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by absolutely 2 views

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Some recent discussions of ISPs' presumptuous attitudes as "owners" of their customers' bit streams, especially this one,

https://www.techrepublic.com.com/5208-6230-0.html?forumID=102&threadID=247599&messageID=2386536

have reminded me of a thematically related news story about an even more intrusive method of non-consensual communication with people whose patronage is desired.

http://www.holosonics.com/PR_AE.htm

35 replies

by boxfiddler Hot topic

I'm happy I don't live in Manhattan! That would startle me half to death.

"This is an extremely effective method of making your message stand out in a sea of advertising." (from article)

This is also an extremely effective method of ticking me off enough to never watch the darn program! :)

by tig2

I used to like A&E. They've completely lost my eyes as a result of this.

People are getting very sensitive about what they perceive as intrusion. I don't see this attack on our senses as being a plus.

by absolutely

"I used to like A&E. They've completely lost my eyes as a result of this."

I hope they lose enough voluntary customers to make national headlines, and entirely remove messages that are received without audience consent from marketers' consideration. Having an audience listen to what one says is not part of the First Amendment guarantee to freedom of speech, and as far as I am concerned, the only Constitutional use of this technology is in a museum or similar [u]private[/u] setting, where users know to expect it. Never in public, and never without prior consent.

by faradhi

It used to be a great channel. Now it is the Law and Order and other crap channel.

by dr dij

Futurama had a hilarious episode of Fry dreaming about saving people in his underwear , then woke up and asked his coworkers and they told him it was legal in 3000 to beam subliminal ads at you while dreaming!

(Buy 'Light Speed Briefs' ! :)

by gsg

This would cause me to have a heart attack. I'm easily startled by sound (older sibling, sibling rivalry.... long story), and also don't hear anything other than a white noise "sound blur" in crowds. If a sudden sound blasted out at me from a sea of white noise, I'd jump, scream, probably fall down, and have to change my underpants. Next, I'd be firing off a very snarky letter to the company!

by faradhi

except for the whole scaring the crap out of someone. Although, pay toilets right next to the billboard might be lucrative. But I digress...

The tech that powers this is interesting. Using the air to create directed audible sounds is ingenious.

Of course my admiration for the technology should in no way be construed as support for its manner of use.

by absolutely

I might agree. It was probably non-trivial to devise.

However, my ethical objections so greatly overwhelm my admiration for problem-solving, that I have nothing positive to say for this tool.

by faradhi

to disregard a technology because I disagree with it's initial use.

--edited minor wording change

by techexec2

.
Pssst! Yes! You! This is the NYPD! Pickup that paper you just dropped! The fine for littering is $200!

by techexec2

.
Remember the movie "Minority Report"? In the movie, as you walk through a shopping mall, they had long-distance iris scanners that would determine your identity, look up your [i]~information~[/i] in a database, and the computer generated "human" advertisements displayed on the wall would speak directly to . . . YOU!

"...Hi TechExec! You haven't bought a shirt in 12 months. Shirts are on sale at Macy's today..."

"...Hi TechExec! You really should give Windows Vista another look. It's better now. It's on sale at Circuit City on the 3rd floor today..."

Can you spell C-R-E-E-P-Y?

"Minority Report"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minority_Report_%28film%29

by the scummy one

Hi W2k, your bank account seems a little low today. Are you sure you want to buy that food?

or

Hi W2k, you haven had a pizza in 3 weeks. We have a coupon just for you today at %pizza place%

More Creepy

by absolutely

If I can set the messages, relevant variables and thresholds of each variable, I'm willing to consider this technology.

"abs, you look more like 'luvhandles'! Is that 800 Calorie dinner the right choice?" is OK if [b]I[/b] set # of Calories & the message, sent as reminder to buy veggies, not fried stuff w/cheese, from the freezer aisle today.

by dmambo

I read an article (which I cannot cite) of similar technology used as an artisitc expression in a public park in NYC. The sounds projected then were bird calls. It seems that the birds which had habitated in the park had flown the coop and the artist restored the atmosphere by using this technique.

What scares me most about that scenario is that the average park-goer never had a clue that the birds were piped-in. Use your imaginations and run with that. Who's feeding us what sounds?

by absolutely

Why was this never marketed as a means of having loud music without wearing headphones, and without prompting noise complaints? I know there would be a market for that...

by dumphrey

for this would be military. Who is to say you could not "blanket" someone with this technology to prevent them from hearing noise right arround them, or find a way to reverse the technology to listen in to only one target. Or maybe just amplify the alien mind control signal until heads explode.
But I regress..
I see this as an intrusion into my personal space. Advertising has long since gone to far in attempting to sell us crap. I actually do not watch television at all, and havent in well over 4 years. And I avoid 90% of the trash magazines and their adverts. This technology would make me 1000x less likely to use/purchase the product using the ad-tech.

by faradhi

Librarys, kisoks, Nightclubs/bars in neighborhoods, Interactive displays in museums...

by dumphrey

can get the "directed" sound to drop to say 5hz then you could easily support your pay toilets.

by the scummy one

That was the first thing that hit my mind.
I wonder how long before there is a bad side effect, like a heart attack by an unsuspecting passer by. Or someone freaked out and jumps in front of a car. Or even, someone who is unstable, hears 'voices' and then there really are 'voices' whispering to them.
Could make someone 'lose it'. This seems irresponsible at best, and to force it onto people walking by, well, I wont say anything more, other than to stay away from places that have these signs.

by absolutely

... to have a seemingly psychotic-seeming reaction to this crap.

