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Real-World Hyperlinks 322

Posted by CmdrTaco from the click-on-this dept.
RunAmuk writes "Wired is reporting about being able to "Point and click your mobile phone at a poster in London movie theaters this July and you'll be able to directly access the movie's Web page." While there are many practical uses for this technology, like in museums as the article suggests." I'd like to use it at video rental places and CD stores to get product reviews.
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Real-World Hyperlinks More

Real-World Hyperlinks

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  • Oooooh! (Score:5, Funny)

    by aborchers ( 471342 ) on Thursday July 10, 2003 @02:25PM (#6408664) Homepage Journal
    A long-range Cue Cat!

  • Still no cure for cancer... (Score:5, Funny)

    by hendridm ( 302246 ) * on Thursday July 10, 2003 @02:26PM (#6408670) Homepage

    Send pictures, check your e-mail, surf the Internet, and instantly pull up movie reviews!*

    ...

    *Note: Requires $10 activation fee, you must upgrade to the $59.99/month package, and you will be charged $0.39/minute for every minute you go over your already worthless amount of daytime minutes.

    • Spam escapes from the computer (Score:5, Insightful)

      by yintercept ( 517362 ) on Thursday July 10, 2003 @02:48PM (#6408846) Homepage Journal
      Why would they have to charge for this? With this new technology, Spam and popup ads will finally be able to escape from the computers into the community at large where they can really wreak havoc.

      People think billboards are sight pollution, well, we ain't seen nothing yet. Ten years from now, you won't be able to walk down a city street without a bombardment of media messages.

      Just like the Internet, all these media messages will be free!!!!
    • Wasn't cancer cured years ago, but the treatment is more profitable so nobody knows about it?

      No wait, Medicine Man flashback...nevermind.

  • RFID (Score:2, Insightful)

    by frieked ( 187664 ) *
    Is it me or does this seem like nothing more than making a movie poster an RFID and a cellphone a portable reader?

    • Re:RFID (Score:5, Funny)

      by pVoid ( 607584 ) on Thursday July 10, 2003 @02:49PM (#6408847)
      I find it funny that all the replies to this post somehow are tinted with the idea that the original post was being paranoid about RFID.

      Pavlov would have a field day on this site... you guys hear the bell "RFID" and you can't help but start salivating.

      I think the parent post was just pointing out the simplicity in such a gadget - not its invasion of your so precious privacy.

  • Hmmm.. (Score:3, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 10, 2003 @02:27PM (#6408678)
    While there are many practical uses for this technology, like in museums as the article suggests.

    The submitter's phone must have rang while he was typing and hit the submit button prior to sentence completetion. That, or he has ADD.

  • P2P networks (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 10, 2003 @02:27PM (#6408679)
    I'd like to use it at video rental places and CD stores to get product reviews.

    You must be new to the Internet.

    • Re:P2P networks (Score:2, Interesting)

      by DogFog ( 526983 )
      Using the internet AT the CD/rental place is the problem though... sure you could have your wireless LAN and PocketPC and whatever but just pointing your cellphone is so much easier.
  • I'd like to use it at video rental places and CD stores to get product reviews.

    But would you be willing to pay for that kind of data? I know I would not...
    • Nice idea, but I ain't gonna pay for it. These things are nickel and diming me to death as it is. $X/month for broadband, $Y/month for cell phone, $Z/month for slashdot subscription...

      There reaches a point (for everyone) eventually where enough is enough! My tolerance ends well before something like this.

    • offtopic, but I liked your pictures, especially the black and white infared ones.
    • .. and why not use the browsers(there are better options than the inbuilt for 7650/3650) for browsing imdb?

      sure it takes a bit of a work to press some buttons for 10-20 secs.. but it's HERE RIGHT NOW. and doesn't cost besides the data and for data there are very affordable and usable rates now.

      hmm.. but i would have to stop constant irc'ing for few minutes while at the rental... that's no good- i need my fix!-

  • this better not replace what's already at museums! (Score:5, Insightful)

    by garcia ( 6573 ) * on Thursday July 10, 2003 @02:30PM (#6408705)
    For example, it could be used in museums and galleries, where visitors could download high-quality audio and visual content about exhibits.

