Science Fiction
Dictionary
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
 |
French Billboards Call Your Cellphone
In the next few weeks, cellphone users in Paris will receive some unusual phone calls. Once these consumers have opted in to this special trial, billboards will call them with additional information and opportunities via their location-enabled cellphones.
The technology was developed by the government-run French National Institute for Research in Computer Science and Control, known by its French initials Inria. The small transmission boxes were originally developed to provide information and assistance to disabled people.
According to Albert Asseraf, director of strategy, research and marketing at JCDecaux, the outdoor-advertising company behind the project:
According to Jean-Paul Edwards, the London-based head of media futures for Manning Gottlieb OMD, the most important aspect of the project is to be sure to get appropriate permission from consumers. The software used for the project allows consumers to specify where they receive messages, as well as the product types they are interested in.
Major problems could arise in an area like a train station or mall where there might be many advertising posters. "You can imagine a nightmare scenario where someone's mobile phone fills up with half a dozen advertising messages each day as they walk across Waterloo Station," said Edwards.
"With this project, we are really starting to create the personalized digital city... We eventually will see a rich dialogue running between mobile phones and what are now uncommunicative objects."
(Tom Cruise gets way too many messages)
This very scenario was enacted in the 2002 movie Minority Report, directed by Stephen Spielberg. In the film, John Anderton (played by Tom Cruise) is trying to unobtrusively walk through a mall, only to be constantly identified and called by wall-mounted advertisements and store windows.
"...Lexus. The road you're on, John Anderton, is the one less traveled""John Anderton! You could use a Guiness right about now."
"Get away, John Anderton... Forget your troubles..."
(Read more about personalized graphic ads from Minority Report)
Here's a similar story about billboards in Belgium sending SMS messages to passers-by. Read more about cellphone calls from billboards at this article from the International Herald.
Scroll down for more stories in the same category. (Story submitted 5/8/2006)
Follow this kind of news @Technovelgy.| Email | RSS | Blog It | Stumble | del.icio.us | Digg | Reddit |
Would
you like to contribute a story tip?
It's easy:
Get the URL of the story, and the related sf author, and add
it here.
Comment/Join discussion ( 1 )
Related News Stories - (" Media ")
'Facetime Facelift' Beautifies Video Chats
Always look your best - on Facetime.
Meeting Wendy Of Wendy's
Wendy of Wendys meet Rondald of McDonald's.
Narrative Science And Phil Dick's Homeostatic Newspaper
'The structure... was once a great homeostatic newspaper, the New York Times.'
BookTrack Adds Sound To Books
I really don't think this is a very good idea. Readers?
Technovelgy (that's tech-novel-gee!) is devoted to the creative science inventions and ideas of sf authors. Look for the Invention Category that interests you, the Glossary, the Invention Timeline, or see what's New.
Science Fiction
Timeline
1600-1899
1900-1939
1940's 1950's
1960's 1970's
1980's 1990's
2000's 2010's
Current News
Natural Gait With Prosthetic Connected To Nervous System
'The leg was to function, in a way, as a servo-mechanism operated by Larry’s brain...'
Woman Marries Computer, Vonnegut's Dream Comes True
'Men are made of protoplasm... Lasts forever.'
Spidery 'Walk Me' Toyota Autonomous Wheel Chair Like Star Wars
Walk along with the emperor.
Dancing Robots Taught Dance Moves
'A clockwork figure would be the thing for you...'
Proof Of Robothood - Not A Person
'Who are you people? - Show 'em.'
Indonesian Clans Battle
'The observation vehicle was of that peculiar variety used in conveying a large number of people across rough terrain.'
The 'Last Mile' In China Crowded With Delivery Robots
Yes, it's a delivery robot. On wheels.
Tornyol Microdrone Kills Mosquitoes
'The real border was defended by... a swarm of quasi-independent aerostats.'
PLATO Spacecraft, Hunter Of Habitable Planets, Now Ready
'I ... set my automatic astronomical instruments to searching for a habitable planet.'
Factory Humanoid Robots Built By Humanoid Robots
'...haven't you a section of the factory where only robot labor is employed?'
iPhone Air Fulfils Jobs' Promise From 2007 - A Giant Screen!
'... oblongs were all over the floor and surfaces.'
ChatGPT Now Participates in Group Chats
'...the city was their laboratory in human psychology.'
iPhone Pocket All Sold Out!
'A long, strong, slender net...'
Did The Yautja Have These First?
What a marvel of ingenuity the little device was!
Jetson ONE Air Races Begin, Can Air Polo Be Far Behind?
'If you're one of those rarities who haven't attended a rocket-polo "carnage", let me tell you it's a colorful affair.'
Will Space Stations Have Large Interior Spaces Again?
'They filed clumsily into the battleroom, like children in a swimming pool for the first time, clinging to the handholds along the side.'