Suppose you remain fully rational, and recognize, based on previous [b]military experience[/b] that somebody is deliberately f*cking with your mind, for what purpose you cannot determine without your military gear. You're in a jurisdiction w/o cc laws. But f* that, you're a Patriot, and ...

The advertiser & all accomplices are in suc case at fault for provoking the reaction, which, to the victim/perp, is a legitimate defense of any/all Constitutional rights, for which he/she/I have risked life & limb to defend. The reaction is not surprising, outside of the 'prior consent' scenarios which faradhi had noted.

by the scummy one

Ok, I did watch tv sometimes (but not too often) until I moved. Ditched it all together, have no need for it. If I want background noise, I can play a dvd, or a cd.

by boxfiddler Hot topic

Beyond the initial startle the h*ll out of me in the street reaction, I have to wonder just how much more man-made din the urban/suburban population can take before it cracks. That golden silence that helps one to restore inner peace has long been absent from the metro areas. Highways and airports with their attendant racket, the ever present police or fire or ambulance siren in the distance, the near constant babble of unintelligible voices in the street, and for apartment, loft and condo dwellers the 'neighborly noise' which cannot be escaped strike me as detrimental to our long-term ability to maintain sanity and courteous co-existence in large numbers.

I am also curious to know how many 'sheeple' (borrowed from a poster to another topic and completely apt) will simply shrug it off, find it amusing, and simply go on about their daily business without taking affront at the assault on their personal space.

Criminy abs, I'm somewhere in the vicinity of horrified.

by absolutely

boxfiddler: [i]Criminy abs, I'm somewhere in the vicinity of horrified.[/i]

The definitions of 'white noise' and 'pink noise' are generally put in terms of frequencies, bandwidth and uniformity or presence or lack of a pattern. But, experientially, the difference is defined by conformity to or deviation from the [i]listener's expectation[/i]. Chirping birds at Walden Pond, while satisfying the technical definition of 'pink noise,' are after a time disregarded and treated by the listener as 'white noise,' based on their conformity to the listener's expectation, not to frequency distribution according to standard engineering measures.

Quit f*ing around, marketing majors, and learn something productive, not merely inductive.

by boxfiddler Hot topic

I'm a 'boonie baby' and the other half is a total urbanite (don't ask, I haven't a clue :) ). OH can't sleep because of the lack of city style 'white noise' when at my folks - who are so far out in the styx that there truly is no 'un-natural' sound at night. No light either, and while related that is another subject. I, on the other hand am in utter heaven for the duration, hate to leave, and return to the city refreshed and ready (briefly at any rate) to deal with the madness that is city life. All too soon however, the constant assault on my ears of what is after 20+ years not consciously noticeable urban 'white noise' drives me up a wall. If I couldn't blast the stereo with the music that suits me I'd hack off heads at every opportunity. If I couldn't escape to the quiet periodically the stereo wouldn't help.

New sound patterns are being formed in successive generations of urbanite brains, and those patterns are contrary to those which formed over thousands of years of evolution. I suspect (but have never seriously researched the matter) that the more recent man-made pattern is probably not conducive to sanity and health.

It would be interesting to know how many people have never heard the silence that is true booneyville. Not to mention whether or not there is any correlation between that and urban social problems.

Yeah, a too prosaic approach to what is in fact a rather horrifying side effect of man's technology. But I am inclined to prose rather than technicalities...

Marketers. Scum of the earth. People as consumer as object. Just another thing to be manipulated. Bite me adman.

edit typoe -yu'd nevr no I'm a speeling be champ.

by absolutely

I originally found this topic on /. and somebody definitely made some mention of (hypothetical?) value in psy ops. If you want to find that discussion, http://www.slashdot.org then search for 'holosonic.' The first/only hit is the same subject as this thread.

by absolutely

I recognize the implication; physiologically-induced bowel movements.

pure evil

no humor value

no value whatsoever

by nicknielsen

They used to have Breakfast with the Arts, now they show Biography and Private Sessions. At 10, A&E at my house goes off for another week.

by tig2

I believe all if it's content comes from A&E.

Hard to believe that anyone looked at this and thought it was a good idea.

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