Gawker, “‘Office Berserker’ Is Unfortunately Not Real”
So that “Office Berserker” video we linked to last week—security camera footage purportedly showing a man going crazy at work and destroying his entire office, along with many of his coworkers—has been confirmed as another freaking viral marketing video (as suspected). This time the prankster was a Russian director trying to build buzz for a film called Wanted. Damn you, Timur Bekmambetov! It’s getting to where you just can’t trust online footage of unprovoked violence any more. If you care to, watch the clip again with a more jaundiced eye, after the jump.
Continue reading ‘We’ve been had, office freak-out was a viral ad’
Times Online, “Microsoft seeks patent for office ’spy’ software”
Microsoft is developing Big Brother-style software capable of remotely monitoring a worker’s productivity, physical wellbeing and competence.
The Times has seen a patent application filed by the company for a computer system that links workers to their computers via wireless sensors that measure their metabolism. The system would allow managers to monitor employees’ performance by measuring their heart rate, body temperature, movement, facial expression and blood pressure. Unions said they fear that employees could be dismissed on the basis of a computer’s assessment of their physiological state.
Technology allowing constant monitoring of workers was previously limited to pilots, firefighters and Nasa astronauts. This is believed to be the first time a company has proposed developing such software for mainstream workplaces.
Microsoft submitted a patent application in the US for a “unique monitoring system” that could link workers to their computers. Wireless sensors could read “heart rate, galvanic skin response, EMG, brain signals, respiration rate, body temperature, movement facial movements, facial expressions and blood pressure”, the application states.
Continue reading ‘Microsoft to provide totalitarianism in the workplace?’
