Eye-tracking software will look at you shop

          

            New computer software will soon be keeping an eye on you, or on your eyes, when you go shopping. It is called the Sideways project because it tracks the movement of your eyes as you glance at products on shelves. The researchers, from Britain's Lancaster University, told the BBC that the technology would be a common feature in stores before the end of the decade. Senior researcher Andrea's Bulling said: "The system uses a single ordinary camera…[It] detects the faces of people walking by and calculates where the eyes are relative to the eye corners." This information is then used to flash up adverts related to what products you were looking at longest as you pass by video screens ahead of you.

           Eye-tracking technology is being used in a number of different situations. One is to help motorists better identify cyclists on roads. Studies suggest drivers are five times likelier to spot pedestrians than people riding bicycles. This could significantly cut the number of road deaths. Eye-tracking can also be used to allow people to use their eyes as a mouse to scroll through and select content on screens. Disabled people are already using this technology to enhance their daily mobility. Last month the tech giant Samsung launched a smartphone that monitors what users look at on-screen. Mr Bulling said: "It is really gaining momentum. I fully expect this technology to become available widely in the near future."

Related Vocabularies

computer software / shopping / glance at products / common feature / adverts / technology / motorist / mouse / scroll / smartphone / gaining momentum / near future

COMPREHENSION QUESTIONS

1.What will watch shoppers as they walk through stores?

2.What does the software watch you looking at?

3.When did a researcher say the software would be common?

4.How many cameras are needed for this software?

5.What does the eye-tracker do with information it collects?

6.What might car drivers be better able to see?

7.How could eye-tracking software be used with computers?

8.What does the technology do for the disabled?

9.What does Samsung's new smartphone do?

10.What did the researcher say about the progress of the software?

EYE-TRACKING DISCUSSION

Set A

a)What did you think when you read the headline?

b) What springs to mind when you hear the word 'software'?

c)What do you think of the eye-tracking software?

d)Is the software an invasion of privacy?

e)Should people be able to choose if they want their eyes tracked?

f)Would the videos you see after eye-tracking make you spend more?

g)Do you think this software is like Big Brother in the book "1984"?

h)What will happen to the footage from cameras that tracked your eyes?

Set B 

a)Did you like reading this article? Why/not?

b)If an eye-tracker is acceptable, how about a speech-tracker?

c)Should the eye-tracker be compulsory in cars to reduce accidents?

d)Do you like the idea of using your eyes as a mouse?

e)What other functions can you think of for eye-tracking?

f)How much is the eye-tracker like science fiction?

g)How could eye-tracking help you study English?

h)What questions would you like to ask the researchers?