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Jun. 4th, 2016
The future is sooooo yesterday...
Jun. 4th, 2016 02:38 amSo. Yes, I owe some posts. ...and somethings take longer than "eh" around here (the site titles are very much reality since 1998 or so). But I do try to lay it out when I'm reminded, or sparked, or whatever. This time it's as simple as chocolate ice cream...
A story, SciFi if you will:
A parent, with a child in tow, enters a store. Recognition software tags 'one large human matching certain demographics' and 'one small human matching another set of demographics'. At some point the large-human is separated from the small-human. The software monitoring the beings inside the store recognizes that the small-human has paired up with a different, unique large-human and this tandem is heading toward an exit. A subroutine is called; the security doors on the exits are sealed; law enforcement is called as management is notified. ID as such is not needed as the main routine can identify and provide the position of each individual on both management's and law enforcement's tablets.
Again:
You stop by the store to shop for a snack or the makings of a meal. Recognition software tags you from previous visits (not necessarily to this store; but that is a tale for another day) and retrieves your history (or not, as there are privacy laws in play). No matter: as you stop in front of the freezer case, the sensor array placed at the top triggers a display of select items from within that case on the screen that suddenly flows down what was initially a translucent door. A hand wave will slide the screen to the next page; or your motion towards a picture on the screen may bring up detailed info on that item or related products. In the meantime, a soft whirring of the ticket machine signals the appearance of a coupon for a particular item behind the door (dependent on prior purchases or perhaps based on the duration of your pause to peruse).
As I was reading Siderea's delightful story of Nana, and of her own social engineering to acquire Frozen Joy coupons, I was thinking back to a presentation from August of 2105 at my office. Our IT department hosts the local DotNet User group's monthly guest speakers, usually a MicroSoft MVP or industry hardware geek. I get invited under the premise of "guilt by association". That evening's speaker chose to present "Fun things to do with a Kinect"...
Short version: the first scenario above was in place at that time. Not in the US due to some issues with privacy? Yeah, but in place.
The second scenario was past prototype and into production. That would be nearly a year ago.
How do they do that "magic"? Dead serious: the sensor array above the cold case is a Kinect and some embedded silicon (think: Arduino, Windows CE, or perhaps a RasPi). No way? All data is sent off to Azure for storage and processing. Nothing but data, not much on site, cross-compiled and served up in whatever flavor you like.
Von's/Safeway isn't necessarily handling that freezer case; it's much easier to let the vendor pay the fees. ...and it's all abstract data, correct? I mentioned to the speaker that Von's already could pull full data on my family's purchases via their own database since we enter a "store card" number to receive discounts (and coupons!); and what would prevent them from tying that info the the vendor info from the magic box above the freezer? Nothing much. Translation code from one system to the other.
Source code? Sure:
Camera one
Camera two
Upfront: If you are not a geek, these are "past painful" to watch (two views of the presentation from different sight lines); if your brain thinks big data as a couple of terabytes, or facial recognition software is just from TV shows, or... Nah, I can go on for pages. Thing is: Azure, as used by the MS droids, is barely confined to the planet. The screen I mentioned? Already here, heck the door gets a frost coating suitable for projection just by opening it; add a fan to move warm air across it when you move in front? Sure. The Kinect 2? Not for gamers; it's a geek tool. ...last year's geek tool. The kiosk concept? Already in play: vendors are actively producing 2" x 3" blocks with Windows CE (locked down and polished) for use. ...and that tech is how old? (Another presentation)(Another on Azure being secure enough to meet HIPPA levels)
...and me? Full RetroFuture; I'm ordering the parts to build something like this before my head explodes:
A story, SciFi if you will:
A parent, with a child in tow, enters a store. Recognition software tags 'one large human matching certain demographics' and 'one small human matching another set of demographics'. At some point the large-human is separated from the small-human. The software monitoring the beings inside the store recognizes that the small-human has paired up with a different, unique large-human and this tandem is heading toward an exit. A subroutine is called; the security doors on the exits are sealed; law enforcement is called as management is notified. ID as such is not needed as the main routine can identify and provide the position of each individual on both management's and law enforcement's tablets.
Again:
You stop by the store to shop for a snack or the makings of a meal. Recognition software tags you from previous visits (not necessarily to this store; but that is a tale for another day) and retrieves your history (or not, as there are privacy laws in play). No matter: as you stop in front of the freezer case, the sensor array placed at the top triggers a display of select items from within that case on the screen that suddenly flows down what was initially a translucent door. A hand wave will slide the screen to the next page; or your motion towards a picture on the screen may bring up detailed info on that item or related products. In the meantime, a soft whirring of the ticket machine signals the appearance of a coupon for a particular item behind the door (dependent on prior purchases or perhaps based on the duration of your pause to peruse).
As I was reading Siderea's delightful story of Nana, and of her own social engineering to acquire Frozen Joy coupons, I was thinking back to a presentation from August of 2105 at my office. Our IT department hosts the local DotNet User group's monthly guest speakers, usually a MicroSoft MVP or industry hardware geek. I get invited under the premise of "guilt by association". That evening's speaker chose to present "Fun things to do with a Kinect"...
Short version: the first scenario above was in place at that time. Not in the US due to some issues with privacy? Yeah, but in place.
The second scenario was past prototype and into production. That would be nearly a year ago.
How do they do that "magic"? Dead serious: the sensor array above the cold case is a Kinect and some embedded silicon (think: Arduino, Windows CE, or perhaps a RasPi). No way? All data is sent off to Azure for storage and processing. Nothing but data, not much on site, cross-compiled and served up in whatever flavor you like.
Von's/Safeway isn't necessarily handling that freezer case; it's much easier to let the vendor pay the fees. ...and it's all abstract data, correct? I mentioned to the speaker that Von's already could pull full data on my family's purchases via their own database since we enter a "store card" number to receive discounts (and coupons!); and what would prevent them from tying that info the the vendor info from the magic box above the freezer? Nothing much. Translation code from one system to the other.
Source code? Sure:
Camera one
Camera two
Upfront: If you are not a geek, these are "past painful" to watch (two views of the presentation from different sight lines); if your brain thinks big data as a couple of terabytes, or facial recognition software is just from TV shows, or... Nah, I can go on for pages. Thing is: Azure, as used by the MS droids, is barely confined to the planet. The screen I mentioned? Already here, heck the door gets a frost coating suitable for projection just by opening it; add a fan to move warm air across it when you move in front? Sure. The Kinect 2? Not for gamers; it's a geek tool. ...last year's geek tool. The kiosk concept? Already in play: vendors are actively producing 2" x 3" blocks with Windows CE (locked down and polished) for use. ...and that tech is how old? (Another presentation)(Another on Azure being secure enough to meet HIPPA levels)
...and me? Full RetroFuture; I'm ordering the parts to build something like this before my head explodes: