Tuesday, September 7, 2010

RIM Wants Billboards That Know How Fast You're Driving

You're flying down the highway at 70MPH and you notice a billboard that reads "LIFE'S BETTER WITH BBM." The next day, crawling along that same stretch during a traffic jam, the billboard enumerates a BlackBerry's many features. That's RIM's vision.

In a patent filing for "Adaptive roadside billboard system and related methods" (there's one for pedestrian billboards, too), RIM looks to make the most of those huge LED ads by making them aware of the speed at which you're passing them by. The idea, roughly: the slower you're going, the more dense the advertising they're showing.

RIM mentions several methods for tracking traffic speed near the ads, including using the GPS sensors in commuters' mobile phones, though it's still a kind of a curious idea coming from a major phone manufacturer. But I've already figured out how to beat their system: drive faster. [Unwired View] via Gizmodo.

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