Billboards That Can See You

Inside the bustling Shinagawa train station here, a futuristic-looking vending machine has replaced rows of drink bottles and cans with a 47-inch touch-screen monitor.

When a person stands in front of the screen, a camera captures his image and a sensor determines the person's gender and approximate age.

Based on that reading, the machine "recommends" drinks that fit the customer's profile.

"With this machine, we can actually see who is buying what, instead of relying on educated guesses," said Toshinari Sasagawa, general manager of sales at an East Japan Railway subsidiary that operates vending machines in train stations.

Kids are Influencing $10.9 billion in Videogame Purchases;
Over 90% of Kids are Playing Games Online

Kids are influencing almost half the video game purchases and the way they are playing today is evolving as their platform and game choices expand online, on consoles and on portable and mobile devices.  A new report, "Kids and Games: What Boys and Girls are Playing Today"  provides timely insight into what games and platforms boys and girls are playing, with information collected from children ages 8-15 five times per year.

While the video game market is dominated by an older consumer, M2 Research has found that kids have a greater influence on purchases than the dollars they have in their pockets.  M2 Research estimates kids influence $10.9 billion in videogame hardware and software purchased each year.

Parents are forgetting how to play with their children,
study shows

The State of Play, Back to Basics report interviewed 2,000 parents and 2,000 children aged five to 15 about their play habits. It concludes that play is in danger of becoming a "lost art" for British families, with 21% of parents admitting they no longer remember how to play and struggle to engage their children in creative and imaginative activities that will help their development.

"Nearly one in three parents choose to play computer games with their children thinking that's what their kids will most enjoy," said Byron. "However, nine out of 10 children said computer games were something they would rather play on their own, while three-quarters said they would prefer to spend time with their parents enjoying more traditional pursuits, such as challenging each other at board games or playing outdoors together."

Trojan may have contributed to fatal Spanair crash

The Spanair plane crash that killed 154 people two years ago on Friday may have been partly caused by malware, according to reports.

The newspaper El Pais reported on Friday that Spanair's mainframe was contaminated with Trojans at the time that Flight JK 5022 to Gran Canaria crashed just after take-off at Madrid's Barajas airport.

The mainframe was supposed to raise the alarm when three similar technical problems were noted, but did not do so due to the infestation, El Pais said.

According to the report, investigating judge Juan David Perez has ordered Spanair to turn over the relevant data. There are currently two defendants in the case, both Spanair technicians.

FTC settles suit against cyberspying vendor

The FTC has settled its two-year-old lawsuit against keylogger vendor CyberSpy, allowing the company to continue to sell its RemoteSpy product but placing a few conditions on its use.

Announcing the settlement Thursday, the Federal Trade Commission said it "put the brakes" on the business practices of CyberSpy Software, which was sued by the FTC in 2008 over the sale and advertising of its RemoteSpy keylogger software.

Promoted as a computer monitoring product, RemoteSpy can capture keystrokes, passwords, and other information from unsuspecting users. The FTC had alleged that CyberSpy violated the FTC Act by allowing customers to surreptitiously install and even disguise RemoteSpy on PCs without the owner's knowledge.