Google Could Soon Put Ads Almost Everywhere--Even On Your Face

[onehandle]

Google's splashier investments--the self-driving cars, the cyborg face accessories, the "moonshots"--might grab all the headlines. As well they should! But it's important to remember that the search giant's more ambitious projects were all made possible by a less sexy technology that, to this day, quietly makes the company most of its billions: ads.

In Google's version of the future, advertisements could literally be coming for your attention from all angles. According to The Wall Street Journal, Google sent a statement to the Securities and Exchange Commission in December, revealing that it could one day be serving ads on "refrigerators, car dashboards, thermostats, glasses, and watches, to name just a few possibilities." In the letter, which was revealed on Tuesday, Google was trying to make its case to the SEC that it shouldn't have to disclose its mobile ad revenue, since the definition of "mobile" is constantly changing.

And to an extent, Google is right. One of the lesser discussed side effects of the so-called "Internet of Things" is the open-ended possibilities it offers for advertisers. Google's acquisition of Nest Labs, for example, gives it a mainline to the intimate daily schedules and behavioral patterns of its users. If Google sprinkling ads inside your Gmail inbox made you feel squeamish, well...things are only going to get weirder.

Imagine coming home after a long day at the office. You're too tired to fuss with making dinner, and Nest's sensors--knowing you're home later than usual because of all that motion data it has gobbled up--beams a Pizza Hut ad to your Chromecast-connected television. Or maybe even your glasses. Or the Google Now voice booming through your sound system.

http://www.fastcompany.com/3030912/most-innovative-companies/google-could-soon-put-ads-almost-everywhere-even-on-your-face

[Leme]

1. I hate to say this, but my guess is a projection tv will make a comeback

it will be constantly on... and activate when you get home, put ads and such on various walls etc.

[DJ13]

2. A dark future

[Avalux]

3. Phillip K. Dick would be either amused or horrified; maybe both.

Horrified that people allow the ever increasing loss of privacy, eagerly and willingly participating in it, while at the same time screaming they need a gun to protect their freedoms.