Windows Embedded-powered digital signage is one step closer to Minority Report-inspired advertising

I wonder if Spielberg is claiming royalty from all the technology that was envisioned in his sci-fi film Minority Report. Cause if he is, he probably don’t have to make another movie.

Shown off today at the National Retail Federation Convention & Expo, an impressive digital signage proof of concept put together by Intel and Microsoft demonstrates that the futuristic clothing store in the movie is not all that far off.

Powered by an Intel Core i7 processor (yes you read that right, this sign has more grunt than most desktop computers), this proof of concept was designed to illustrate some of the new breakthrough technologies supported by the upcoming Windows Embedded Standard 2011 platform that’s based of Windows 7. Noticeably, the advanced multi-touch and high-definition multimedia capabilities have carried through to this small(er)-footprint OS.

In combination with a massive 80″ “holographic” display and a large LCD display, the result is nothing short of impressive. Should this ever make it in actual retail shops, I’m sure people would spend more time in-front of this sign than the products.

12 insightful thoughts

  1. Ha, awesome… that’s pretty cool. I’m reminded of all those billboards I stood by waiting for buses when I lived in Boston…. would have been great distractions to make the bus come quicker. (of course, I was a smoker then so in order to make the bus appear I’d just have to light up oy).

    Throw in some Bionic Contacts http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/um/redmond/groups/cue/ and we’re cooking with fire. lol

    But seriously, the last few days has me poking around the research.microsoft.com site trying to dig up stuff on the obvious (mobile) but I did come by some cool object recognition stuff that could be use in adverts and stuff. Of course, it had nothing to do with mobile so i moved on. It has to be in the computer vision group. http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/groups/vision/ (ah, you can see some of the roots of some of the Natal tech)

    Good news is if you search for Mobile at MSR you may find some interesting stuff could come out for Windows Mobile 8,9 or 10 (beepbeep, mobius, [more crazy names], augmented reality).

    Anyways, thanks for the post. Anyone think Spielberg’s game studio will make a Minority Report game for Natal that can continue via WM7 until you reach one of these signs? lol

  2. Lol what an acting… ouch!

    and seriously, 99% of ppl are no tech nerds at all, technologies showed like this will never ever be a success.

    tech nerds need to learn, its all about experiences and no screen beats the feeling of holding your product of choice in your own hands. as if I would go to a store just to stand by such a screen. even if there are 20 of such screens, ppl would get pissed off of others blocking it etc. nay thanks 🙂 next try.

  3. Eh–not quite Minority report with retinal scan…but interesting. But the actors…that was worse than MJ in Space Jam

  4. The fact that she could barely reach the touch-buttons, shows that this video wasn’t very well thought through.

  5. the people in this ad are authentic, it is as if they were volunteering to play the role. it is refreshing compared to the beautiful people ads which are the norm. the guy’s smile at the very end seems genuine, like he thinks the technology is really neat.

  6. hahah oh my, I’m hopin this doesn’t go quite as they want it to, becuase if Advertisers get their way, and we also get a new type of date download to our cellphones with just a touch of a button and no cell# input, OH GAWD everytime I walk down the street/mall my cellphone will be comiting sucicide after the tons of Sales, Ads, Coupons, flyers, Promos etc etc, downloading everytime I walk by one of these things. hahahah

    Oh and ya the acting/demo awful… hahah

  7. The problem is the assumption that people actually *like* advertising. I think its cool about the map and getting info, but the idea of someone voluntarily going up to it and saying “show me ads” is horrible.

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