Brand Killer, The real world adblock

[XTankSlayerX]

 

 

 

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A group of students from University of Pennsylvania were sick of seeing corporate brands everywhere, had decided to create a device that would blur out any logos it encounters.

 

With only a budget of US$100 and 36 hours to create the device, UPenn undergrads Tom Catullo, Alex Crits-Christoph, Jonathan Dubin, and Reed Rosenbluth custom built the ‘Brand Killer’.

 

It is a head mounted, augmented reality device that uses openCV image processing that recognizes and blocks the list of brands in their database.

 

While the headset is currently too bulky for everyday use, the group is looking into scaling down the device. 

 

 

Source #1: http://challengepost.com/software/brand-killer

 

Source #2: http://designtaxi.com/news/372089/Wearable-Device-Blocks-Unwanted-Advertising-In-Real-Time-Blurs-Out-Logos/?interstital_shown=1

 

Am I the only one who thinks this is ridiculously stupid?

 

I don't see the point of it.

[WinNut]

It's stupid but really creative.

[pk-man]

lol this is like having mosaics in JAVs....utterly stupid and pointless

[Blade of Grass]

Although I can't really see the practical application for this, I do find it quite interesting that someone has used image processing to pick out logos, and potentially the software they've created can have another useful application.

[Dabombinable]

Imagine trying to watch TV while wearing it, you'd rarely see anything.

[zappian]

Im not gonna use a full sized oculus to block adds .

 

The technology is good but it inst there yet.

[CartertheCOCguy]

it barely works in the video... and its pointless...

[Kyuubixchidori]

this is just a project for fun it seems. Not meant to be actually used in everyday life. a interesting project though. 

[Marvzl1357]

This is even stupider than blocking ads. We block ads because many of them are bright, flashing, sometimes even carries sound, and are generally just annoying. Blocking corporate logos is just flat out stupid. I can't even think of an analogy to use.

[Toddwjp]

this is the kind of stupidity we should encourage and support. it may have no practical purpose but the actual doing of the project has lots of benefit. plus every so often a stupid idea becomes something genius.

[Albatross]

It is incredibly stupid but I hope wasting their time creating the device gives them something to do in the future. Hopefully something with a practical purpose.

[silberdrachi]

Kinda cool that they can do not just OCR based recognition in real time, but now image recognition, thats actually crazy complex.

 

That being said, not very useful in the current incarnation. Though replacing every add with pictures of cats would be amazing.

[Hulk]

This is really exciting and I understand why since I too am sick of watching ads in the real world on billboards and stuff. What could be cool though is that for future revisions, they could use something like Photoshops heal tool to make the ad completely dissapear!

[Equlix]

Neat

[tmlhalo]

While the implementation is funny I think they were just trying to get work done in image detection. 

http://xkcd.com/1425/

[qwertywarrior]

this is kinda annoying

the next step is to actually make them invisible without blur

[mr moose]

Ad this to googles AI that can determine a dogs bread and you might have a machine that can determine the degree to which marketing is influencing a program.  E.G a documentary or supposedly unbiased review.

[Mew]

Now, if they made an adblock device for tvs, that would be an instant hit, and probably instant ban by the broadcasters

[rockking1379]

http://youtu.be/eDPn7MGxPjs

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Source #1: http://challengepost.com/software/brand-killer

Source #2: http://designtaxi.com/news/372089/Wearable-Device-Blocks-Unwanted-Advertising-In-Real-Time-Blurs-Out-Logos/?interstital_shown=1

Am I the only one who thinks this is ridiculously stupid?

I don't see the point of it.

My guess given the time frame they had was this came out of a hackathon

[Syntaxvgm]

I'm curious

 

 

Would this thing block the adblock logo? 

[Dezz]

Basically I can do the same thing. I just put my glasses down.

[MrCthuntoo]

This brings the recent Christmas episode of Black Mirror to mind.

 

For those who have not seen it, the technology exist so that you can 'block' people in real life and so they just become a blur when you see them and they see the same when they look at you.

[Trik'Stari]

Does it expose or blur the subliminal messaging hidden all over the world?

 

This brings the recent Christmas episode of Black Mirror to mind.

 

For those who have not seen it, the technology exist so that you can 'block' people in real life and so they just become a blur when you see them and they see the same when they look at you.

 

We need to do that to every single lawyer and politician in the world.

[Thony]

TV companies be like: we need this to cut down editing time lol

Some TVs in EU do a terrible job with bluring brands out....

[zacRupnow]

Neat, I'll be interested when it can be put it contacts.