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The Media Technology

Smart Badges For Better Meetings 143

Posted by simoniker from the at-least-my-badge-likes-you dept.
Roland Piquepaille writes "In an article appearing in the November 15th issue of New Scientist, we're told that the 500 attendants of the last Pop!Tech conference were carrying intelligent badges to put around their necks. EurekAlert! has released a version of this article, "Hello, will you be my friend?" These nTAGs, distributed by the nTAG Interactive company, contained personal details about their wearers. And as the nTags can communicate with each other via infrared links, they are able to send alerts when they see a good match between two owners. This doesn't come up cheap: expect $40 to $100 per badge per day, depending on the event. More details and references are contained in this overview which also includes pictures."
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Smart Badges For Better Meetings More

Smart Badges For Better Meetings

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  • I Can See it Now (Score:4, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 16, 2003 @05:32AM (#7486197)
    Everyone works out regularly, they have a 12" thingie and are millionaires.

  • It's only a matter of time... (Score:3, Interesting)

    by born_to_live_forever ( 228372 ) on Sunday November 16, 2003 @05:36AM (#7486209) Homepage
    ...before these sorts of badges are cheap enough to become everyday-use items. Imagine wearing a smart badge when you go out on the town, that tells other badges what you're looking for - say, whether you're looking for a one-night stand, or for Mr./Ms. Right.

    Don't get me wrong - I think the idea is obnoxious... but when did that ever stop the yuppies?
    • It's only a matter of time before these sorts of badges are cheap enough to become everyday-use items. Imagine wearing a smart badge when you go out on the town, that tells other badges what you're looking for

      Imagine wearing a smart badge that tells the local authorities you're on John Ashcroft's watch list for complaining about RFID tags on Slashdot.

      Seriously, Slashdot gets up in arms about RFID and privacy, and now we want to shell out "$40 to $100 per badge per day" to make it trivially easy to track
      • Seriously, Slashdot gets up in arms about RFID and privacy, and now we want to shell out "$40 to $100 per badge per day" to make it trivially easy to track us at even longer ranges than the humble RFID tag?

        Not all of us want that. I was going to raise the comparison with RFID's as well.

        However there is one difference: one is voluntary.
    • Japan is sooo much ahead!

      http://www.tabloid.net/1998/06/17/lovegadget_980 61 7.html
    • Yuppies? Wow, that's a term I haven't heard for about 10 years...
    • the idea is so old i'm amazed how they say it costs 40-100$ per day to use. it's a FUCKING RIPOFF at that price(the device itself can't cost that much even). the whole shisbang could be done with cheaper per day fees by doing custom software for some symbian os phone so it's pretty obvious it's overpriced at 40-100$ per day.

      as another user pointed out japan has had them for years and selected parties have had them in western world too for quite some time.

      though.. what would be cooler would be some special

  • hack the ntag (Score:5, Funny)

    by laurent420 ( 711504 ) on Sunday November 16, 2003 @05:37AM (#7486214)
    Whitfield Diffie, an engineer at Sun Microsystems Laboratories in Palo Alto and the man behind the concept of public key cryptography, felt that the devices were an invasion of privacy. He created a stir by hacking into his nTAG to put it into sleep mode. And to the delight of some delegates and the frustration of others, he set up his device to do the same to any other nTAG it talked to.

    reminds me of the time i used my laptop to 'give a cold' to my cousins furby via it's infrared port between it's eyes.

  • I offer a cheaper solution... (Score:2, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Buy some ordinary badges and spend the money saved on Beer. People will you will find will be much more friendly ... ;)

  • Great time saver (Score:5, Funny)

    by capedgirardeau ( 531367 ) on Sunday November 16, 2003 @05:43AM (#7486233)


    Great!

    Now I don't actually have to talk to people to know I am uninterested in them.

    This is going to simplify my life a lot.

  • No Bluetooth? (Score:4, Interesting)

    by rastachops ( 543268 ) * on Sunday November 16, 2003 @05:45AM (#7486236)
    Why are they using clumsy Infa Red? Why not Bluetooth? I'm sure it'd improve it a lot.

    And no, Bluetooth is not dying like most of the USian /.er's think.
    • Why are they using clumsy Infa Red? Why not Bluetooth? I'm sure it'd improve it a lot.

