Not content just tracking you when you're surfing the web, Google announced plans today to count eyeballs in physical spaces. Big G is partnering with a company called Xuuk to distribute the EyeBox, a palm-sized camera that can record how many times viewers look at billboards or products in brick-and-mortar stores. The $1000 camera isn't the world's most high-tech gadget -- it simply shines a beam of IR light and counts how many times it sees redeye in the ensuing images, indicating that the subject was looking right at the camera -- but it's a big upgrade over previous systems, which cost over $25,000 and required subjects to remain perfectly still. Xuuk says the EyeBox works up to 32 feet away and doesn't require any sort of calibration, and that it collects no data other than how many times people have looked at a particular object. The simplicity of the system, however, means that each billboard or product requires its own separate Eyebox for tracking. While we're not sure advertisers are going crazy to drop a cool grand per billboard, we're certainly not going to underestimate their love of counting eyeballs, or Google's ability to turn viewing statistics into cold, hard cash. We're also curious to hear if the camera can see through sunglasses -- cause we're about to start wearing ours 24/7.
Update: We've received word that the EETimes article we linked was in error -- Google has nothing to do with the EyeBox. The camera is the sole product of Xuuk, Inc. Sorry for any confusion.
posted May 9th 2007 at 9:17PM
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Bloobie @ May 9th 2007 10:47PM
By merely counting how many people look at a board? Hardly.
Joe Smith @ May 9th 2007 9:31PM
introducing eyeDent
Ariza @ May 9th 2007 9:35PM
Google is making it very clear they want in on every part of advertising
zach382 @ May 10th 2007 2:33PM
Does this remind anyone of Minority Report?
Christian Martin @ May 9th 2007 9:50PM
I suddenly have the urge to watch Minority Report...
StevO @ May 9th 2007 10:39PM
"Welcome back Mr. Anderton, we noticed you were looking at the Maxim magazines last time and we now have a selection of videos you may be interested in"
... @ May 9th 2007 9:58PM
Tomorrow's headline:
Google makes deal with government to sell fully-functional telescreens.
Mr. Picklesworth @ May 9th 2007 9:59PM
I only have one eye, you insensitive clods!
Tom Reinke @ May 9th 2007 10:05PM
For once, I see a slashdot article and a Engadget article pop up at the same time on my google RSS feed thing.
WOAH. :D
On topic: This is kinda scary for the consumer, but looking at it from a producer's standpoint it's not such a bad idea.
From now on whenever I see one of these cameras I'm going to sit there and look into the camera and look away a couple hundred times just to inflate their results..
Yes, I'm a rebel.
Shadyman @ May 9th 2007 10:16PM
One solution: Sunglasses.
Override @ May 10th 2007 12:22AM
Sorry not a good solution
IR based Camera can see thru Sunglasses.
MoreAss @ May 9th 2007 10:25PM
Ohhh, this is bad. Imagine what'll happen when your female coworkers get this built into their wonderbras....
DorianGray @ May 10th 2007 10:15AM
F*cker. I just sprayed coffee all over my keyboard...
LOL!
V.I. @ May 9th 2007 10:28PM
"Xuuk says the EyeBox works up to 32 feet away..."
How will that work from only 32ft away? That's retarded. So you have to be damn close for it to read you. In other words you have to be damn blind to be within 32ft of a billboard. Don't tell me that it will be mounted below, because that would defeat the purpose of capturing your eye, which means you will be just looking in the direction of the camera...
This will never work on billboards near a freeway.
Steve @ May 9th 2007 10:34PM
@V.I. I think you might be missing the market for these devices. The article talks about counting eyes of people walking by and glancing. They aren't for road side billboards, rather for the sorts of promotional materials and "billboards" that you would encounter in a shopping mall.
abjam @ May 9th 2007 11:36PM
just stick a red piece of paper in front of it and you have real life clickfaud...
RijilV @ May 9th 2007 11:28PM
what would happen if someone stood in front of this device all day blinking?
Steve @ May 9th 2007 11:31PM
@RijilV that's the funniest comment I've read in ages.
Hardcore @ May 9th 2007 11:43PM
All your eyeballs are belong to us
Shadyman @ May 10th 2007 1:34AM
Hmm. I'd have to try :)
Also, it probably wouldn't work in bright-light situations.
Russ @ May 10th 2007 12:21AM
can u work out someone's age and/or gender from their eyeballs? that'd be nice demographics to go with their stats.
what about home address & salary?
Tim @ May 10th 2007 12:39AM
is that all that much different than the IR beeper counters that are at the doorways to stores?
Unomi @ May 10th 2007 2:04AM
I can't figure out how they would messure the click-trough ratio....
Oh, never mind. Silly me.
- Unomi -
Tech^Cellfish @ May 10th 2007 2:07AM
I think the Engadget Marketing Dep. would like you to not wear sunglasses. They need the numbers to get the most out of their ad money
Kinergy @ May 10th 2007 2:13AM
I wonder how this will affect the ability of IR-based auto-focus cameras to function properly in areas near an EyeBox... To increase the brightness and also filter ambient/sun light I'm sure they are pulsing the IR at a high frequency. I'm curious what other systems will have difficulty functioning around these devices :)
Roofus @ May 10th 2007 2:43AM
The mirrored variety just my do the trick.
Pablo Gómez @ May 10th 2007 5:26AM
We have the same product (less price).
Also security Iris recognition
This product identify people throw their Iris
www.brivas.com
Aaron @ May 10th 2007 8:47AM
What do they do when the eye count comes up with an odd number? Round up or down?
Eleventeen @ May 10th 2007 9:47AM
"YOU SIR WOULD THEN BE THE "ODD BALL" OF THE BUNCH.
HOW'S THAT FOR INSENSITIVITY?!"
Best. Comment. Yet.
Kate Z @ May 10th 2007 12:51PM
Sorry, but where exactly did Google announce the partnership?
As far as I can tell, the EETimes article only makes a comparison between Google's online tracking and the Eyebox..
"With Eyebox, brick-and-mortar advertisers can determine which billboards or products people are looking at in mall corridors or on store shelves, and count them in the same manner that Google counts clicks for online ads."
Kevin Fox @ May 10th 2007 2:13PM
EETimes originally made a mistake and reported this as a Google project when it actually has nothing to do with Google. EETimes has since updated their story.
The Engadget story should probably also be updated.
Jon @ May 10th 2007 3:40PM
Might be a good idea, when advertisers get statistics about how few are actually staring at their billboards then maybe less advertisers will use them. Why would one waste several thousands to millions on advertising that so few look at? Possibly clear up the skyscape?