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Brand Killer Helmet Blocks Real-Life Ads
Brand Killer is a helmet-mounted webcam that streams the view into a special software program that checks the feed against a database of logos. The program blurs any commercial logos in real-time in the display.
(Brand Killer video)
The system’s shortcomings can be excused, since Brand Killer was built and designed in 48 hours by a group of undergraduate students at the University of Pennsylvania at the university’s PennApps hackathon this month. The helmet itself was built with some cheap hardware, Reed Rosenbluth, one of the students that built Brand Killer, told me.“Some people thought we were using an Oculus Rift or something,” said Rosenbluth, “but we actually constructed our own DIY headset using a webcam, a seven-inch screen we bought on Amazon, and welding goggles.”
Compare Brand Killer to the antiholo generator from John Varley's 1977 novel The Ophiuchi Hotline:
It was a small bracelet, stamped with a number to call for repairs. They were leased, not sold, like a computer terminal. They came in a range of prices and models. Some merely held the holos [ads] at arm's length. Most Plutonians thought this was enough. If you couldn't see the ads, how would you know what was fashionable?The man showed no surprise when Lilo and Vaffa took the heavy-duty Annihilator model.
Via Motherboard and thanks to Frolix_8.
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