• Venture Beat, Monday, May 14, 2012 10:28 AM

Meet SceneTap -- a Chicago-based startup trying to usher in another level of real-work demographic targeting. How? With cameras that pick up on facial characteristics to determine a person’s approximate age and gender, which it installs in social venues with the cooperation of owners.

“Imagine this,” VentureBeat writes. “You and your girlfriend walk into a neighborhood bar, order a cocktail, and, unbeknownst to you both, a camera above is scanning your faces to determine your age and gender. … Your deets are combined with data on other bar patrons and then spit out to looky-loo mobile application users trolling for a good-time venue with the right genetic make-up.”

To close the circle, SceneTap also makes Web and mobile applications that allow random observers to find out, in real-time, the male-to-female ratio, crowd size, and average age of a bar’s patrons. And no one goes unnoticed. “We represent EVERYONE in the venue,” SceneTap proudly proclaims on its Web site. Launched last July, SceneTap is now live in seven markets, including San Francisco and Austin, and has tracked more than 8.5 million people at 400 partner venues. Accordig to VB: “The technology walks the thin line between creepy and fascinating.”

Read the whole story at Venture Beat »