Satellites Spy On Black Friday Shoppers 171
MojoKid writes "Those satellites in space don't just take spy pictures. On this Black Friday 2010, they actually took pictures of you, and your rush to Black Friday shopping deals. The research is being done to see what consumer demand this year means for retail stocks. The trend, so far, has been favorable. The companies involved in this are Remote Sensing Metrics and Digital Globe. Remote Sensing Metrics is a Chicago-based consulting firm that analyzes the satellite imagery. In turn, it purchases those images from Colorado-based company Digital Globe, which operates its own satellites."
would ya look at that..... (Score:2)
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reading the rfids...from SPAAAACE
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One more reason (Score:5, Insightful)
to stay away from the mindless consumerism that defines today's society.
My immediate family and I don't buy presents for any of the "holiday seasons". We offer ourselves things of no merchant value, such as poems, good time and love.
Whenever I go to town, I see people moving from shop to shop like drones, trying hard to figure out what they're going to buy next. We used to be like that, but we aren't anymore. We use money to live (food, basic transportation, reasonable housing) and our hands and heads for entertainment.
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WHAT? That means someone stole my car! And painted it white!
Re:One more reason (Score:5, Insightful)
It's not the number of pixels that represents my car, or the danger (or lack thereof) for my liberties, it's the fact that those who want to sell us things treat us like cattle: our consuming habits are under intense scrutiny all of the time, and we are fed a form of brainwashing called "advertising" as a result of the marketing studies. And the worst is, it works: people consume, consume and consume all the time, and start consuming even more when certain dates come (like Black Friday).
I chose to stop consuming whenever possible, to not be a cattle.
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I hate to think of how much the police department would make by selling the information they gather by driving through mall parking lots, scanning every single license plate looking for stolen cars...
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Once one draw back enough from the details, one find that modern corporations are not really that different from soviet style communism. Both require(d) some level of predictability, resulting in massive data gathering.
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That "even anti-blah is blah" pattern works for a lot of things, but not consumption. If you are not consuming, you are not consuming. Full stop.
If you are not consuming, you are consuming nothing.
Ha ha! Language tricks!
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I'd have done the same. Just because someone calls themselves Christian does not mean they actually are.
Do not think that every Christian buys into the (false) "Name-it-and-Claim-It" gospel. It's a garbage presentation of the True Gospel of Jesus Christ.
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Personally I do like the premise the OP advances. Instead of getting more stuff of little to no real value, they are making memories that will last longer than any item made of fiber, metal, or inorganic hydrocarbon compounds. By putting real thought and care into their choice for presents, they are retaining a sense of humanity that today's society dearly lacks.
Well... (Score:2)
Personally I do like the premise the OP advances. Instead of getting more stuff of little to no real value, they are making memories that will last longer than any item made of fiber, metal, or inorganic hydrocarbon compounds.
That's until the Alzheimer's kicks in. Then you'll be sad indeed you invested so little in Star Wars figures.
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When Alzheimer's kicks in you won't even remember what they are, much less why you have them. The only joy you will get is the day-to-day seeing of something "new". At that point, nothing will really matter as you'll just be existing.
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Meh. When the alzheimer's kicks in, you won't remember you have star wars figurines, let alone what star wars is.
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So, yeah, I'm a consumer at Christmas time.
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Then you've already indoctorinated your kids to the consumerist side of Christmas. There is plenty to be excited about without expensive presents. Teach your kids to enjoy the finer things in life (like each other's company) more than some toy.
You're right, I'm not a parent, but if I were, I hope my wife and I would be able to celebrate Christmas in some truly meaningful way. (:
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Umm, I'm a parent, and my 5 year old has already said she doesn't want too many presents this year, and especially not toys. She wants art supplies (like playdo and drawing paper and paint). She's said numerous times "I have too many toys.", which is surprising, cause she doesn't have that many really. She doesn't express jealousy at toys other kids have, so it's not her just trying to please mom and dad (who are not really in a position financially to but tons of toys anyways). We did the mega-consumerist
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You've bought so fully into the lie of consumerism that you can't see anything else as being fulfilling for you or your family. That's a failure on society, sir; and yes, you and your wife for going along with it. Sorry, but I count that as an epic failure. One to be avoided on my part.
If that's what makes you and your family happy, so be it, but do not think for one moment that it's right to feed that mentality.
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> I'm not a parent, but if I were
Obviously you were never a kid either. Toys and presents mean a _lot_ to kids. Your kid may appreciate a hug and kind word, but there is no real substitute for a present.
