HTML and CSS Reference
In-Depth Information
hashes based on users' online behavior and available device information, among other values, using sophisticated
statistical analysis for targeting audiences with a small margin for error. With companies like this emerging and
with companies like Apple (which is a leading device manufacturer and operator of the mobile ad network iAds),
a market is emerging that many will look to take advantage of. We'll see if it remains siloed in the walled garden of
Apple, though . . . my guess is it will.
Near-Field Communications
Near-Field Communications (NFC) is a technology used to detect proximity and specific sensors via a piece of
hardware like your mobile phone. Using NFC, people can share information between devices such as two phones,
a phone and a television, or even a tablet and a car, which can open up a whole new world for users interfacing with
screens and displays. The screen powered by HTML5 in the browser environment can detect and receive information
about users passing by with an equipped phone or device. This sort of transfer can bring a whole new world of
interaction to advertising.
The primary business model for this has been through the financial vertical; for instance, Google uses it for Wallet
and MasterCard uses it for Paypass, where the device can swipe over a “tag” for a secure wireless data transfer. But in
regards to advertising, the tag could hold specific information relating to the ad on-screen or based on contextual or
location data to display to the user.
So, with all of this information, you might be wondering what this has to do with HTML5 or HTML.next?
The truth is, it all relates, because the Web has many APIs (and will have more in the future) that can tap into this
information as more devices adopt NFC. In addition, with the release of new mobile devices supporting proximity
events, you should see interesting uses very shortly. It's also been said by Doug Turner of Mozilla that he wants to
bring device proximity support to mobile Firefox. To get an early look at working with proximity within the DOM,
Facial Recognition Software
Facial recognition is a technology that has been a long time coming. It's a technology that allows video cameras and
webcams, along with software and hardware, to detect face structure, distance, gender, and even attention time of
a user. Companies like Immersive Labs in the digital signage space and
Face.com
,
recently acquired by Facebook,
are already using this technology, and with more and more computers and devices already coming equipped with
cameras, you should see a huge growth in the market for years to come.
So again, what does this have to do with HTML5?
Well, if you remember back to Chapters 7 and 12, HTML5 has a new
video
tag, and along with the WebRTC
specification, using facial recognition can open up amazing new worlds for creative user interaction. Pair this with
the information you've just learned about from device manufacturers like Microsoft with the Kinect, and I think you
see where I'm going with this. In fact, some really smart developers have already begun working with facial detection
within HTML5 and WebRTC. Take a look at the example by Neave at
http://github.com/neave/face-detection
.
Another interesting feature of this is to pair with social data using Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and others. Using
these social APIs and facial recognition technology, you can pretty accurately learn a whole lot about a user by just the
information they post online. An interesting product is Facedeals, which pushes offers to people via their Facebook
account when they walk into a store that has the Facedeals camera installed at the entryway. To read more on this,
Do Not Track (DNT)
As I talk about all of this amazing technology, I'd like to bring it home by discussing user privacy and security and
the industry-wide emerging theme of Do Not Track (DNT). In short, DNT is a bit of information attached to all HTTP
