Comcast's cable box is watching you

The cable company Comcast is experimenting with different camera technologies built into its devices so it can know who's in the living room.

clipped from killfile.newsvine.com Orwellian Channel Surfing: Comcast Wants To Put Face Recognizing Cameras In Your Cable Box The idea being that if you turn on your cable box, it recognizes you and pulls up shows already in your profile or makes recommendations. If parents are watching TV with their children, for example, parental controls could appear to block certain content from appearing on the screen. Kunkel also said this type of monitoring is the “holy grail” because it could help serve up specifically tailored ads. Yikes. clipped from newteevee.com GigaOM WebWorkerDaily NewTeeVee Earth2Tech FoundRead OStatic Kunkel said the system wouldn’t be based on facial recognition, so there wouldn’t be a picture of you on file (we hope). Instead, it would distinguish between different members of your household by recognizing body forms. He stressed that the system is still in the experimental phase, that there hasn’t been consumer testing, and that any rollout “must add value” to the viewing experience beyond serving ads.

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Newsvine - Orwellian Channel Surfing: Comcast Wants To Put Face Recognizing Cameras In Your Cable Box
Comcast Cameras to Start Watching You? « NewTeeVee
Slashdot | In Soviet US, Comcast Watches YOU

Exmocare -- Emotion technology

A biosensor watch that it tracks vital signs and the emotion of the wearer. Vital alerts are sent directly to email, cell phone, or IM client.

clipped from blog.wired.com Biosensor Wristwatch Aids Elderly ExmoCare is a Bluetooth-enabled biosensor wristwatch for the elderly that allows their caregivers to monitor their health remotely. The device provides automated reports on the subject’s vital signs, including pulse and heart rate, as well as emotional well being, assessing up to 10 different emotions such as agitated, relaxed and worried. clipped from www.exmocare.com Who we are Emotion technology FAQ clipped from www.exmocare.com By interpreting an information-rich, individually-tailored physiological context, we can determine the emotional state of a person wearing an Exmocare device. Emotional information, very simply, can be characterized in two dimensions. Arousal: How excited is the person? Valence: How positive is the person?

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Exmocare - Exmovere, LLC
Exmocare - Personal Wellness Monitoring, Medical Emergency Response Monitoring for Seniors and People with Disabilities, Emotion Detection, Biosensor Development
Biosensor Wristwatch Aids Elderly | Gadget Lab from Wired.com
Exmocare Biosensor Watch To Monitor Emotions - Coolbuzz

Microsoft patents worker monitoring system (2)

clipped from technology.timesonline.co.uk Microsoft seeks patent for office 'spy' software Microsoft is developing Big Brother-style software capable of remotely monitoring a worker’s productivity, physical wellbeing and competence. clipped from angelahayden.blogspot.com Microsoft's Electric Shock System for Sleepy Workers I recommend that they add a system that can shock sleepy workers. I can't tell you how many times the guy in the next cubicle falls asleep and snores on the job. He also makes too many body sounds and always has a running nose. His sniffling is driving me crazy. Microsoft should do something about quelling body noises. Perhaps, Microsoft could just hook workers up to a urine bag and a feeding tube and they could work continuously without any breaks. I also hate thinking on the job so Microsoft should just put a brain implant in workers so they can daydream all day while their brain is doing work.

Related:
LinkNotes: Microsoft patents worker monitoring system

Microsoft patents worker monitoring system

clipped from technology.timesonline.co.uk Microsoft seeks patent for office 'spy' software Microsoft is developing Big Brother-style software capable of remotely monitoring a worker’s productivity, physical wellbeing and competence. clipped from appft1.uspto.gov Monitoring system Abstract The invention relates to a stand-alone video recording, playback and Monitoring system. It has network switches, non-volatile storage devices, IP cameras, video servers, and NTSC cameras. The system uses communication channels that are WAN/LAN based and can be hard-wired or wireless and has a flexibly implemented watchdog to detect, for example, hardware and power failure as well as other failures in the system. clipped from www.foxnews.com Labor unions said they fear that employees could be dismissed on the basis of a computer's assessment of their physiological state. Wireless sensors could read "heart rate, galvanic skin response, EMG, brain signals, respiration rate, body temperature, movement facial movements, facial expressions and blood pressure," the application states.

Related:
The Press Association: New technology to monitor activity
FOXNews.com - Microsoft System May Monitor Workers' Brains, Bodies - Science News | Science & Technology | Technology News
United States Patent Application: 0080005626
Microsoft seeks patent for office 'spy' software - Times Online