Posted by ljmacphee on May 19, 2008 under artificial intelligence in the news | 
You realize that that ‘every click you make, every link you take’ they are watching you. How many times have you Googled ‘cars’ and had nothing but auto ads show up on every site you visit for a month?
Not content to track your clicks and websites neuromarketers are taking things to a whole new level and tracking the firing neurons in your brain.
Neuroscience and marketing had a love child a few years back. Its name - big surprise - is neuromarketing, and the ugly little fellow is growing up. Corporate pitchmen have always wanted to get inside our skulls. The more accurately they can predict how we’ll react to stimuli in the marketplace, from prices to packages to adverts, the more money they can pull from our pockets and transfer to their employers’ coffers.
. . .
But thanks to recent breakthroughs in brain science, companies can now actually see what goes on inside our minds when we shop. Teams of academic and corporate neuromarketers have begun to hook people up to functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) machines to map how their neurons respond to products and pitches. . . . [ read more Neuromarketing could make mind reading the ad-man's ultimate tool ]
fMRI’s got off to a rough start in the mind reading business. While each individual could be mapped, we’re all different. The neuron that lights up in my brain when I see a chair is not the neuron that lights up in your brain when you see a chair. Lucky for us or we’d all have to take fMRIs to get on airplanes.
But when it comes to brain patterns for anticipation, happiness, etc patterns in brains are easily picked out by fMRIs and tend to be the same across us all.
Subliminal advertising is illegal in the UK. But it still legal in the US and despite many reports it has no effect on us, recent studies show it does effect us. So should neuromarketing be legal? If it is not legal how do we prevent its use? And if it works well for soda manufacturers how long before the government starts using it?
Papers:
Neural Predictors of Purchases ( pdf)
More information:
Neuromarketing blog
Marketing to your mind ( TIME )
Posted by ljmacphee on May 15, 2008 under artificial intelligence in the news, robotics |
Survival research labs creates real life battle bots for robot wars that are performed live. SLR’s tagline is ‘Producing the most dangerous shows on earth’.
. . . “He’s trying to create a strong message about fear,” said Dr. Ken Goldberg, an associate professor of robotics at the University of California at Berkeley. “That’s what Mark is doing, igniting fear in the audience, with flying metal.”
While the use of what has become known as “Whitman’s tower” might be offensive to the sensibilities of the locals, what has consistently gotten Pauline in trouble over his 23-year career is his penchant for creating large, potentially lethal robots under the guise of modern performance art.
His group was recently banned from Japan after unveiling the pitching machine — a device with two rotating tires and the end of a funnel, which normally throws baseballs and softballs, that now hurls two-by-fours at 150 mph.
Just hours before the Austin Fire Marshall would run Pauline and his merry group of 60 out of town for violations — such as shooting 20-foot walls of flame toward hundreds of people, setting off rockets, and creating a general disturbance, the man stood silent -– his mission accomplished. . . [ read more Igniting Fear with Flying Metal ]
More information:
SRL
SRL Blog
SRL Flickr Set
Survival Research Labs - tribe.net
Video:
SRL YouTube Video
You Tube: Mark Pauline Show
Posted by ljmacphee on May 12, 2008 under artificial intelligence in the news |
We’ve all heard of UAVs. Over in Iraq they have played a huge helping role to US troops. Lesser known is their benefits to scientists exploring ocean life, and the Antarctic. More recently they have begun to show up in the news as ways to patrol the US/Mexico border and the city of Miami.
UAVs have been used along the US Mexico border and are soon to join the Miami police. ( pending FAA approval ) One of the problems we’ve had with Predators used along the border is crashes. FAA approval will depend on whether Miami’s police can convince the FAA they won’t be dropping UAVs on grandma’s car.
A more troubling question that we will have to answer if we allow UAVs over US cities is do we want our police to have weapon laden UAVs? The ones in Miami do not have weapons now but it is just a matter of time before some one finds a good reason to blow up several blocks in a US city. And it is far more likely to be our own guys than any terrorist.
Miami police could soon be the first in the United States to use cutting-edge, spy-in-the-sky technology to beef up their fight against crime.
A small pilotless drone manufactured by Honeywell International (HON.N), capable of hovering and “staring” using electro-optic or infrared sensors, is expected to make its debut soon in the skies over the Florida Everglades.
If use of the drone wins Federal Aviation Administration approval after tests, the Miami-Dade Police Department will start flying the 14-pound (6.3 kg) drone over urban areas with an eye toward full-fledged employment in crime fighting.
“Our intentions are to use it only in tactical situations as an extra set of eyes,” said police department spokesman Juan Villalba.
“We intend to use this to benefit us in carrying out our mission,” he added, saying the wingless Honeywell aircraft, which fits into a backpack and is capable of vertical takeoff and landing, seems ideally suited for use by SWAT teams in hostage situations or dealing with “barricaded subjects.” . . . [ read more Spy in the sky drone sets sights on Miami
More information:
PaparazzI The Free Autopilot, open source auto pilot software
DIY Drones ( in case you want to build your own )
Giz Mag: UAV news
See also:
Powerline urban sentry finds a hack around battery problems