In 2008, Google applied to patent a system that analyzes the environments surrounding mobile phones -- temperature, humidity, sound -- by way of sensors embedded in those phones. The technology would be mainly used, Google said in its filing, for (yes) "advertising based on environmental conditions." It would provide another information layer, beyond quaint little GPS, that would target ads based not just on users' immediate locations, but on their immediate environments. So, the filing noted, detections of hot weather could serve up ads for air conditioners; or, inversely, winter coats. Or the phone sensors might detect, say, the distinctive sounds of an orchestra being tuned, and combine that information -- the user is at a concert -- with location data and local events data to figure out which concert the user is attending. And then serve ads (for nearby restaurants, orchestral CDs, local violin teachers) based on that intel.
Cool, no? And also totally creepy?