Via Broadband Reports comes this link to tech blogger Chris Albrecht’s interview with Comcast Senior VP Gerard Kunkel, wherein Kunkel says that Comcast is experimenting with putting cameras in their set-top boxes and using some sort of software to recognize specific individuals (though he specifically disclaims using facial recognition software) to “tailor” the viewing experience to whomever is in the room (in other words, make sure that the ads that are shown are customized to your purchasing history).
Everyone who thinks this is a GOOD idea, raise your hands……thought so.
This isn’t the first time the idea of using set-top boxes as detection devices has come around, by the way. Years ago, A.C. Nielsen and Arbitron, the two biggest television ratings services, worked very hard to develop a system that would detect when people were in the room and also try to match their physical profiles to their identities. The idea was that the traditional written diary system of recording who was watching what was quite easily cheated by people who would either forget to note what they watched and try to fill out the diaries later on or would deliberately misrepresent what they were watching to make themselves “look better”. If there was a set-top box that could tell when people entered and left the room and made an instant note of what/when/how long they watched, it would be more accurate. The idea was a little ahead of the technology in the 1980s, and in one case it was discovered that every time one family’s dog sat on the couch it set off the meter.
It’s going to be a long two months waiting for the iPad to actually ship so that all the tech bloggers and their hangers-on will stop writing so much speculative bullshit about iT and turn their attention iNstead to some other thing that’s going to Change Life As We Know iT.
Since you cannot click a [...]
Please, please, PUH-LEEZE stop talking about “What do we call the last decade?” Nobody could come up with an acceptable choice ten years ago, and nobody’s going to come up with one now. “Aughties” and “Naughties” are contrived and stupid, and so is the very idea that anything wraps up all nice and [...]
Thanks to Shelley for alerting me that last night’s edition of the local TV newsmagzine “Chronicle” featured Harvard Humanist Chaplain Greg Epstein, whom I blogged about recently in conjunction with the various atheist billboard campaigns around the country. I was busy helping Charlotte do her homework, so I didn’t watch the show, but WCVB’s [...]
Update to yesterday’s post about boiled eggs:
The picture at the top is what I got by boiling two eggs in 180-degree-ish water for 6 minutes. Sorry for the so-so photo, I only had my cell phone handy.
The eggs were indeed nicely done. The cooked ring of egg white was consistent in its thickness [...]
The newteevee.com article “Comcast Cameras to Start Watching You” portrayed some assumptions that require correction and clarification. I want to be clear that in no way are we exploring any camera devices that would monitor customer behavior.
To gather information for this article, the blogger picked up on a conversation between Gerard Kunkel and another person at a recent conference. They were discussing the various input devices offered by a variety of vendors that Comcast is reviewing.
The camera-based gesture recognition device is in no way designed to – or capable of – monitoring your living room. These technologies are designed to allow simple navigation on a television set just as the Wii remote uses a camera to manage its much heralded gesture-based interactivity.
We are constantly exploring new technologies that better serve our customers. The goal is simple – a better user experience that allows the consumer to get ever increasing value out of their Comcast products.
As with any new technology, we carefully consider the consumer benefits. In fact, we do an enormous amount of consumer testing in advance of making a product decision such as this. We’re confident that a new technology like gesture-based navigation will be fully explored with consumers to understand the product’s feature benefits – and of course, the value to the consumer.
Frank Eliason
Comcast Executive Offices
Yes! Nielsen called it the People (’s Republic of) Meter. Thanks for this story!
Another reason we don’t have cable or watch TV.