    Will this hinder museums from adding both visual and audio cues to their exhibits? I personally think that cell phones should be banned in public places such as museums and this will just encourage Joe to hop on his cell phone and chat with Mary while I am trying to enjoy some peace and quiet.

    I saw some really interesting usages of computers in museums (like here [pjrc.com], I realise this is more of a piece of art, but you get the idea).

    Keep the cell phones out and enjoy getting away from things that you see and use everyday.

    Just my worthless .02
    • this will just encourage Joe to hop on his cell phone and chat with Mary

      Yeah, I hate that Joe. He's really an inconsiderate bastard!

    • Will this hinder museums from adding both visual and audio cues to their exhibits?

      Unfortunately, most people never go to a museum anyway, so I can't imagine anyone wanting to spend an extraordinary amount of money updating a museum that only a very few enlightened souls will see.

      I personally think that cell phones should be banned in public places such as museums and this will just encourage Joe to hop on his cell phone and chat with Mary while I am trying to enjoy some peace and quiet.

      Who said you
    • I agree entirely. I think cell phone conversations should be banned in public places such as museums. I don't care much for the cell phone being there or not, I just don't want to have to listen to someone talk.

      Regardless, I wouldn't want this for a museum anyway. I don't want to have any insight, aside from maybe a bit of conversation from friends, regarding art.

      I gain my own opinions, connotations, and feeling regarding art without anyone force feeding how I should feel. I honestly don't quite get an ex

  • Love the hackability.. (Score:5, Funny)

    by grub ( 11606 ) <slashdot@grub.net> on Thursday July 10, 2003 @02:30PM (#6408708) Homepage Journal

    Oh this would be such fun to hack..

    Child: Daddy, what's that "Finding Nemo 2" about?
    Father: Let's look on our phone, son.
    >clicky click click
    Father: Hmm.. it appears to be about a man stretching his bottom wide open.

  • Are you kidding? (Score:5, Funny)

    by cK-Gunslinger ( 443452 ) on Thursday July 10, 2003 @02:31PM (#6408711) Journal
    I'd like to use it at video rental places and CD stores to get product reviews.
    Are you kidding? Consumers with the power to make instant informed decisions? The (music/movie/software/etc) industry would sh*t a brick!

    • Re:Are you kidding? (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Alpha_Traveller ( 685367 ) on Thursday July 10, 2003 @02:48PM (#6408845) Homepage Journal
      No, they aren't kidding. The industry is not going to be afraid of that if the review site is owned by the same company making the movie, which I guarantee will be the case. Every movie distributor will want a piece of the action to make sure the information you see and hear about THEIR movie is exactly what you should be hearing (in their minds). They will *pay* for that priviledge. And if your cell minutes are used to do this, so will you.

    • Re:Are you kidding? (Score:2, Interesting)

      by stratjakt ( 596332 )
      Informed opinions?

      Yeah I'm sure the publishers are going to link their products to objective reviews - even if they are bad.

      So why not use your www enabled phone to google your own reviews? Well, that type of thing has been out for months now - we need something hot and new!

      It'll just be all the same hype on the back of the box - for pinheads who want to read it on something electronic for a couple bucks a pop. Or perhaps are too lazy to turn the box over.

      This isn't an article or news of course. Just

    • I'd like to use it at video rental places and CD stores to get product reviews.

      Are you kidding? Consumers with the power to make instant informed decisions?

      The only way I'd consider these movie reviews to help me making informed decisions would be if those hyperlinks are pointing towards the relevant entry at this site! [cndb.com]

      GMD

    • I'm sorry. Putting shit on a CD amongst other decent singles you hear on the radio is a copyright protection device. Using your cellphone to find out about it before you buy is a violation of the DMCA and it will destroy the music industry. We'll be lobbying congress to punish all consume^H^H^H^H^H^H thieves and we'll see you in court

      Sincerely,
      Hillary Rosen

  • Pop-Ups? (Score:5, Funny)

    by retto ( 668183 ) on Thursday July 10, 2003 @02:31PM (#6408712)

    Point and click your mobile phone at a poster in London movie theaters this July and you'll be able to directly access the movie's Web page.

