For me, the internets have always been about those moments of genuine surprise. Those moments where a slow day’s aimless browsing is suddenly brought to a screaming halt by a phrase, a picture, an image, and everything is just a little different. This can be a good thing, sometimes a very bad thing. There’s always a physical response. My head comes up. My eyebrows lift. There’s frequently a vocalisation.
I call them Whuffs, after the snorting noise I usually make when I come across them, and for the acronym they most usually bring to mind.
Here’s today’s whuff. It’s tucked into this Wired article about Open Source Radio, a somewhat whuffy article itself. See if you can guess which sentence sent my eyebrows into my hairline.
EXCUSES AND HALF TRUTHS 
The phrase that caught my attention concerned UK shopkeepers using data covering mobile users’ locations within their premises to determine sales displays foot traffic results in real time.
Just thinking of places like the mall next to Gloucester Road tube stop, and the mix of pedestrian traffic it undergoes each day, then this technology boggles the mind.
btw, would hope you had a chance to visit Yosemite Valley during your SFO visit. In grandeur and awe it far surpasses- IMHO – Muir Woods.
Cheers from the Monterey Bay
The problem is that this tech can also be used to squirt targeted text messages at you if you happen to pause at a window for a nanosecond too long. On a busy thoroughfare like the Gloucester Road, that could add up to 5 SMS pokes a minute. That’ll suck all the joy out of window shopping…
Alas, we’re not going to be able to make it out to Yosemite this trip, but I’ll definitely shortlist it for our next time. Thanks for the tip, 49erdweet!