5 ms·

Killer app: ambient information, especially face recognition. Think "thought bubble" information appearing over anything you might want to know about. I'm lous

Killer app: ambient information, especially face recognition. Think "thought bubble" information appearing over anything you might want to know about. I'm lousy with names, would be nice to see names over everyone I should know.

crooked-v 7y ago
One line of thought I've pondered here for scifi settings is people being able to share their currently playing music that way, like a tiny virtual radio station.
- jacquesm 7y ago
  Just the other day I was walking down a relatively quiet part of Amsterdam and some guy with a boombox taped to his bike 'shared his currently playing music with me'. It seems that is working just fine already.
  - crooked-v 7y ago
    Consider, for contrast, a crowded bus or subway instead.
    - zeristor 7y ago
      I quite often have to sit next to people watching YouTube videos, or football games with through their speakers; why spend money on ear phones?
- r3trohack3r 7y ago
  For my commute I set the radio to between 91.1 and 93.3. This range tends to be where the default for most Bluetooth and AUX radio broadcasters ends up being set. Arguably an invasion of privacy, but it turns fellow commuters into DJs. I’ve discovered some good music this way. Also lots of static.
  - mathisonturing 7y ago
    Are you saying that if I turn on my phone's radio and set it between 91.1 and 93.3, I'd be able to hear what other people are listening to? Could you elaborate?
    - ilikepi 7y ago
      Nowadays, most new cars offer at least one way of connecting to an external playback device, via Bluetooth or wired auxiliary input or both. A decade ago, though, this was more of a premium feature. Back then, if you wanted to connect your music player or smart phone to your basic stereo, the simplest and least invasive way was a device that plugged into the headphone jack of your device (or alternatively connected to it via Bluetooth) and which broadcast a very low power FM signal. You would the tune your car stereo to the matching frequency, and your device's audio would be piped through the car's speakers. Usually the transmitter provided a way to choose from a list of frequencies so you could pick one not used by any local radio stations. When operating in good conditions, if another car was driving down the road next to you, they could also tune to the same frequency and hear your playback.
NeedMoreTea 7y ago
Then to preserve some semblance of individual privacy that would need each individual you want to display freely opting in and out. Whenever suits them. Whatever is wrong with just asking? Start a conversation, make a friendship...
- eridius 7y ago
  Can you opt out of my brain recognizing your face? Centralized face recognition where a single entity knows everybody a la Facebook would be a dystopian nightmare. Personalized face recognition where everyone has their own instance trained purely on the data they have access to (e.g. Apple's existing Photos face recognition) and only linking that face to the user's Contacts entry for the recognized person, that's not a privacy violation because that's just offloading information from my brain into my personal digital assistant.
  - NeedMoreTea 7y ago
    Personalised but running on a cloud server, controlled by any third party is a step too close. Who's to say they won't retain the biometrics long after you requested they remove the data? The standard HN trope is if it's out there it's never deleted. Trusting any corporate with data, given the last ten years, is never wise. Even Apple, busy marketing the privacy high ground. No doubt someone would make a GDPR case against it though...
wruza 7y ago
>Killer ... see names Nice try, Yagami. But I’ll still take half your life for it. -Ryuk
eridius 7y ago
Face recognition is something I absolutely need. I can't remember people's names for the life of me. If I could train a set of AR glasses to recognize people I've met before and pull up their contact info on the fly, that would be immensely helpful.
peteretep 7y ago
The creepiness factor this could enable would be out of this world ... you could set this up to point out people who you’d swiped on Tinder, cam girls you were planning to harass, people who’d been doxxed and you wanted to confront, etc etc etc. Brave new world.
- judge2020 7y ago
  Assuming the phone and other beacon devices don't just give out its owners info via UWB, and Airdrop isn't in "Everyone" mode, this wouldn't happen.
karmelapple 7y ago
For some negative consequences of this, check out the book Super Sad True Love Story.

crooked-v 7y ago

One line of thought I've pondered here for scifi settings is people being able to share their currently playing music that way, like a tiny virtual radio station.

jacquesm 7y ago
Just the other day I was walking down a relatively quiet part of Amsterdam and some guy with a boombox taped to his bike 'shared his currently playing music with me'. It seems that is working just fine already.
- crooked-v 7y ago
  Consider, for contrast, a crowded bus or subway instead.
  - zeristor 7y ago
    I quite often have to sit next to people watching YouTube videos, or football games with through their speakers; why spend money on ear phones?
r3trohack3r 7y ago
For my commute I set the radio to between 91.1 and 93.3. This range tends to be where the default for most Bluetooth and AUX radio broadcasters ends up being set. Arguably an invasion of privacy, but it turns fellow commuters into DJs. I’ve discovered some good music this way. Also lots of static.
- mathisonturing 7y ago
  Are you saying that if I turn on my phone's radio and set it between 91.1 and 93.3, I'd be able to hear what other people are listening to? Could you elaborate?
  - ilikepi 7y ago
    Nowadays, most new cars offer at least one way of connecting to an external playback device, via Bluetooth or wired auxiliary input or both. A decade ago, though, this was more of a premium feature. Back then, if you wanted to connect your music player or smart phone to your basic stereo, the simplest and least invasive way was a device that plugged into the headphone jack of your device (or alternatively connected to it via Bluetooth) and which broadcast a very low power FM signal. You would the tune your car stereo to the matching frequency, and your device's audio would be piped through the car's speakers. Usually the transmitter provided a way to choose from a list of frequencies so you could pick one not used by any local radio stations. When operating in good conditions, if another car was driving down the road next to you, they could also tune to the same frequency and hear your playback.

NeedMoreTea 7y ago

Then to preserve some semblance of individual privacy that would need each individual you want to display freely opting in and out. Whenever suits them. Whatever is wrong with just asking? Start a conversation, make a friendship...

eridius 7y ago
Can you opt out of my brain recognizing your face? Centralized face recognition where a single entity knows everybody a la Facebook would be a dystopian nightmare. Personalized face recognition where everyone has their own instance trained purely on the data they have access to (e.g. Apple's existing Photos face recognition) and only linking that face to the user's Contacts entry for the recognized person, that's not a privacy violation because that's just offloading information from my brain into my personal digital assistant.
- NeedMoreTea 7y ago
  Personalised but running on a cloud server, controlled by any third party is a step too close. Who's to say they won't retain the biometrics long after you requested they remove the data? The standard HN trope is if it's out there it's never deleted. Trusting any corporate with data, given the last ten years, is never wise. Even Apple, busy marketing the privacy high ground. No doubt someone would make a GDPR case against it though...

wruza 7y ago

>Killer ... see names Nice try, Yagami. But I’ll still take half your life for it. -Ryuk

eridius 7y ago

Face recognition is something I absolutely need. I can't remember people's names for the life of me. If I could train a set of AR glasses to recognize people I've met before and pull up their contact info on the fly, that would be immensely helpful.

peteretep 7y ago

The creepiness factor this could enable would be out of this world ... you could set this up to point out people who you’d swiped on Tinder, cam girls you were planning to harass, people who’d been doxxed and you wanted to confront, etc etc etc. Brave new world.

judge2020 7y ago
Assuming the phone and other beacon devices don't just give out its owners info via UWB, and Airdrop isn't in "Everyone" mode, this wouldn't happen.

karmelapple 7y ago

For some negative consequences of this, check out the book Super Sad True Love Story.