If the presents mean that much more to any child we may have, then I've failed my child. Period.
I remember being a kid and it wasn't about the presents for me (which is probably good because we weren't well off). I loved getting them, but like another poster: I don't remember a single one. I remember time spent with my paternal grandparents (my grandfather died in 1996). I remember time spent with my maternal grandmother (my maternal grandfather died from alcoholism around the time I was born). I remember t
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I do agree with the general trend of your sentiments, but when you're linking the meaning of christmas and easter to christian events, then you're buying in to religion, if you'll excuse the harsh paraphrasing.
It's your full right to believe in that, but I personally don't; for me it's about celebrating the seasonal changes and the cycle of life - as it was way before various religions mapped their own meanings on those inconceivably ancient times of celebration. What is now christmas celebrates the return
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How so? Are the "good times" the OP enjoys giving poetry and love any more meaningful than the "good times" people have giving material goods?
If you don't like materialism, don't participate. But there's no need look down on people for enjoying themselves.
You say that as though materialism and quality time with loved ones are two equally valid positions. They're not.
Further, "don't participate" is good advice. The hurdle is that materialism is the dominant culture. You have to go against the grain and actively resist numerous influences and pressures and expectations in order to shun the material method of celebrating what were originally historical and religious holidays. This is by design, since sadly most Americans don't have the backbone to do tha
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Thank you, for so eloquently stating your position (one which I firmly agree with).
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The first is the classic "Oh, I've retired to my house in the countryside now. We don't spend much money, get all of our vegetables locally, etc.", i.e. those people who think they have climbed their way out of it. In reality they are just worms in the apple of materialism. They have consumed a certain amount of "living sp
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My immediate family and I don't buy presents for any of the "holiday seasons". We offer ourselves things of no merchant value, such as poems, good time and love.
Your Christmas sounds pretty shitty, well except for the love part... That sounds kinky.
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Your Christmas sounds pretty shitty, well except for the love part... That sounds kinky.
That's because you equate Christmas and consuming.
Let me tell you how my family and I stopped buying stuff for Christmas: we used to rush downtown to buy each other presents, before the 24th, just like you. Then we figured we could buy more shit for our money if we exchanged promises at xmas eve, and actually bought said shit after mid-january, when the unsold articles would be discounted. We did that for several years,
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Why?
If you just go to the first part of what he said - you can get more stuff for the same amount of money if you buy on a date that is slightly later than the date everyone else uses - it is completely rational. There is artificial demand in the market because everyone is attempting to do the same thing. It is perfectly rational to delay a few days to get more stuff -- or to spend less on Christmas and more on the kids on small things for the rest of the year. The *only* reason that the 25th is special is
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As Roland went on to say
Oh no, it isn't Roland. [slashdot.org]
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Someone brute force the password?
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Someone brute force the password?
NVM [slashdot.org].
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That fits perfectly with the environmentalist goal of de-civilizing the society. I hope your next step is to grow your own food in your backyard, drink rainwater, and light fire with two stones (or a stone and your head if you prefer). What you call 'mindless consumerism' is a sign of a healthy and prosperous society with plenty of goods that most people want and can afford, there is nothing wrong with it.
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There is far more evidence that the goal of at least some leading environmentalists is de-civilizing the society and a return to a primitive society (for example, a bestselling environmentalist author: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iTYe8WloF1U [youtube.com] ) than that there are people who would "prefer" to see world polluted beyond the point of being able to sustain a civilization. I don't know anybody who would want that.
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Well, I guess it all depends on what you define as "de-civilizing". If that entails you not being allowed to rape the planet simply because you feel you're entitled to a fuel-guzzling monster SUV to go fetch a loaf of bread at the bakery around the corner, then yeah, the world can damn well use a good de-civilizing.
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> a healthy and prosperous society with plenty of goods that most people want and can afford
I can't help but wonder how you've missed the debt crisis most of this healthy and prosperous society has been in for the last years.
There is a reasonable middle ground (Score:2)
Consumerism can be mindless. But it can also be very thoughtful. And that, to me, is when it's just as good as something like a poem.
Humans are tool users, and there's nothing wrong with buying tools to use as instruments in having fun and making memories. Which could be literal instruments as a new guitar for a music lover. Or something like a new computer for a parent who doesn't have a good grasp on what to buy. These would seem to come under "consumerism" but can have a lasting impact on happiness
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To me, consumerism *is* mindless. If you put thought into buying relevant, useful and personal presents, it is no more consumerism than buying bread.
I like the idea of limiting the number of presents to buy, too - everyone gets something worthwile and meaningful, but nobody has to bleed for it.
