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from the always-listening-to-our-customers dept.
Synchronizing email, texts, calendar, bookmarks, contacts, notes, git? Done.
Synchronizing what ads you heard when you had your phone in your pocket, and you tablet on the train, and you computer on your desk? Also done.
ArsTechnica (UK) has an article about synchronizing consumer and friend's device use without consumer involvement.
The ultrasonic pitches are embedded into TV commercials or are played when a user encounters an ad displayed in a computer browser. While the sound can't be heard by the human ear, nearby tablets and smartphones can detect it. When they do, browser cookies can now pair a single user to multiple devices and keep track of what TV commercials the person sees, how long the person watches the ads, and whether the person acts on the ads by doing a Web search or buying a product.
Cross-device tracking raises important privacy concerns, the Center for Democracy and Technology wrote in recently filed comments to the Federal Trade Commission. The FTC has scheduled a workshop on Monday to discuss the technology. Often, people use as many as five connected devices throughout a given day—a phone, computer, tablet, wearable health device, and an RFID-enabled access fob. Until now, there hasn't been an easy way to track activity on one and tie it to another.
"As a person goes about her business, her activity on each device generates different data streams about her preferences and behavior that are siloed in these devices and services that mediate them," CDT officials wrote. "Cross-device tracking allows marketers to combine these streams by linking them to the same individual, enhancing the granularity of what they know about that person."
According to TechCrunch, Silverpush says it "isn't receiving any actual audio data" from some 18 million smartphones.
(Score: 1) by Flyingmoose on Saturday November 14 2015, @11:25PM
I can hear high frequencies up to what that kind of speaker can produce. If I start hearing squealing from a device, I'll never visit that website again.
(Score: 4, Informative) by Ethanol-fueled on Saturday November 14 2015, @11:38PM
Sharp equalizer rolloff below 20 Hz and above 20 KHz. Doable with software and hardware(in the case of using a TV without a graphic EQ with its built-in speakers, use the audio output and set up low and high pass filters appropriately. If using just a PC it could easily be done with software. You could also set a noise gate with a certain frequency as a trigger to be sure that no barely-audible pulses are sent during periods of so-called "silence."
It is, after all, only a TV show or website you're visiting -- hardly the domains of the audiophile. You and your family can afford to lose a little low and high end for casual entertainment, and the noise gate may actually improve the experience.
If you know what you're doing you can perform spectral analysis and see for yourself what the bastards are up to.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 15 2015, @06:49AM
That shit is used as a sonic weapon [wisegeek.com] in places. (Including my local mall)
A well-designed digital audio circuit will have sharp roll-off above 20kHz anyway. Otherwise you can get aliasing that causes noise in the audible range (due to niquist's theorem (sample rate must be at least double the highest frequency component of the signal)). Note: I am fudging a bit here since the audio output is often analog (sampling is where you get aliasing).
Of course, with the introduction of Blus-ray and AACS, 192kHz sample-rate is now a thing. This allows altrasonics up to 96kHz. I suspect HDCP may use ultrsonic noise for traitor tracing (to facilitate device revocation), but have not investigated the issue as thoroughly as I would like.
So called "HD audio" devices can not have a roll-off at 20kHz on the off chance somebody want to encoced an FM stero broadcast into each audio channel. (I exaggerate by 4kHz)