• by Gavin O'Malley , Staff Writer @mp_gavin, August 19, 2014

Imagine a world where Heineken bottles put on their own little light shows (and flash when they feel neglected); consumers only need to tap a box of Cheerios to order more; and smartphones can detect everything from bad breath to cancer. That’s all already possible -- or will be in a few short years -- as part of a sweeping sensor revolution, according to Ben Gaddis, Chief Innovation Officer at T3 (The Think Tank). Rest assured, the implications of the coming sensor insurgency get “way creepier,” Gaddis told attendees of MediaPost’s Mobile Insider Summit, on Tuesday. And, it’s all thanks to vastly cheaper sensor production methods -- so much so that they can be discarded after a single use, as in the cases of flashing Heineken bottles and connected Cheerios boxes -- along with an explosion in mobile computing. According to Gaddis, smartphones already have about 8-to-12 sensors, including accelerometers, gyroscopes, magnetometers, microphones, and cameras -- and future models will have many more. As such, “Sensors are going to revolutionize how marketers engage with consumers,” Gaddis said on Tuesday.