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ohnoitsroland
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Actually, no it's not... See a comment up the page.
If anything, Ohnoitsaguywhoistrolling... If it's the real Roland, your zombie-hunting fantasies are about to come true.
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Ugh, smug alert!
Your post reminds me of the classic "I don't watch TV, it's all crap.". Good times and love are great and are sometimes accompanied by purchased gifts. Many are fun and useful gifts beyond the ability of an individual to craft. Your black and white sneer at anything offered by a merchant is a disturbing brand of fanaticism. If beating your chest about how "enlightened" you are gets you off, more power to you. The rest of us choose to enjoy the good things produced by the skill of our fellow
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Hippies. They say they want to change the world, but all they do is smoke pot and smell bad.
So the difference between hippies and libertarians is soap?
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to stay away from the mindless consumerism that defines today's society.
My immediate family and I don't buy presents for any of the "holiday seasons". We offer ourselves things of no merchant value, such as
Pinko Commie subversive prevrets. Y'all should hang. Not hang your heads in shame, just hang from the Strange Fruit tree, with the rest of the "fruits". [/sarcasm]
"Roland Piquepaille" is an imposter. (Score:2)
Is anyone else confused here? I thought that Roland died in 2009. Wasn't there a /. article on it?
Yes, the real Roland Piquepaille [wikipedia.org] died almost two years ago. (His real user account was rpiquepa [slashdot.org]).
The question is, why should we take anyone blatantly misusing someone else's name like that seriously? And no, I don't believe that this user coincidentally has the same real-life name (or chose that user name independently).
To everyone under 30 (Score:5, Insightful)
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Re:To everyone under 30 (Score:5, Insightful)
You are now so used to being spied on that you can't even comprehend what the world was like without it.
It was a much friendlier and relaxed place to live. Nobody had the right to sift through your life just to see what they could sell you and the government wasn't into monitoring every move you made and jailing you for the least offense. That was a society that had much more freedom.
I can remember when getting caught lighting up your tires wasn't an automatic reckless driving ticket and a several hundred dollar fine as well as a large increase in your insurance rates. Cops were much more human and forgiving for they remembered what it was like to be young and dumb and weren't out to disrupt your life for your first mistake. Most of them, as long as you didn't try to lie to them, would let you go with a warning even if they caught you making a pretty serious mistake. I've been let walk after burning rubber for half a city block and reaching close to 80mp in a 25mph zone right in front of sheriff's deputy I didn't see. He asked me what happened and I explained it to him: I was showing for a couple of very good looking young women and that it was a first for me to do that in town as my hotrodding and racing was done out of town. My honesty got me a warning instead of a ticket and some time in jail. Try that today and see what happens to you.
You had the freedom to make mistakes and learn from them without being severely punished. If you didn't learn, well, that was your problem and you could expect to have the book thrown at you the second time. During high school most of us used to carry pocket knives and a lot of us had guns in the trunks of our cars because we liked to go plinking after school. I remember pranks such as wiring the urinal drain in the faculty men's bathroom to a Model T coil not getting anyone kicked out of school, and intentional small explosions in chemistry class going unpunished. I also knew a guy who blew a foot deep hole in the football field with a home made pipe bomb who got nothing more than a 2 day suspension. He wasn't hauled off to jail and prosecuted for terrorism. In fact the issue never was reported to the police and this was done inside city limits.
Today's young people don't know what liberty is as we live in a society in which we are watched 24/7 and our liberties are fast disappearing. Not much individual freedom is left even when compared to eras such as the 60's and 70's, let alone the 1800's, but those of you who didn't live in those decades, and aren't students of American history, will never understand what has been lost. It's a paradigm you can't grasp because you've never experienced it.
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"I've been let walk after burning rubber for half a city block and reaching close to 80mp in a 25mph zone right in front of sheriff's deputy I didn't see. He asked me what happened and I explained it to him: I was showing for a couple of very good looking young women and that it was a first for me to do that in town as my hotrodding and racing was done out of town. My honesty got me a warning instead of a ticket and some time in jail."
So you're whining that you can't drive wrecklessly down a street and poss
Re:To everyone under 30 (Score:4, Insightful)
"I've been let walk after burning rubber for half a city block and reaching close to 80mp in a 25mph zone right in front of sheriff's deputy I didn't see. He asked me what happened and I explained it to him: I was showing for a couple of very good looking young women and that it was a first for me to do that in town as my hotrodding and racing was done out of town. My honesty got me a warning instead of a ticket and some time in jail."
