{"id":17642,"date":"2014-01-07T05:45:05","date_gmt":"2014-01-07T10:45:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/?p=17642"},"modified":"2014-01-06T22:06:21","modified_gmt":"2014-01-07T03:06:21","slug":"the-sensorization-of-consumer-tech","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2014\/01\/the-sensorization-of-consumer-tech\/","title":{"rendered":"The sensorization of consumer tech"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

The big thing out of the annual Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas?\u00a0 Biometrics.\u00a0 Eye-tracking devices to see what ads you pay attention to.\u00a0 Mood-sensing ear buds.\u00a0 Pupil dilation sensors to see how much you are \u201caroused.\u201d\u00a0 And, what I\u2019m trying to get my mind around, bras that analyze brain waves.<\/p>\n

After the jump, read all about it.\u00a0 But then I have some serious questions I want to raise.<\/p>\n

From Cecilia Kang in the Washington Post<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Tablets that measure pupil \u00addilation to determine whether you\u2019re in the mood to watch a horror movie or a comedy.<\/p>\n

Headbands, socks<\/a> and bras that analyze brain waves, heart rates and sweat levels to help detect early signs of disease or gauge a wearer\u2019s level of concentration.<\/p>\n

\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Cars that recognize their owner\u2019s voice to start engines and direct turns and stops, all hands-free.<\/p>\n

This week in Las Vegas at the annual International Consumer Electronics Show<\/a>, or CES, personal technology will get much more personal, with the proliferation of biometric tools to create more-customized online experiences while also testing new boundaries on privacy.<\/p>\n

Once just a niche for fitness buffs and law enforcement officials, the use of biometrics for activity tracking, voice and facial recognition, and fingerprint identification has made its way into mainstream consumer de\u00advices. The trend could represent the next wave of mobile computing after smartphones and weave technology into more aspects of everyday life.<\/p>\n

The explosion of biometric tools has been sparked by an abundance of cheaper sensors and advances in computing technology. Devices embedded into clothing and on wristbands or ear buds allow the tracking of even mundane activities such as cooking, listening to music and reading.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is an inflection point that I call the sensorization of consumer tech,\u201d said Shawn DuBravac, chief economist of the Arlington, Va.-based Consumer Electronics Association, which runs CES. \u201cThis allows the digitization of everyday objects. Anything that we want to digitize we now can, and health and fitness is just one component. Literally, this is where things get into \u2018Minority Report\u2019 territory, because we can embed sensors into so many aspects of our lives.\u201d<\/p>\n

As technology moves deeper into the habits \u2014 and the biology \u2014 of Internet users, the collection and analysis of everything from iris patterns to the unique qualities of a person\u2019s walking style raise fresh questions about privacy, as companies share the information to build more-sophisticated portraits of consumers.<\/p>\n

\u201cBiometric data is personally identifiable information, and the question is how will it be stored and who has access to it,\u201d said Jeramie D. Scott, national security counsel for the Washington-based Electronic Privacy Information Center.<\/p>\n

Revelations of the National Security Agency\u2019s broad and secret surveillance of Internet and phone data has heightened public concerns about privacy. The commercial use of biometrics comes as the FBI and other agencies ramp up collection of biometric information such as fingerprints and facial and voice data. And as more Web-based firms such as Instagram, Apple, Google and Yahoo collect similar data, privacy advocates say consumers may never realize how much sensitive information they are disclosing.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is much incentive to get this valuable information. You can identify an individual with a remarkable level of accuracy just by their gait. And that\u2019s just one example,\u201d Scott said.<\/p>\n

At CES, much of the biometric technology is meant to pique consumers\u2019 imaginations. Voice-guided driverless cars won\u2019t be available for several years. And Microsoft\u2019s stress-detection bras and mood-sensing ear buds are still being nurtured in labs. Many products at the world\u2019s biggest annual electronics show never make it to retail shelves.<\/p>\n

A brain-wave detector, for example, promises to use those signals to gain insights into a person\u2019s level of engagement. Interaxon\u2019s headband<\/a> could presumably tell whether the wearer is bored with a conversation or having trouble focusing on a task. . . .<\/p>\n

\u201cUp until now, everyone thought the smartphone was the key to the cloud, but everyone was wrong. The smartphone is a lock and a very smart lock with lots of sensors,\u201d Taveau said. \u201cYour human body will be your own key, and you will get an extremely customized experience on your device and feel more comfortable doing more on your device than ever before.\u201d<\/p>\n