      And no, Bluetooth is not dying like most of the USian /.er's think.

      Cost. Think, THEN post.

      • > Cost. Think, THEN post.

        Er...ok.

        Article: expect $40 to $100 per badge per day, depending on the event
        Reality: you can get a Sony Ericsson T610, which has Bluetooth, for free with a years subscription to a 13.99 UKP service (which can include 750 mins of free offpeak calls (including WAP) and 50 text messages).

        Perhaps he thought of the cost? Perhaps it's you who is without clue in this matter?
        • Subsidized phones are a gamble that you'll be paying 14 UKP or more for several years, not just one.

          However, I agree with you that (A) bluetooth would be a better technology and (B) given its wide penetration of the cell phone market and computer market, the chipsets should fit the $40-$100 badge price easily.

    • Bluetooth is as useful in the US as betamax. A format thats great if you live in a shoebox with an active faraday cage around it!
    • More importantly, why is a badge being used? The average mobile phone could do most of this via bluetooth.

    • Re:No Bluetooth? (Score:5, Insightful)

      by dollar70 ( 598384 ) on Sunday November 16, 2003 @08:24AM (#7486562) Homepage Journal
      This is just a guess, but infrared is a line-of-site technology. I guess the creators had a last-minute revelation of what a horrid idea this could turn out to be if someone were to come up with a "collector" type technology that would sweep a crowd to gain intimate details about everyone at the event with no intention of ever personally talking to any of them.

      Again... It's just a guess. I think the whole idea is just dreadful to begin with, but whatever floats your boat. (I certainly wouldn't pay for it.)

    • Because line of sight and short-range really matters in this application: you want to know who the "compatible person" is. Someone 30 feet behind you won't do you that much good. Getting Bluetooth to be that specific is much harder.
    • Well, that would be fun to watch if the two people were matched across floors...
  • they were handed an intelligent tag the size and weight of a PDA to wear around their necks

    Skip the PDA and install it straight into a cell phone.

  • It's a cute novelty and a good idea (Score:4, Insightful)

    by TyrranzzX ( 617713 ) on Sunday November 16, 2003 @05:54AM (#7486265) Journal
    So long as the goverment doesn't start chipping people we're ok. But I actually like the idea, if you goto a bar and are looking for a 1 night stand the device can automatically hook you up with another person, or if you're walking down the street and have your device set to lonely it can alert other people to your presence and make some new friends. In otherwords, a couple hundred years ago you had a town of 100 and knowing everyone was an eventuality, not a chore. Nowadays, getting to know everyone in a town like mine which is suburbia and has 10k people, even knowing your neighbors down the block is a chore because you never need to meet them. Devices like this can strengthen the social fabric and networking in a community and undo the damage television has done to the trust relationships in our society by breaking the barriar.

    Alternativally, I can see advertising companies abusing the devices to get PI and marketing data. Normally I don't care if marketing departments market stuff directly to me when I'm looking for a gadget. If I can save a few hours of hunting around the web when I wanna buy something then I'm a happy camper, and it's always neat to be on slashdot and find a binary clock in a banner ad so long as I can turn the banner ad's off, but I'v got a problem with the shady bastards who will get my CC numbers and not tell me when they are charging me or try to get my money in a semi-legal way or who think harassing me is a good marketing tactic.

    • > But I actually like the idea, if you goto a bar and are looking for a 1 night stand the device can automatically hook you up with another person, or if you're walking down the street and have your device set to lonely it can alert other people to your presence and make some new friends.

      Yeah, whores and muggers will love 'em.

      > but I'v got a problem with the shady bastards who will get my CC numbers and not tell me when they are charging me or try to get my money in a semi-legal way or who think h

    • But I actually like the idea, if you goto a bar and are looking for a 1 night stand the device can automatically hook you up with another person, or if you're walking down the street and have your device set to lonely it can alert other people to your presence and make some new friends.

      Or more likely, a gaggle of cute girls get the alert on their badges and play "spot the pathethic geek". Then they all point at "Mr. Lonely and I want a One-Night Stand" and point and giggle. The bolder of them make obscene
      • Or more likely, a gaggle of ugly geeks get the alert on their badges and play "spot the pathethic normal women looking for millionairs". Then they all point their wifi antennas at "Ms. I'm a bitch and I want a millionair for a husband" and hack their devices so they say "Want sex, any man will do, will do 3-somes with other women, enjoys bdsm, please hurry I'm horny".