    Is some guy wearing a sign going to jump in front of me and start blathering on about casinos or cheap travel discounts?

    • Re:Pop-Ups? (Score:5, Funny)

      by st0rmshad0w ( 412661 ) on Thursday July 10, 2003 @02:41PM (#6408789)
      Hmmm, or how about maybe a guy in a goofy butterfly outfit putting you in a headlock if you try to show the info on an 'R' rated film to some kid?

      Ahhh, parental controls....

      • Or how about a guy in a monkey suit running around with a sign reading "Zap the monkey!"

        If anything, that would cause a spike in the sales of cattle prods and tazers

      • > a guy in a goofy butterfly outfit putting you in a headlock if you try to show the info on an 'R' rated film

        I saw one of those MSN commercials and it kinda' scared me what they block out as "harmful." Like rap music?
    • I suspect that this will lead to eBates paradise (or is that purgatory?). When you walk through the grocery store, your cell phone will be ringing up with ads for the competitor's store.

      To protect themselves from the ads, stores will start adding jamming devices for cell phones, and all sorts of cool technologies will evolve as advertisers find ways to become even more intrusive.

      When ad companies get their grubby little hands on this technology, they will be able to quickly decrease the quality of life


    • Is some guy wearing a sign going to jump in front of me and start blathering on about casinos or cheap travel discounts?

      I'd love to be there the first time someone gets the "punch the monkey" ad.

  • I saw the *applications* described in the articles, but reallistically, how much time does that save? Yes, you are taken directly to the web page, thus providing a measure of convenience of not navigating to the page yourself, but I can't see widespread use of this technology for the applications mentioned. To me, any review of a movie, which you are sent to by those advertising the movie, has to be at least a bit biased.

    Besides. . .who wants more ads?

  • It seems like more tech than needed. (Score:4, Insightful)

    by mikeophile ( 647318 ) on Thursday July 10, 2003 @02:33PM (#6408735)
    Many newer cell phones have GPS and web capability.

    Wouldn't it be easier to visit a website set up for this purpose and send the locational data to get a lookup of everything posted for those coordinates?

    That way, we wouldn't be limited to the information that was paid for in the case of a movie theater being linked to the "official" site.

    Actual reviews could be posted, dare I say, moderated upon as well?

  • Could you point it at a cute chick and get her phone number?

    Would make a trip to the bar way more efficient. No need for all that drink buying and small talk.

  • I don't know about you. (Score:5, Insightful)

    by headbulb ( 534102 ) on Thursday July 10, 2003 @02:34PM (#6408737)
    But when I leave the computer I don't really wanna take it with me. I don't wanna phone that can get internet. I want a phone that is simple... I have a dad that has a pda, digital camera, gps. Its beyond annoying when you have to stop because someone in your group has to check the gps corodanites for the place you are at. Technology is great, But so is this world. Lets enjoy the world and technology, But make sure that we have a balance. If your balance is take your pda everywhere with you then thats your choise.
    • I agree - unless the technology is used to help enjoy the world. For example - working on code via VPN while sitting in a park along the river is a *lot* nicer than in the office. But taking your laptop and GPS device so you can see exactly where in the middle of nowhere on I40 you are at all times is annoying. Having the phone to plan to meet up so you can catch a movie starting in 12 minutes is great. Sitting on the train discussing your family reuinion with your parents is annoying. There is a time

    • But when I leave the computer I don't really wanna take it with me. etc.

      This bugs me. If this technology doesn't interest you, why post in a discussion about it?

      I mean, leading a balanced life is good, obviously. Of course, it's insightful. Maybe it's even "news for nerds," at least those nerds who have no life outside their nerd-life.

