Remember the scene from Minority Report where billboards recognize an individual and display ads tailored to his or her preference?
Well, it's inching nearer to reality in Tokyo, Japan:
Digital advertising billboards being trialled in Japan are fitted with cameras that read the gender and age group of people looking at them to tailor their commercial messages.
A consortium of 11 railway companies launched the one-year pilot project last month, and has set up 27 of the high-tech advertising displays in subway commuter stations around Tokyo.
"The camera can distinguish a person's sex and approximate age, even if the person only walks by in front of the display, at least if he or she looks at the screen for a second," said a spokesman for the project.
If data for different locations is analysed, companies can provide interactive advertisements "which meet the interest of people who use the station at a certain time," the project said in a statement.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iDd1xzYx7CaahlxkLnvo4Xtcksug - via Singularity Hub