Japan’s Digital Signage Promotion Project is currently testing digital advertising billboards fitted with cameras that can tell if the passersby who look at them are male or female so that they can tailor their commercial messages to the onlooker. A consortium of 11 railway companies launched the pilot project last month, and has since set up 27 intelligent displays in subway commuter stations around Tokyo.

The camera can distinguish a person’s sex and approximate age, even if the person only walks by in front of the display, at least if he or she looks at the screen for a second,” said a spokesman for the project to the AFP.

Now all we need are some Pre-Cogs to tell us all what we’re going to do before we even bother thinking about doing it and we’re all set to live in Philip K. Dick Land…and oh, what a wonderful place that would be.

Source: Smart Planet