      But I propose we avoid this kind of comment - it could be posted on almost every news story that comes up on Slashdot. It amounts to little more than "I hate this

    • ummm
      if my fone has a pda and gps in it already
      and is no extra burden to have
      and i already need to carry my fone
      then it is good

  • Sounds familiar (Score:2, Redundant)

    by Quixote ( 154172 )
    Hmm... I wonder if it will fare better than that feline, :::Cue::Cat::: [google.com] ?

    I wonder if there is a market out there for such 'convergence' devices?

  • I'm gonna have a transmitter on me so that whenever someone points their mobile phone at me, it'll say "Take the red pill". :)

  • Possible uses (Score:4, Funny)

    by JoeCotellese ( 126966 ) <joe.cotellese@net> on Thursday July 10, 2003 @02:35PM (#6408753) Homepage
    I'd like to use it to point at a CD and get it queued in Kazaa.

  • Why does my phone keep beeping? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by curtisk ( 191737 ) on Thursday July 10, 2003 @02:36PM (#6408759) Homepage Journal
    How are the phones choosing what to "receive", point and "click"? thats a little vague. And what happens if someone slams a bunch (of different ones) up on a wall, which tag, or do you get them all? Who will administer all these tags? Can coke go around and plop them on pepsi billboards? Can a prankster (heheh) make some to well, in essense spam users with their messages? It sounds like a cool idea, but the implementation issues sound potentially horrible.

  • Better use (Score:5, Funny)

    by Lt Razak ( 631189 ) on Thursday July 10, 2003 @02:36PM (#6408763)
    I'd like to point and click on a girl walking buy, and having www.XXXgirlnextdoor.com or www.milf.com pop up, showing the nekkid details.

  • phones on ... great (Score:2, Insightful)

    by Ian 0x57 ( 688051 )
    Just what I need, people turning their phones ON in the theater. The last thing we need is encouragement to bring more phones.

  • Make it better?! (Score:3, Funny)

    by geekmetal ( 682313 ) <vkeerthy@gmail.cAAAom minus threevowels> on Thursday July 10, 2003 @02:39PM (#6408777) Journal
    "Looking even further ahead, Hypertag will use visual recognition, so phone users can point their phone at a magazine or newspaper article and be linked to a Web page, and even sound," said Morgan. "Using sound would allow TV viewers to access related Web pages by pointing and clicking their phone at the television.

    So that we can read painfully from our cell phone screens instead of reading the printed material? Hmm.. Wonder how further they think they will go..

  • Not a new concept (Score:3, Informative)

    by Mwongozi ( 176765 ) <slashthree AT davidglover DOT org> on Thursday July 10, 2003 @02:39PM (#6408786) Homepage
    AT&T UK's research division (the same people who took over the VNC project) have been exploring similar ideas within buildings in the Sentient Computing Project [att.com].

  • I bet retailers will fight tooth and nail... (Score:5, Funny)

    by FatSean ( 18753 ) on Thursday July 10, 2003 @02:41PM (#6408792) Homepage Journal
    No longer would consumers be fooled by packaging and out-of-context reviews! All the crap merchandise would have to be reduced to their actual value. "Top Gun" will sell for $3 on DVD.
  • Then when you go shopping, you can get Consumer Reports info, or in the grocery store, you can get specific dietary information.

  • [snide] Fair and Balanced [ /snide] on your phone. (Score:3, Insightful)

    by switcha ( 551514 ) on Thursday July 10, 2003 @02:46PM (#6408826)
    I'd like to use it at video rental places and CD stores to get product reviews.

    I'm sure that the rollout of that would never involve the media companies signing on (or walking across the hall) with the phone companies to control that content.