So you're whining that you can't drive wrecklessly down a street and possibly kill people. You're the reason why we can't have nice things.
Sorry, but that's the dumbest response I've seen in a while. How you managed to take that from my post is beyond me.
Government wasn't out to punish every infraction. They were out to teach if they thought you were capable of learning. They were human and recognized that they themselves made mistakes. They wouldn't let you get by with making the same mistakes multiple times, but a one-time infraction wasn't enough to always severely punish you.
Funny how back then it was much easier to get ahead, in spite of how you claim I'm the reason you can't have nice things. Where you drew that logical fallacy from is beyond me. It's some of the worst logic I've ever seen. Funny how you think humanity in a less intrusive government led to a bad economy. The reality is just the opposite. Big brother watching you and wanting to control every aspect of your life is the reason our country is going broke.
Re:To everyone under 30 (Score:5, Insightful)
So you're whining that you can't drive wrecklessly down a street and possibly kill people. You're the reason why we can't have nice things.
The reason we can't have nice things is not because people are human and make mistakes and do dumb things. The reason we can't have nice things is because recently the US has turned into a police state and a nanny state. Kids aren't allowed to walk to the park, zero-tolerance/three-strikes for utterly minor "crimes", and being treated like a criminal for wanting to travel around the country are all new things that have come to be over the last few decades. To pretty much any average US citizen (Helen Lovejoys aside) who is paying attention, this is an obvious and blatant turn for the worse.
People being human is not preventing you from having nice things. The current environment that is dehumanizing everybody indiscriminately is.
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Mods have access to better drugs than I do, apparently.
That's the stupidest thing I've seen get a score over two in a long time. You have failed a basic reading comprehension task. Plus, your spelling could be improved.
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No, it isn't just a study. It's one more manifestation of how intrusive society is any more and how little you do that isn't mined for information about you and used against you whether it be government or big business using the data to manipulate you.
These types of "studies" weren't even considered 40 or 50 years ago even though they could have been done then too. Your phone calls couldn't be monitored by anyone back then without a warrant. Your president couldn't order your assassination, or that you,
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Back then a kid could fly the US flag on his bike and not be told to either stop flying the US flag on Veterans's Day or he'd get suspended from school. If you had a piece of candy at school it wasn't taken away from you and you weren't punished. What you ate was your own business. Government couldn't have cared less. If you thanked God for your food before you ate in the school lunch room you weren't punished by the public school authorities.
Now you're just making shit up.
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What's the color of my skin have to do with anything? Do you have gray eyes? Do you have black or brown hair? Those things are as relevant to this discussion as the color of my skin.
It seems to me I hear charges of racism over anything and everything now. And we see government making decisions over who they will prosecute based on race alone. Hmmm.... Isn't making decisions like that both illegal and morally wrong? Looks to me like there are bigots in both law enforcement and government now too. We
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Only someone born of white privilege could possibly assert that the law enforcement environment of 40-50 years ago was some high point of government egalitarianism. I don't think even Clarence Thomas would assert that police in the 1950's were some great, grand examples of American color blindness and rational, reasoned justice.
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Compare your grandparents stories about all the things they did that were wrong or illegal that they got away with, realized was wrong, and learned from that. And with the push for complete surveillance will result in fewer people getting away with such things, people don't get the "oops" factor they used to have to let them l
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Re:To everyone under 30 (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:To everyone under 30 (Score:4, Informative)
These images are collected by privately owned satellites, not the National Reconnaissance Office.
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Who launched them? I'm not sure what the situation is like now, but it used to be that you could buy the best satellite imagery from Soviet spy satellites that were being leased out by a bankrupt former Soviet Union. I did some work on an MoD site in the late '90s, and they had a great picture of the entire site in their reception. I asked about this, since I'd read that it was illegal to take aerial photographs of the area - apparently for a few hundred quid over the Internet they got a Russian satellit
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Out of curiosity - do you think that if a crime/terror attack or any other event of interest happens in the screened area, can the police/FBI/CIA/NSA/... subpoena the pictures?
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Yeah, You, Specifically (Score:4, Informative)
Digital Globe has a flikr feed at http://www.flickr.com/photos/digitalglobe-imagery/ [flickr.com]
Re:Yeah, You, Specifically (Score:5, Funny)
Oh man. That shot makes me want to play sim city
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Naaaah, not Sim City... Ant City!
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No, not Sim Ant, Ant City - a stupid flash game. (But fun anyway, for a few minutes.)
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/
Maybe I'm just paranoid, but I don't want anyone tracking me (via cell phone, or car, or other method) without probable cause.