        The geeks then watch as the women are barraged by men and the women asking for sex. Not knowing what to do, they begin to leave and one of
    • But I actually like the idea, if you goto a bar and are looking for a 1 night stand the device can automatically hook you up with another person, or if you're walking down the street and have your device set to lonely it can alert other people to your presence and make some new friends.

      I already have a device which does this, it's called a face. I haven't figured out how to set it to anything other than 'fuck off' for the past 5 years though.

  • infrared? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Unominous Coward ( 651680 ) on Sunday November 16, 2003 @05:56AM (#7486271)
    Not meaning to add to the "why not bluetooth" posts already here, but how effective will infrared be for this sort of application. If you are facing someone who is turned away from you, your two badges won't have line of sight. I wonder whether they chose to use infrared solely based on the cost. Let's not forget the bluetooth licensing fees, either.
  • We dont need no stinking badges.

  • Old Hat in Japan (Score:5, Informative)

    by Tarq666 ( 545095 ) on Sunday November 16, 2003 @05:59AM (#7486277)
    As I recall, several years ago things like this were the rage in Tokyo. Aparently they had three settings; Want to Talk, Want to Hug, Want to Get Down and Dirty (in Japanese obviously), and came in a male and female model. If someone of the opposite sex with a matching setting walked close, both devices would vibrate, you then had to look through the crowd for the other person looking through the crowd.
    • I was about to post about this exact thing, although as I recall, it had details about the person as well, so that you could more accurately fine tune it to your tastes. I wish I knew how well it did over there. I also wonder how well something like that would catch on here what with all the dating shows on tv, and all the Speed Dating services popping up.

  • I don't know if I like *this* particular use of embedded computing, but it's nice to see the technology moving along. Just wait until the technology is more useful. You know, something like a book car you can take around with you swipe by a book's tag or ISBN number that remembers to order the book for you later.

  • now we can customise our lives (Score:3, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 16, 2003 @06:01AM (#7486285)
    "Just make sure to put a skin color setting in the tag, so I don't have to be bothered with black people who think they have the same interests"
    -- Andy Coufman, W.A.S.P CEO

    'I was looking for "dinner" with a nice man, it's just they only had *interests* listed in the tags, not vital statistics like age sex and body type, what a joke'
    -- Nacy Regon, blonde secretary

    "I was like dude, there is no catergory for favourite open source OS - how am I supposed to pick up chicks with this if I don't know their favourite OS?"
    -- Sam Towald, unix consultant (read unemployed) and part-time demi-god of the MUD world "Xenophobia Cryptographica"

    "I really like these tags, they are really useful in meeting other homeless people to exchange tips on public defacation without being arrested,and places to sleep that aren't cold or noisy - and the best part is, they are so cheap that almost all my homeless mates have them"
    -- Reddy Junior III, homeless

    'I too like the tags, as being a scienBologist I am often abused by other people for being a "psycho loonie", which I find offensive, and I would like to meet other scienBologists without all the trouble of dropping the "I'm Bologist" line in the middle of a date (which isn't as bad as saying to the person opposite they have body thetans attached to their soul left-over from the dark reign of emperor Xenu, but hey, some people just don't want to see the truth). Overall it's perfect, all it needs now is a kool-aid dispenser!'
    -- Will Fratman, scienBologist and loney accountant whose parents denied him uncensored internet access when he was young.

    This is an entirely fictional account not representative of reality, all names used are fictional and no liability is accepted for accidental similarities. You can tell it's fictional because scienBologists don't have any freinds who aren't scienBologists in real life.

  • Stay away from me (Score:5, Interesting)

    by CGP314 ( 672613 ) <CGP@ColinGregor y P a lmer.net> on Sunday November 16, 2003 @06:02AM (#7486287) Homepage
    While the idea of these things is good, they make it very difficult to avoid people you'd rather not waste your time with. The loud, twitchy, obnoxious, guy everyone is trying to stay away from better not have the same likes and dislikes as you - or 'Beep! Beep! Beep!' the badge will let him know you are a potential friend.