    "This 'Cell-O-Matic' review of this fine MGM movie, brought to you by...MGM"

  • hmmm - a better use (Score:5, Funny)

    by Tumbleweed ( 3706 ) on Thursday July 10, 2003 @02:48PM (#6408835)
    Howzabout I point the thing at a pretty girl, and it reads her RFID tags and tells me what her blog URL is...now *that's* an 'enabling technology'! :)

  • The real usage (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Torgo's Pizza ( 547926 ) on Thursday July 10, 2003 @02:48PM (#6408836) Homepage Journal
    It's hard enough
    to read the current
    text on my cell phone
    that has a screen no
    wider than this mess
    age. I can't imagine
    reading lengthy discuss
    ions of art works and
    paintings on a cell
    phone. I think my thumb
    would break from hitting
    the scroll button const
    antly.

  • Logistics & Supply Chain Management Apps (Score:3, Interesting)

    by HighOrbit ( 631451 ) on Thursday July 10, 2003 @02:48PM (#6408837)
    Put one of these on a shipping container, a box, or a pallet and then tie the returned webpage to a back-end database and you could have a killer app for transportation manifests and shipping invoices.
  • Get pr0n via strip club adverts.

  • Good idea (Score:3, Funny)

    by stud9920 ( 236753 ) on Thursday July 10, 2003 @02:49PM (#6408851)
    ...because everyone should leave his GSM online when in the cinema.
  • Assuming the technology can be implemented without problems (which it should), I still see tons of launch problems.

    Unless this can be launched in a big way, it won't be very useful. Users with enhanced cell phones / other viewers, will be frustrated with a lack of content to browse, and much content will go unviewd by people lacking compatible browsers. Even if the people have usable browsers, and the content is available, most of the population won't bother to learn how to use it. I mean, how many peop

  • Reviews (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Mikey-San ( 582838 ) on Thursday July 10, 2003 @02:51PM (#6408865) Homepage Journal
    As a few funny posts have pointed out, you'll never see reviews for products in the stores, and if you /do/ see them, you aren't going to see the really terrible reviews--accurate, perhaps, but still bad, so their accuracy is irrelevant--in the store next to the aisle where you'll find said reviewed product.

    Not to take the opportunity to take a shot at Microsoft (seriously), but IE does something in the same mindset. Rather, it doesn't do something:

    It doesn't block pop-up windows. Why? Advertising is what would be blocked, and Microsoft wants more people to advocate its browser. If company A has a product that company B is going to hide or recommend you don't touch, company A won't care about company B's method of delivery.

    Capitalism(tm): Pro-consumer all the way!*

    *void in the real world

    • Capitalism(tm): Pro-consumer all the way!*

      *void in the real world

      I don't think capitalism is the problem here. The problem is that big and/or unscrupulous companies are ganging up on consumers, and consumers aren't pissed off enough yet to hurt them financially. (Then again, maybe we are hurting them and that's why we're in a recession...I know I've drastically cut my spending in the past three years.) In some cases the big companies lobby government for protection, too, but that is also controllable once

  • Music recognition service in the UK (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Peter Cooper ( 660482 ) on Thursday July 10, 2003 @02:53PM (#6408879) Homepage Journal
    There is an interesting system just launched in the UK where you dial a number on your phone, then hold your phone up to the source of the music for thirty seconds. It hangs up, and then messages you back with the name of the song, if it can work it out. This return message then costs you 25p for the trouble.

    It's automated, but gawd knows how it does it. That has to be some seriously clever software doing music detection. Either way, I figured it's yet another 'real world' hyperlink example.

    Unfortunately the name of the service escapes me, although it's advertised regularly on London's KISS FM. Does anyone else here know about this? I believe you can access the service by 'using the numbers down the middle of your phone..' 2580, perhaps? Just goes to show how good radio advertising really is! Ha! :-)
    • It's automated...

      How do you know it's automated? For all you know, there's some room of people huddled around a bank of phones each with a computer. You know, the guys who work at the music stores who serve the same function? What do they call those guys?
    • Clever?

      No, don't think so, we have the same service here in norway (actually had it for quite some time now), all it does is to compare against playlists in radio stations to get which tracks that are on air when you call them and then compare the recorded 30 seconds from your mobile with one of the songs and send you an quick sms back.. voila!
  • of this article [slashdot.org].

    They change the words and no one catches it..

