Identity theft is serious and ever-growing plague in our country, from massively complex syndicates and crime rings to petty thievery from a spouse, sibling, child or in-law. The damage dealt is very real and very painful for those that have had their credit card accounts raided.

But Hollywood has, of course, found some way to turn that all into a comedy.

An upcoming movie entitled “Identity Theft” is going to be helmed by Seth Gordon as its director and will highlight the funny stuff that happens a person takes over another person’s life. Gordon was known for his most recent comedy “Horrible Bosses” and is hoping to repeat the success by working once again with its three main stars – Charlie Day, Jason Sudeikis and Jason Bateman.

Now don’t get me wrong here. I like comedy as much as the next guy, and I think the movie has great potential to bring the dangers of identity theft into the consciousness of the American public. The reason ID theft has become such a prevalent problem nowadays is that most people don’t know about it until they become a victim.

This movie will hopefully make people more aware that identity theft is a very real problem that could happen to anyone.

It is no business secret that many businesses make a lot of money during the holiday seasons. Christmas sales can even account for 60% of a business’ profit for the whole year!

So you can just imagine how potent social media like Facebook and Twitter can be for bringing in additional sales.

First off is the obvious sales potential of social networks. Promos, discounts, catalogues and even product launches can be easily and cheaply advertised on these networks. People who “friend,” “like,” or “follow” your business’ social network profile will quickly be made aware of your holiday offerings.

Second is reaching out and connecting with people on the networks. Coming up with “holiday-only” promos that reward your existing followers for bringing others to your profile can boost your reach, while actively communicating with followers builds brand loyalty.

Third is actually mixing the holiday spirit into the whole thing. Ever wonder why businesses go to all that effort to deck their stores with all that Christmas-y stuff? Adding a festive mood to social network updates and riding on the excitement is a great way to boost overall sales.

Oh, just make sure you’ve got the skill and manpower to make all this possible. There are enough half-baked Facebook profiles out there with no one updating them – much less reacting to followers.

Here’s how it works:
Photos of hundreds of virtual groceries line the walls. Shoppers simply step up, take a photo of the QR code listed under each product and go about their day. If they order by 1pm, their groceries should be delivered to them by dinnertime – [via]

Chris Harrison, a PhD student in Human-Computer Interaction at Carnegie Mellon University, demonstrates his latest project – OmniTouch, whose prototype design uses a shoulder-worn, depth-sensing camera/projector to create interactive “touchscreens” on anything from a nearby wall to your own forearm.

OmniTouch technology is simply amazing. Its screenless interface can distinguish between a touch and a “click” (i.e., a command to do something), auto-detect the size of the interface surface (e.g., it will project a short strip onto your arm, but a large rectangle onto the wall), and even recognize the orientation of the image in 3-D space (if you tilt your screen-hand toward yourself, it will consider it “private”; a more flat orientation will be deemed “public”).

Thus, it is now conceivable that anything one can do on today’s mobile devices, they could do in the palm of their hand.

via http://www.fastcodesign.com/