Shoppers:
| QUOTE |
| TOKYO, Japan (AP) -- Stores in central Tokyo are set to beam news of special offers, menus and coupons to passers-by in a trial run of a radio-tagging system. The Tokyo Ubiquitous Network Project, which launches in the glitzy Ginza district next month, sends shoppers information from nearby shops via a network of radio-frequency identification tags, infrared and wireless transmitters, according to the project's Web site. Shoppers can either rent a prototype reader or get messages on their cell phones. The tags and transmitters identify a reader or phone's location and match it to information provided by shops. RFID uses a tiny computer chip to store data, which are transmitted wirelessly by a tiny antenna to a receiver -- in this case, the reader or the phone. The technology has raised concerns about the erosion of privacy in society. Researchers, for instance, have suggested that a sensor designed by Nike Inc. and Apple Computer Inc. to keep track of running distances could also be used to track runners' whereabouts -- such as by installing readers along running paths. Others worry that tags embedded in clothing could give a retailer valuable details on how long a consumer spends trying on sweaters. But RFID also offers benefits. The chips, embedded in tags, now track pallets in warehouses and let drivers pass toll booths without stopping. Some Japanese schools have installed it to log when students enter and leave -- serving as a warning system for children who skip class. At Ginza, visitors can access maps and tourist information in five languages by bringing the reader close to radio tags on street lamps, according to project official Hiroaki Hajota. "There has been a lot of interest from Ginza's stores," Hajota said. "In the future, we hope the system will be able to target specific types of users with tailored information." The trial, supported by the city of Tokyo and the Transport Ministry, is scheduled to run from January 21 to March 10. |
I agree, but if you factor in the disasters that occured between now & 2070, the tech isn't so much born, it's rediscovered by then.
I'm just waiting for Spam Spam.
"Ever have your 2.5 children asking what's for supper, and you realizing that you don't have anything to answer with? Try SPAM, a delicious canned meat. Comes in many flavors, including Low-Salt Spam, Spam Lite, and Spam Oven Roasted Turkey.
A couple of recipe suggestions:
# Egg, bacon and spam
# Egg, bacon, sausage and spam
# Spam, bacon, sausage and spam"
"Ever have your 2.5 children asking what's for supper, and you realizing that you don't have anything to answer with? Try SPAM, a delicious canned meat. Comes in many flavors, including Low-Salt Spam, Spam Lite, and Spam Oven Roasted Turkey.
A couple of recipe suggestions:
# Egg, bacon and spam
# Egg, bacon, sausage and spam
# Spam, bacon, sausage and spam"
| QUOTE |
| Shoppers can either rent a prototype reader |
Who would pay money to get ads? We get enough for free as it is!
| QUOTE (Drraagh @ Dec 30 2006, 10:47 PM) |
| I'm just waiting for Spam Spam. "Ever have your 2.5 children asking what's for supper, and you realizing that you don't have anything to answer with? Try SPAM, a delicious canned meat. Comes in many flavors, including Low-Salt Spam, Spam Lite, and Spam Oven Roasted Turkey. A couple of recipe suggestions: # Egg, bacon and spam # Egg, bacon, sausage and spam # Spam, bacon, sausage and spam" |
Let's not forget Spam Spam Spam Spam Eggs Bacon Baked Beans Sausage & Spam.
Vikings are optional.
| QUOTE (Slump) | ||
Who would pay money to get ads? We get enough for free as it is! |
Do you know what the real problem with my shopping experience is? Not enough advertisements! I mean, without a steady bombardment of ads how am I, the consumer, supposed to know what to buy, consume, and think? It would be a cold and lonely world without the ads to tell me what products will make me sexy and...*cough* ack, sorry, I just can't do it anymore. Too much bullshit, even for me.
I know people like that. . . and they vote.
| QUOTE (2bit) |
| I know people like that. . . and they vote. |
Terrifying.
| QUOTE (Slump) |
| Who would pay money to get ads? We get enough for free as it is! |
...we already do today by having a a Cable or Sat TV contract.
...which is just one reason I do not have Cable or Sat TV.
I don't know how many people actually have read the story 'The Girl Who Was Plugged In', but part if the theme is that it became illegal to advertise products. So, you don't have commercials anymore. However, that raises a problem; if you don't see products being advertised, how do you know what's out there and if they're any good? Word of mouth. You know someone who uses something, so you then buy that brand or that product because if they're using it and they like it, it is good.
So, now just picture that; word of mouth selling products, but how does that chain get started? Maybe it's a brand you saw in a tv show? But what if two TV shows use two different brands? Or if the company can't afford to get their product on TV? People wouldn't buy things, new inventions would get lost, it would be the end to the society as we know.
That's where the Beautiful People come in. Biosculpted people to look as beautiful as ever, these people are on a corporate payroll to show off the things that they've bought; to basically be walking advertisements. Celebrities who you want to be like, so you buy what they buy, eat what they eat, and all that.
I am almost thinking that might be better in some ways than the cyberpunk sort of advertising world. Blimps flying through the city with advertisments for perfumes; whole sides of buildings covered with a TV screen to tell you do drink Coke and to eat rice balls; walkways that barrage our senses with ads catered to us by scanning our retinas.... Or a world where people are marketing sheep, following the herd. If nothing else, it'll be a) less clutter and noise everywhere and b)No interrupted TV broadcasts.
So, now just picture that; word of mouth selling products, but how does that chain get started? Maybe it's a brand you saw in a tv show? But what if two TV shows use two different brands? Or if the company can't afford to get their product on TV? People wouldn't buy things, new inventions would get lost, it would be the end to the society as we know.
That's where the Beautiful People come in. Biosculpted people to look as beautiful as ever, these people are on a corporate payroll to show off the things that they've bought; to basically be walking advertisements. Celebrities who you want to be like, so you buy what they buy, eat what they eat, and all that.
I am almost thinking that might be better in some ways than the cyberpunk sort of advertising world. Blimps flying through the city with advertisments for perfumes; whole sides of buildings covered with a TV screen to tell you do drink Coke and to eat rice balls; walkways that barrage our senses with ads catered to us by scanning our retinas.... Or a world where people are marketing sheep, following the herd. If nothing else, it'll be a) less clutter and noise everywhere and b)No interrupted TV broadcasts.
| QUOTE (Drraagh) |
| That's where the Beautiful People come in. Biosculpted people to look as beautiful as ever, these people are on a corporate payroll to show off the things that they've bought; to basically be walking advertisements. Celebrities who you want to be like, so you buy what they buy, eat what they eat, and all that. |
Abercrombie & Fitch has been doing this for years. They go to campuses, spot the hottest male and female Greeks, and pay them to wear their clothes and tell others about how cool they are.
As for the earlier query about who would actually pay to receive advertising, here in Japan some of the top selling magazines on the racks are essentially mail order catalogs. They are dressed up to look like fashion magazines, and cost about the same.
...just like some of those "Geek" mags in the 90s, and the Sunday Paper (at least where I live). Seems like 95% of the content was ads.
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