    • Re:Sort of repeat... (Score:4, Insightful)

      by Adam Schumacher ( 267 ) on Thursday July 10, 2003 @03:14PM (#6409018) Homepage
      Except that it is a different product with different technologies made by a different company with different functions.

      The system in the article you reference is based on the location of the phone, whereas the system in this article is based on the location of the tag.

      Amazing what you can learn from reading the article, eh?
  • get product reviews

    Forget product reviews, comparing prices are the application.

    [shopkeeper]
    So, I am going to let you into my store with your mobile, so that you can check to see if my prices are lower two doors away...

    Riiiiiiight.
    [/shopkeeper]

  • Wouldn't this be a single geeks dream come true? (Score:4, Funny)

    by linuxrunner ( 225041 ) on Thursday July 10, 2003 @03:01PM (#6408944)
    Walk down the street and point and click at every attractive woman you meet...

    click > Married
    click > Single but attached
    click > Looking for an orgy with the next man that asks

    Now we know what was on the mind of the guy who created this....

  • something like this in your own home. I mean, you could have something hooked up to your computer, where all you would need to do is swipe a reader over a product bar-code, and pull up a webpage for more information about that product. Wouldn't that be neat?? After all, everyone wants even more marketing hype than they're already exposed to, right?

    Hell, you could shape it like some animal so it'd look cute next to your mouse; say... a cat.

    Hey, wait a minute......

  • Damn them all to hell.

    "Hey let's go to the movies!"
    "Good idea, don't forget your cellphone!"

    Remember, only 5% of the population is capable of turning their cellphone sounds/ringers off. Encouraging people to bring cellphones into movie theaters, museums, etc., is about the dumbest idea I've ever heard. But it might sell a product, so there's no stopping it.
  • This [website101.com] sounds [compukiss.com] familiar [computer-society.org] . Where [cuecat.com] have [davidicke.net] I [accipiter.org] heard [geocities.com] these [cox.net] claims [byte.com] before [ev1.net] ?

    (Pardon if any of these links are going stale.)

  • Wake me up when there are realworld symbolic links!

  • An actually useful location-based service (Score:4, Informative)

    by higgins ( 100638 ) on Thursday July 10, 2003 @03:18PM (#6409040)
    If you're using a computer at CMU (or one of Telerama's wireless hotspots in Pittsburgh), you can find out when the next bus comes near you at bus.maya.com [maya.com]. Perhaps it's not as glamorous as streaming Quicktime movies to your phone, but it's probably more useful ;-) That said, I hope someone solves the location-based services infrastructure problem. The bus hack depends on mapping IP addresses to lat/lons, which is incredibly brittle and evil.
  • I'd like to use it at video rental places and CD stores to get product reviews.

    You mean to say yer buying movies and music these days, Taco? Shame on you!
  • The real world hyperlink is great, but they still have to work on presentation for the web. I've yet to find more than a handful of sites usable on my phone, and even fewer that have worthwhile content in that category.

    Meanwhile, we still have creative directors and PHBs who insist on designing non-liquid websites for IE6 at at least 800px width.
  • "I'd like to use it at video rental places and CD stores to get product reviews"

    I don't understand. Most reviews on any website attached to such a service would be biased. Places like Amazon, its hard to get credible reviews since you don't know the history of the reviewer or have any idea what their motivation is for writing there. The reviewer could be a corporate shmo who's writing the review from an internal memo, never having seen/heard the movie/CD. They could be an incredibly articulate and pu
  • For a bunch geeks, a bunch of people hear such do seem to be hating a potentially cool new technology.

    Sure, maybe these things would hijack your cell-phone, and then the world would end. Somehow I doubt it.

    I think the power would be more in the hands of the consumers. The article talks about infrared communication, not radio frequencies. This means that you would have to establish a direct line of sight link. If I have to point the IR port on my phone at something, I have a great amount of control over that.

    I think a potential area of trouble is who gets to control what links get displayed. But I could see myself walking into a Barnes&Noble and browsing some books. One looks interesting; so I scan the "WebCode" or whatever with my phone. A couple links pop up on my screen, one to the reviews section of B&N.com for the book and one to the publisher.