    • > While the idea of these things is good, they make it very difficult to avoid people you'd rather not waste your time with. The loud, twitchy, obnoxious, guy everyone is trying to stay away from better not have the same likes and dislikes as you - or 'Beep! Beep! Beep!' the badge will let him know you are a potential friend.

      If they broadcast enough information, maybe they could be equiped with something akin to a bayesian spam filter, to detect that such-and-such a card is probably being worn by some

    • The loud, twitchy, obnoxious, guy everyone is trying to stay away from

      Ah, what our British cousins call "the nutter on the bus". Try to arrange your seating so he doesn't sit by you and talk you up the entire trip.
    • The loud, twitchy, obnoxious, guy everyone is trying to stay away from better not have the same likes and dislikes as you - or 'Beep! Beep! Beep!' the badge will let him know you are a potential friend.

      Easy! Substitute sound with a vibrator of the like used in mobile phones. You can be notified without running the risk of detection. If you don't see anybody threatening around, you raise a hand - if someone else doesn't find you obnoxious he/she can react.

      Either way, even obnoxious people will make your n

  • This is so the future (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Espressoman ( 8032 ) on Sunday November 16, 2003 @06:10AM (#7486303)
    With the Internet and the cell phone, the main technological problems of human communication have been solved. If you want to talk to someone, no matter where they are (even in developing nations in time) you can. But in our every day lives these things don't really add very much to what we have always had. Few people have friends who they have met electronically.

    Many people with all the cell phones and internet connectivity they want are often incredibly lonely, unable to meet people in their own neighbourhood with whom they can identify and form meaningful relationships. Human beings like company, and a computer screen will never be as good as face to face comradery. So many writers have lamented how modern communications are making us more lonely than ever.

    But the same technologies can bring us closer together. Devices like the one described, personal servers, and future telephones will act as our agents, letting us 'see' the friendly faces in the crowd. We'll know when a friend is at the same party, or at the same movie, we'll know when another avid Slashdotter is nearby, and we'll be able to find the kinds of people we want to find.

    I predict these devices will become commonplace. The multitude of devices you have on your body will act together to notify you of who is around you. They will be seen as essential.

    And for those that panic about their 'privacy', well, remember that like all electronic devices, you are in control of the switch. You don't like it, well turn it off!
    • go back and read your first paragraph.

      They may not be impacting your lives much, but they sure as hell add to the lives in the third world countries.

      Being oldenough to remember using rotory phones, and having an apartment where everything had cords, I can assure you they have added a lot to our lives, not all good.


  • Badges, to god-damned hell with badges! We have no badges. In fact, we don't need badges. I don't have to show you any stinking badges, you god-damned cabron and ching' tu madre! Come out there from that shit-hole of yours. I have to speak to you.

    B. Traven, The Treasure of The Sierra Madre [popsubculture.com]

  • Less Freebies? (Score:4, Funny)

    by bacon-kidney-pie ( 717079 ) on Sunday November 16, 2003 @06:15AM (#7486318)
    This is probably going to make it even harder to collect all kinds of plastic toys to bring home for my kids. Are there other reasons to go to a conference?
  • I've been dreaming of a similar device like this for many many years. My device would be a bit more intelligent, and allow me to tell my device which girl I like. My device would contact her device. If she happened to be interested in me too, the devices would interchange a couple of data, like her hobbies, so I'd know what to start a conversation on.

    Bert
    • Alternatively, you could use the way you act, the way you dress, the way you behave and the way you talk.

      And you could ask her "What are your hobbies ?".
    • That device has been around for years now. The processor is embedded into your brain and it draws power from two containers located in your sac. In other words, grow some balls.

  • This might seem like a trivial use of tech, but (Score:5, Interesting)

    by unassimilatible ( 225662 ) on Sunday November 16, 2003 @06:19AM (#7486332) Journal
    What if people started wearing themse tags all the time, and the receivers became ubiquitous, maybe with an earpiece. Say you're at the grocery store, and you pass by someone you don't recognize, like a long lost relative, or that friend of a friend. Perhaps that one Halle Berry lookalike who is really into Linux. A conversation starts that might not have, possibly changing your life.

    But seriously. Perhaps it could lead to a sort of in-person IM or friendster..."hey, you on aisle 9, are you really into Everquest, kittens, and bondage? Me too!"

    Of course, there's the risk of spam, hacking, and stalkers...

