Kinect to serve up ads based on your emotions

Microsoft wants to use Kinect to work out how you’re feeling – in order to tailor advertising to your emotional state.

A Microsoft patent unearthed by New Scientist suggests using the Kinect sensor to analyse your face and body language to target advertising.

So, according to the patent, a happy gamer won’t click on a weight-loss product – “but a really happy person may purchase electronic products or vacation packages.”

With sensors like the Leap Motion providing higher-resolution readings than the Kinect – and Sony recently launching a patent for in-game advertising – we could be heading for a future where games take a break for an emotionally-targeted advert between levels. If you start getting adverts for counselling and gin, it’s time to start getting worried.

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Dan Grabham Editor-in-Chief

About

Dan is Editor-in-chief of Stuff, working across the magazine and the Stuff.tv website.  Our Editor-in-Chief is a regular at tech shows such as CES in Las Vegas, IFA in Berlin and Mobile World Congress in Barcelona as well as at other launches and events. He has been a CES Innovation Awards judge. Dan is completely platform agnostic and very at home using and writing about Windows, macOS, Android and iOS/iPadOS plus lots and lots of gadgets including audio and smart home gear, laptops and smartphones. He's also been interviewed and quoted in a wide variety of places including The Sun, BBC World Service, BBC News Online, BBC Radio 5Live, BBC Radio 4, Sky News Radio and BBC Local Radio.

Areas of expertise

Computing, mobile, audio, smart home