    Maybe I'm being too trusting, but this idea sounds pretty cool to me.

  • Not today, but tomorrow? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by nicodemus05 ( 688301 ) <nicodemus05@hotmail.com> on Thursday July 10, 2003 @03:31PM (#6409123)
    Not so useful on a cellphone, maybe. But what about the cell phones of tomorrow, the cell phones that double as PDAs and house keys and credit cards? The technology might not be practical now, but it will be. Just as flat screen monitors and laptops are outselling CRTs and desktops, someday PDA/cell combos will rule the market.

    How about pointing your cell phone at a gallon of milk in a grocery store and having it check against the items in your refrigerator to see whether you need more? Better yet, instead of cell phones, what about a device integrated into your clothing? It's very sci-fi, I realize, but isn't that where we're going?

    I guess what I'm saying is that even though this seems silly to us now that doesn't mean it won't become very practical with the advent of more technologies. Sci-fi isn't all impractical, it's a view of a future that may be achievable. Don't knock it.

  • Wasn't there an idea that would embed tech like this in video cameras and the like to prevent people from illictly taping movies at the theater? Although the application as it stands, sounds pritty nifty, it seems that it will be used to enforce IP and copyright laws.

    "Video taping/photographing of this image is unauthorized. Please point your camera away from the image. Shutdown begins in 15 seconds."

    I posted something about this a long time ago, but I can't find it, even though...
    OT: I subscribed tod

  • smartly transferring your economic power (Score:5, Interesting)

    by watchthewatchers ( 684336 ) on Thursday July 10, 2003 @03:36PM (#6409150)
    I'll get to how this ties into the thread shortly... but: We vote on elections that have very little choice. But every day, we vote with our dollars, transferring our economic power to the company that makes/sells the product/service. Boycotts are a way to vote with your $, but here's a much more effective way to do it subtley and daily: Every store (grocery, clothes, car), can have a bar-code (or RFID, or infrared) tag on each item, (or MUCH better for our privacy, can have this tag on the SHELF that contains the item so we don't take it home). And it'd be great if we can point a cell/pda/hand-held device at the shelf, and pull up info on the product. We could each put this product ID into the lookup field on whatever info-providers' websites/db's that are in-line with our values. I.e...Some may choose to find out what the Sierra Club thinks about the product, others may care if the product uses child labor, gives money for or against political causes, etc... This is kind of like a hugely expanded product label explaining contents, etc, but is not limited to what the company wants you to know, but what other data is really out there that you care about. You wouldn't read the label every time you purchase something, but as you are constantly tweaking your purchasing habits, you switch to spending money on feeding businesses in line with your values just like you would tweak your habits to shift towards low-fat or other choices. It's been years that I've been thinking this would be a good idea, and since I don't have the money to patent it and lock out others, I'm putting this idea "open source" on slashdot so any greedy co-opter doesn't lock people out from doing this right. your thoughts?

  • Potential Use: Bookmark Reality (Score:4, Interesting)

    by ruhk ( 70494 ) on Thursday July 10, 2003 @03:45PM (#6409203)
    I don't want to read webpages or anything on my celphone. I don't even CARRY a cell phone. I do carry a PDA though. If I could point my PDA at one of these little tags, and have it capture the URL to a Mozilla bookmarked-tabs list that I could then pull up in mozilla when I get home, I'd be plenty chuffed. If something caught my eye through the day, I could just bookmark it and check it out later when its more convenient.

  • Well we know who will exploit this first (Score:3, Funny)

    by AnalogDiehard ( 199128 ) on Thursday July 10, 2003 @04:54PM (#6409649)
    Adult stores.

    Simply passing by a pr0n shop on the street will set off your cell phone and flood it with text message ads.

    Walk by a topless dance club and you get instant animated ads.

    Browse in the local magazine shop and a text message ad directs you to the "back room".

    Man am I glad I do not carry a cell phone...

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