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And people said I was weird (Score:5, Funny)
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Everyone that read your post.
You forgot one crucial step (Score:3, Funny)
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Dude, you should know that aluminum hats actually improve the transmission rate of the mind-control waves, you gotta use lead.
Oh and turkey gravy gives skin cancer now :-)
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They saw me walk into the mall where I purchased a Faraday cage suit and matching tin-foil hat.
I put them on before I left.
They think I'm still there! Hee hee.
That'll learn 'em.
ours, not likely (Score:3, Insightful)
So you are telling me that a group of people renowned for hiding in parent's basement with the technological knowledge to shop online willing went out into the deathtrap that was black friday.
Peace Sells.... (Score:2)
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I don't get it (Score:3, Interesting)
- Unless of course you want to know how well your competitor is doing.
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Really?!?!?! (Score:2)
So, we're now jumping on the bandwagon where everything is spying? (I know, I must be new here...) Because, what _I_ read was a barebones article (193 words!!!) barely longer than the summary, that basically says they are using imaging of parking lots (and they implied traffic patterns as well) to see how full they are. I might be wrong, but my response is already almost longer than the article which makes it difficult to tell. I say it's a valid approach, spun up via alarmist phrasing to look like a pr
Not ME (Score:2)
On this Black Friday 2010, they actually took pictures of you, and your rush to Black Friday shopping deals.
Nope, not me. I NEVER leave the house on Black Friday. I prefer not to be trampled and run down by mindless consumers.
I do my Xmas shopping from the relative safety of my computer and Amazon. Ironically, the government probably knows a lot more about MY shopping habits than those in the satellite images.
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Damn, I shouldn't have ordered those bags of fertilizer and barrels of diesel fuel. Hey NSA, that was a joke....
Black Monday (Score:2)
If you are an economy watcher and armchair economist like I am, the next day to watch is "Black Monday", the first Monday after Thanksgiving. People who only have decent internet at work often place orders on that day. It is dwarfed by "Black Friday", but still interesting to watch. I think it will be up, esp. if there were shortages at the malls due to inventory slashing by the retailers. I can't wait to find out.
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Money is Debt.
Re:no surprise (Score:5, Interesting)
I'm guessing that most Black Friday purchases are not made with cash and the ones that are are probably comparatively small and could be estimated just by putting a few flunkies near a statistically relevant sample of checkout lines. This would mean that any of the major credit/debit card guys should have a much better, and much more machine readable, trace on consumer spending. Retailers, of course, many of whom are publically traded and nearing the end of their fiscal year, obviously know what they sold; and I'm guessing that the guys in the shipping sector know reasonably well how much stuff had to be shlepped from the pacific rim to refill Wally World after the event.
Pictures from space have been a given for years now; they just seem like a sloppy source of data compared to all the others that already exist...
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I am moderately surprised that the fairly low-resolution data you would get from a visual surveillance satellite(ie. you can tell how full the parking lot is on Black Friday. How many people are there to buy el-cheapo crap to satisfy their Christmas obligations without going further into debt, and how many are there to pick up toys just because they can? Can you tell the difference between my 'Insignia' brand bottom-of-the-barrel-but-good-enough-to-watch-football-with-my-browskies LCD TV and a top of the line cinemaphile disposable-income-eater of similar size just by the box, from space?), even with sophisticated machine vision algorithms or more analysts than the National Reconnaissance Office, would be competitive with consumer metrics available from other sources.
I have personally seen non-classified photos from reconnaissance satellites where I could clearly read street signs and license plates.
I can't speak to the value of such photos for marketing information, but I can attest to the quality of the images themselves.
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I have personally seen non-classified photos from reconnaissance satellites where I could clearly read street signs and license plates.
Those couldn't have been from satellites, it would require a huge mirror to be able to clearly read anything like a street sign or a license plate. Those photos were more likely from something like a plane.
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Can you tell the difference between my 'Insignia' brand bottom-of-the-barrel-but-good-enough-to-watch-football-with-my-browskies LCD TV and a top of the line cinemaphile disposable-income-eater of similar size just by the box, from space?)
If it's a big enough TV, then yes, yes we can.
Usually done with low tech aerial photos (Score:2)
Hedge Funds, Analysts, etc have been analyzing satellite images for years to keep an eye on retail. While interesting, this is by no means anything new.
Yes and no. Its difficult and expensive to get a satellite to image a specific place on a specific date. Most of this sort of work is done by sending up a local flight instructor (they are relatively inexpensive per hour and instrument rated in case of weather) with a photographer as a passenger.
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