Beyond security, eye scanning provides valuable behavioral data. Eye-tracking software made by a company called Tobii is used by Google, Amazon and PayPal in focus groups to assess their users\u2019 interests online. By studying someone\u2019s gaze, the firms can tell whether the person ignores banner ads, likes certain colors or naturally tends to look at particular areas of a Web page. One tool reads pupil dilations to judge whether the user is aroused \u2014 valuable information that can be combined with other data to assess mood and interests. Netflix, for instance, could use mood-sensing technology to recommend movies with better accuracy, Tobii said.<\/p>\n

Random thoughts about all of this:<\/p>\n

(1)\u00a0 We tend to get paranoid when the government invades our privacy.\u00a0 Why is it any better when businesses invade our privacy?<\/p>\n

(2)\u00a0 I can see how the mood-sensing, mind-reading technology can benefit advertisers.\u00a0 But how does it benefit consumers?<\/p>\n

(3)\u00a0 Why should people purchase devices that allow advertisers to manipulate them more effectively?<\/p>\n

(4)\u00a0 Does a woman need to wear a special bra to know if she is stressed?\u00a0 Doesn\u2019t she know that already? Wouldn\u2019t wearing such technology make her feel even more stressed than usual?\u00a0 Doesn\u2019t a person know if he or she is in the mood for a horror movie or a comedy?\u00a0 Do we need to wear a headband to determine whether we are bored?\u00a0 Don\u2019t we know if we are, ahem, \u201caroused\u201d?\u00a0 The technology, of course, is designed to tell other people\u2013specifically, people who are trying to sell you something\u2013how you are feeling.\u00a0 But how is that any of their business?\u00a0 And, again, why should you pay for features that allow for that?<\/p>\n

(5)\u00a0 I am aware that the Google Glasses and such will let you look around, conjuring up ads for the restaurants and shops that you are looking at.\u00a0 But do you really need that much help in deciding where to spend your money?\u00a0 Is there a lack of consumer information that this technology is remedying?<\/p>\n

(6)\u00a0 What is the consumer need that these products are meeting?\u00a0 Security, I can see that.\u00a0 But what else?<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p><\/div>\n<\/blockquote><\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The big thing out of the annual Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas?\u00a0 Biometrics.\u00a0 Eye-tracking devices to see what ads you pay attention to.\u00a0 Mood-sensing ear buds.\u00a0 Pupil dilation sensors to see how much you are \u201caroused.\u201d\u00a0 And, what I\u2019m trying to get my mind around, bras that analyze brain waves. After the jump, read […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1281,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[44],"tags":[95,2945,1088,1798],"class_list":["post-17642","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-technology","tag-advertising","tag-biometrics","tag-information-technology","tag-privacy"],"yoast_head":"\nThe sensorization of consumer tech<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The big thing out of the annual Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas?\u00a0 Biometrics.\u00a0 Eye-tracking devices to see what ads you pay attention to.\u00a0\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2014\/01\/the-sensorization-of-consumer-tech\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The sensorization of consumer tech\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The big thing out of the annual Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas?\u00a0 Biometrics.\u00a0 Eye-tracking devices to see what ads you pay attention to.\u00a0\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2014\/01\/the-sensorization-of-consumer-tech\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Cranach\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/cranachblog\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-01-07T10:45:05+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2014-01-07T03:06:21+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Gene Veith\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Gene Veith\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2014\/01\/the-sensorization-of-consumer-tech\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2014\/01\/the-sensorization-of-consumer-tech\/\",\"name\":\"The sensorization of consumer tech\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2014-01-07T10:45:05+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-01-07T03:06:21+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#\/schema\/person\/f9ca8670bcc51908a78994c0484dbfa1\"},\"description\":\"The big thing out of the annual Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas?\u00a0 Biometrics.\u00a0 Eye-tracking devices to see what ads you pay attention to.\u00a0\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2014\/01\/the-sensorization-of-consumer-tech\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2014\/01\/the-sensorization-of-consumer-tech\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2014\/01\/the-sensorization-of-consumer-tech\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The sensorization of consumer tech\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/\",\"name\":\"Cranach\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#\/schema\/person\/f9ca8670bcc51908a78994c0484dbfa1\",\"name\":\"Gene Veith\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/054d79faea5d476edd8f99e5f14fb17f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/054d79faea5d476edd8f99e5f14fb17f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Gene Veith\"},\"description\":\"Gene Edward Veith, Jr. is a writer and retired literature professor, serving as Provost Emeritus at Patrick Henry College. 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