Virgin introduce new blinking technology to skip YouTube ads

The mobile network's YouTube channel has introduced ‘Blinkwashing’ - new software that connects to a user's webcam and registers when they blink.

The channel requires the watcher to give Virgin control of his or her webcam, which is followed by an installation process that registers the user's eyes and asks them to blink so that the software can register the motion.

The user is then shown a series of video adverts, which they can skip through by blinking. Currently, the adverts are simply a group of videos showing Virgin Mobile offers.

The experiment is limited to Virgin Mobile's own YouTube page, and it is unclear whether the technology will catch on. However, the benefits of the software are clear to advertisers, since for a blink to be registered the person has to actually be watching the advert, rather than looking away and ignoring it as they wait for a video to play.

Source: http://cablequest.org/news/technology-news/item/3251-virgin-introduce-new-blinking-technology-to-skip-youtube-ads.htmlSource: http://cablequest.org/news/technology-news/item/3251-virgin-introduce-new-blinking-technology-to-skip-youtube-ads.html