What you should take from this demonstration: upon timely delivery of your package, the Deadline Courier will yank a special cord and explode all over the client's doorstep. [via Inventorspot and adsoftheworld]

The companies claim, of course, that the cameras won't store pictures of you almost getting into an accident when you drive past that Victoria's Secret ad, instead just registering your gender and how long you look at the ad. But if there are cameras there that can train on your face there's no guarantee that in the future they won't somehow link up what billboards you look at with the profile stored on the internet hooked up to the picture of you that was secretly taken of your with your iSight camera. They'll be able to create a total consumer profile of you, the marketers wet dream.

I'm kidding, of course. That would never happen. People would protest as soon as the little invasions of privacy added up to something that large. Right? Right, guys?

But in any case, the companies behind this tech have visions of targeting billboard ads to specific demographics. You know, like Metamucil ads to old ladies and iPods to young men. Cool? [CNET]

Imagine a future filled with people getting paid to wear annoying ads everywhere you went, or attention seekers getting in your face with a shirt filled with their stupid propaganda. It's a good thing we will all be long dead before this sort of technology becomes widely available. [Lunar Design via Gizmowatch via DVICE]

The Billboard Liberation Front today announced a major new advertising improvement campaign executed on behalf of clients AT&T and the National Security Agency. Focusing on billboards in the San Francisco area, this improvement action is designed to promote and celebrate the innovative collaboration of these two global communications giants.

"This campaign is an extraordinary rendition of a public-private partnership," observed BLF spokesperson Blank DeCoverly. "These two titans of telecom have a long and intimate relationship, dating back to the age of the telegraph. In these dark days of Terrorism, that should be a comfort to every law-abiding citizen with nothing to hide."

AT&T initially downplayed its heroic efforts in the War on Terror, preferring to serve in silence behind the scenes. "But then we realized we had a PR win on our hands," noted AT&T V.P. of Homeland Security James Croppy. "Not only were we helping NSA cut through the cumbersome red tape of the FISA system, we were also helping our customers by handing over their e-mails and phone records to the government. Modern life is so hectic - who has time to cc the feds on every message? It's a great example of how we anticipate our customers' needs and act on them. And, it should be pointed out, we offered this service free of charge."

Commenting on the action, and responding to questions about pending privacy litigation and the stalled Congressional effort to shield the telecoms from these lawsuits, NSA spokesperson [REDACTED] remarked: "[REDACTED] we [REDACTED] condone [REDACTED] warrantless [REDACTED], [REDACTED] SIGINT intercepts, [REDACTED] torture [REDACTED] information retrieval by [REDACTED] means necessary."

"It's a win-win-win situation," noted the BLF's DeCoverly. "NSA gets the data it needs to keep America safe, telecom customers get free services, and AT&T makes a fortune. That kind of cooperation between the public and private sectors should serve as a model to all of us, and a harbinger of things to come."

Come see the improvement at 14th St. and Valencia St. in San Francisco.

The BLF (www.billboardliberation.com) has been improving outdoor advertising since 1977. Prior campaigns have included work for Exxon, R.J. Reynolds, and Apple Computers.

AT&T (www.att.com) is America's favorite telecommunications trust. Based in San Antonio, Texas, it has over 300,000 employees and annual revenues of $117 Billion.

NSA (www.nsa.gov) is the largest intelligence organization in the world. Headquartered at Fort Meade, Maryland, its budget, personnel, products, and services are all classified.

Blank DeCoverly
BLF Minister of Propaganda

Then snap back to reality. You are at work where your potential is limited and nobody cares about anything. Still, this San Franciscan Pacific Gas and Electric billboard actually draws its power from the grid, but sports 20 solar panels that gather enough energy to keep its energy deficit in the black (since the panels produce more energy than the billboard uses). That bottom line stays within reason with the help of our favorite dork technology, LEDs, which keep the billboard energy efficient even at night.

Ranging from 2.5-3.4 kilowatt hours of electricity produced during the day, with its peak production powering a household of four (we're guessing that example represents net after power usage is taken into account). It's one of those ideas that makes you think, "Why the hell aren't we doing this?" And then you remember that solar panels cost money and that people like money. [livescience via treehugger]

The Aeroform as he calls it, features a streamlined design for "optimal aerodynamic and climactic performance." Even the name is derived from the term "aerofoil" which refers to a structure that provides stability or a steering function in a flying object. The whole thing even looks like some sort of aircraft intake if you ask me.

No doubt that something like this would be really fantastic to live in — that is until you stumbled out of your house drunk at 4am and tumbled head first into the abyss. Probably a major reason why this concept may never see the light of day. [KRob via Treehugger]

Microsoft put up a gigantic billboard and paid sixteen dancers to "Cirque" up a Vista logo over it. After the performance was over, the actors got down and hailed cabs—a graceful exit if we've ever seen one. We're just curious where they keep cab fare on those outfits.

– Jason Chen

Microsoft Vista Is So Off the Wall [Gothamist]

We once knew a girl whose face was so ugly it could stop a sundial, so if she lives near Wrigley Field in Chicago, she won't have any way of knowing that it's time to stop eating Egg McMuffins and start digging into Big Macs. Ad agency Leo Burnett dreamed up this idea for a McDonald's billboard that takes us fast food junkies back to the ancient days of sundials, casting a shadow on a cup of McCoffee at 6 a.m., and moving along to other various delectable breakfast items until 11, when those scrumptious McDonald's fries are given the nod by the shadowy arches.

As the breakfast competition heats up in the Chicago markets and beyond, the McDonald's ad agency figured it could turn to the power of the sun for its billboard marketing, and searched far and wide until it found a billboard with just the right angle to take advantage of the sun's rays. The billboard made its debut on Friday, and it will stay in place until next month; by then the shadow angles will have changed so much it will cease to work properly. Great idea, unless it's a cloudy day, where the billboard will make absolutely no sense at all. But who needs it anyway—as if we depend on the McSun to tell us when we're hungry. – Charlie White

McD's launches next strike in breakfast war - in Wrigleyville [ChicagoBusiness] (Thanks, Gavin!)