    Actually, didn't someone propose just this sort of thing with cellphones?

  • good Idea (Score:2, Funny)

    by violent.ed ( 656912 )
    the idea behind making people pay for "tags" that would alert investors/suppliers to eachother at a price is a good idea. It would weed out the "just browsing" people.

    how many times have you, as a "sales associate", asked "can i help you with something," Just to be replied with "oh im just looking/browsing". It can get quite annoying.

    So charging for such tags seems quite acceptable. In regards to the price per "tag", the higher the price for each "im looking for ..." tag would show how much of an in
    • You know, this is probably why I don't ever make a purchase from some companies. The snooty "I want your commitment before you know the details" sales-rep is a total turn-off.

      On the other hand, I can see the hot-chick bait standing out in front of her sucker-booth reprogramming her enhanced "lovegetty" to match every sap that's unlucky enough to fall into the trap.

      His badge quivers with excitement, as he looks across and makes eye contact. She approaches and wraps her arms around him and beckons him to

      • The snooty "I want your commitment before you know the details" sales-rep is a total turn-off.
        I'm not sure that you have ever worked as a sales associate, and if so which comapny you worked for, so i wont jump to any conclusions...

        With all due respect, violent.ed, the potential customer is not an interuption of your work- It's the reason for it. Products that sell themselves don't need salespeople.

        and likewise, with all due respect, dollar70, products that "sell themselvs" still need people to put the
        • I'm not sure that you have ever worked as a sales associate, and if so which comapny you worked for, so i wont jump to any conclusions...

          I wasn't making the comment from my "previous sales-rep" POV. The comment was from a consumer POV. But yeah, I did retail sales for a period of time.

          ...my job, as a circuit city roadshop salesman

          OK, I'll concede that's a pretty tough market anyway... Your "just-browsing" clientelle are probably (I can already feel the karma dropping) deadbeats who aren't worth the t

  • Badgers (Score:4, Funny)

    by Shinglor ( 714132 ) <luke.shingles@gmaELIOTil.com minus poet> on Sunday November 16, 2003 @06:35AM (#7486362)
    Badges Badges Badges Badges....Mushroom Mushroom.

  • Way Overpriced! Use Palm Pilots... (Score:4, Interesting)

    by billstewart ( 78916 ) on Sunday November 16, 2003 @06:48AM (#7486384) Journal
    $40-$100 per day? Even in Hong Kong Dollars, that's way overpriced. For US$100, you can get a brand new Palm Pilot with infrared, so all you need to make it an nTag is an oversize clear pocket protector and some software. Alternatively, for under $100, you can get a Bluetooth-equipped Java-capable phone, and somebody could easily enough program one of those to do the job.
    • For US$100, you can get a brand new Palm Pilot with infrared, so all you need to make it an nTag is an oversize clear pocket protector and some software. Alternatively, for under $100, you can get a Bluetooth-equipped Java-capable phone, and somebody could easily enough program one of those to do the job.

      Why is this insightful? It says $40 to $100 a day. This guy gives one $100 solution and one solution 'under $100'. How is that cheaper exactly? You just offered the same damn prices.

  • Java ring (Score:5, Informative)

    by Space cowboy ( 13680 ) on Sunday November 16, 2003 @07:32AM (#7486454) Journal
    I remember going to Java One years ago (4 years maybe) where every attendee got a Java Ring - it's a Java processor that's embedded into a ( signature-type ring [sun.com])

    Basically, everyone's coffee preferences were stored on a central database, and to get the coffee you liked, you just touched the ring to the receptor. These days you'd use bluetooth I guess.

    The ring idea was quite cute though - it was powered by the receptor, with the binary communications channel being rectified internally to produce power as well as transmit information. Ok, so you couldn't do that with bluetooth, it'd have to be always on, but there's probably still something you could do...

    Simon

  • Absolutely Dreadful (Score:5, Interesting)

    by dollar70 ( 598384 ) on Sunday November 16, 2003 @07:46AM (#7486482) Homepage Journal
    It's been my experience that people who are natural socializers don't need any help from technology in order to get together, and the socially inept couldn't peel themselves from the wall with all the power of a beowolf cluster.

    Believe it or not, people actually have the inborn ability (instinct) to find compatible people around them. Adding this technology will only serve as a device to exclude undesireable contact moreso than to find desireable interaction.

    "Oh sorry, I'm really only interested in people who, like myself, have intimate first hand knowledge of the X-Men's superpowers."

    In the end, you will have the same groups interacting as they always have, and the ego stroking will show no deviation from what has been seen before. It will just be more efficient.

    And for those guys looking for meaningful one night stands, you'll still be spending the night with your old friend "Rosie Palmer".

    • It's been my experience that people who are natural socializers don't need any help from technology in order to get together, and the socially inept couldn't peel themselves from the wall with all the power of a beowolf cluster.

      Exactly. I attend networking meetings regularly and the old saw about getting out what you put in fits this to a "t."

      My own personal goal is, every time I attend, to get at least three business cards from people who I don't know, and to sit next at least one person I've never me

  • Pop!Tech, eh? (Score:1, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Maybe they should just concentrate on keeping everybody awake by distributing badges that administer electric shocks or something.

  • and down the spiral we go (Score:4, Insightful)

    by professorhojo ( 686761 ) on Sunday November 16, 2003 @08:13AM (#7486540)
    holy shit.

    we already have no idea how to talk to people who have different ideas to us. hell -- we're so scared of them we'd rather bomb them than talk to them.

    now comes a device which can pretty much guarantee we can now go our entire lives never having to talk to another person with a different to us.

    "you mean i can set this thing so that i only ever meet people who believe in the creation theory??? yeee haaar!!"

    this is the reason we're in the shit that we're in people. don't you think it's time to use technology to help us start including... not excluding?

    prof. h.
  • Badges?

    We don't need no steenking badges!

  • network the badges to help track down people (Score:3, Insightful)

    by G4from128k ( 686170 ) on Sunday November 16, 2003 @08:26AM (#7486567)
    Often you want to speak to a few specific people at a conference. These badges could help you find that person by asking other badges "have you seen Mr. X?" Other badges might reply "no" or "yes, just 15 seconds ago." The system would thus act as a warmer-colder guidance system. And if the bages had internal location tracking (maybe via a low-level RF field in the venue) then the badge could even report where it was when it saw Mr. X.

  • Do it in phones (Score:2, Interesting)

    by t_allardyce ( 48447 )
    These things are pretty old but i think they are doomed to corporate events at most - mobile phones will assimilate this in no time with bluetooth/wifi etc its just a software download. Then it will all start to expand with mobile filesharing etc (hm more memory or a laptop required) and the best part is the RIAA will be stumpted over this for a while. Its one thing calling an ISP and threatening them but people wont as readily accept arrests on the streets until the RIAA spins it and makes it seem like it
  • or do these things make an attempt to void eyecontact between people?
  • It seems this could be a great device for speed dating. Instead of a random arrangement of table, the badge could match religious beliefs, divorce status, conversion status, and number of children wanted. Hell, for the less religious it could even match income level, type of car, size of house, and whether sex on the first date is possible. People could walk around the room until the badges make a match. Instead of seven minutes perhaps 4 will be enough. Along with the rules, this could be a boon for p
    • A gay friend of mine saw this in action a couple of years ago at a a Mardi Gras party. Each guest filled in a questionnaire with their likes/dislikes etc and when they passed someone with the same or similar they beeped/buzzed etc.
      The logic (AND/OR) could cause problems. I mean, what if you liked big guys, cross dressing and a little light flagellation all separately, and 20 minutes later found Jesse Ventura roundly whippin' your ass with a bullwhip.
  • We are all all wearing these tags--we are all dorks, after all.
  • Let's see:
    • Wedding ring--marital status.
    • Clothes--political and social attitude (conservative, progressive, liberal, etc.), income level.
    • Jewelry--income level, vanity level.
    • Body type--nutritional preferences and level of activity.
    • Skin type, skin quality, wrinkles--life style, stress level.
    • Voice--smoker/non-smoker, hormone levels during puberty, training in public speaking/singing.
    • Accessories--specific other interests, causes.
    • Hair style--social attitudes, availability, profession, income level
    • Add hair on palm
      Wears glasses
      And knows all the really good sites

      Oh wait, that's just a /. er
    • "There are zillions of clues you get from people's appearance"

      Yes, and a lot of them are stereotypes which are often wrong. Haven't you ever met someone via the Internet first, and realized on meeting them in person that you would have crossed the street to avoid them if you had gone by appearances?
  • Smart Badges for better Mortage? That's what I read.
    I'm getting paranoid because of all the spam.

    NoSuchGuy

  • I can just imagine an unscrupulous spammer walking around convention centers scanning for badges, picking up their e-mail, phone and home address then selling this off to some penis enlarging-mortgage selling-credit card consolidating company.

    Or better yet, sending those messages directly to the badges

    Next thing you know, Symantec will be selling Norton Anti-virus Badge Edition to filter it all out.

    Who doesn't love spam?
  • at comdex this morning. Considering the money people have to fork out just to check out the exhibits. It would make me feel better about it. You could program the thing to vibrate if you are about to walk past an exhibit or conference that lines up with your interests. BTW, this internet keyboard TV thing "ONCOMMAND" that they have at the Marriott SUCKS. It's freaking infrared so it misses half the damn things I type and it locks up frequently. Of course, it is based on an embedded microsoft OS. Maybe I'll
  • Isnt there a strange feelding to this pic [ntag.com]? Shouldnt these people feel a little like cattle -- or cogs?

    MU1BAB2: "Hello, AccountingUnit 1A41. I am MaintenanceUnit 1BAB2.

    AU1A41: Hello.

    MU1BAB2: Did you process last quarter Financial Reports?

    AU1A41: Yes. It was hard. I like Wonder Brand bread.

    MU1BAB2: I drive a Mizah Acutron 12. Its drives real good.

  • I was there--they were dreadful (Score:4, Insightful)

    by zlite ( 199781 ) on Sunday November 16, 2003 @12:43PM (#7487593)
    So heavy that they slapped your chest like a pair of binoculars as you walked. So confused that in a long conversation with someone they'd light up in recognition over and over again, thinking that you'd gone and come back. Impossible to read despite a huge screen, forcing the *main function* of a badge, giving your name and affiliation, to be relegated to a little (also unreadable) paper sticker at the bottom.
    All in all the laughingstock of the conference. New Scientist must not have been there.
  • Back in 1981, that is, 22 years ago, during a computer show, I did put my HP-41C calculator in my shirt pocket which I had programmed to show my name.
  • all our friends to be like us?

    Some of my dearest friends do not like the same things as I do. I have friends where we discussed opposing views on politics, religeon, life.. I like people I can discussed opposin view point. It is the only way to grow as a person.
  • Something like this was tried in Japan about ten years ago, as a dating device. It didn't work.

  • In the 1961 science fiction novel by Brian Aldiss, The Primal Urge, a new craze sweeps Britain. All over the nation, people have Emotion Registers, which show a red colour when the wearer is sexually aroused, installed in their foreheads. The results are a breakdown of society's "morals", as people give in to their sexual urges.

    Now, this isn't exactly the same thing (and what is at issue here isn't so much sex as questions of privacy), but the comparison is interesting.

    Aldiss himself cites the story as a

  • A big issue that only a few people have touched on is the fact that when you enter your preferences, you are choosing to not have the device associate with certain people. Now, while this may be a boon to some, keep in mind some of the best friendships/relationships are had by people who are complete opposites of each other. This device works directly against that.

    Also, part of being compatible with someone is having your differences and working around them together. Yet you'd never know about those di

  • -- insert joke about badges being smarter than people attending meeting here --

  • Bullshit Bingo (Score:3, Funny)

    by BigBadBri ( 595126 ) on Sunday November 16, 2003 @06:46PM (#7489587)
    If we can get one of these badges smart enough, I can forsee a new, improved version of 'Bullshit Bingo' - the game for management meetings, for techies of all ages.

    Each player downloads a random collection of BS phrases from a central server, and the cards (using voice recognition, natch) automatically tick off each phrase as the management utter it.

    The card will flash 'HOUSE' on completion of its list, confusing the management and providing a welcome respite to all players.

  • Sure in Japan Love Getty has been around for a while, and phones all have email or cameras now. But I had a bunch of trouble finding cheap terminals for computer-assisted meetings. If you have a laptop for each participant that's fine but it would have been too much money for a 3000 person meeting for which I proposed CAM a year ago.

    I couldn't find any information about the hardware on the site, but what I really want is a very cheap tag that can be used by the wearer to respond to multiple choice questio

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