Spirited News and Observations and Opinions ...

[dhall]

That's a JOB! Can't believe they want some intern to do this.

It's actually a very good one, with growing demand for those specific skills. Lots of Fortune500 (and beyond) companies are looking for people that can do it.

 

[PhotoDave219]

No butter for a baguette??? Really???/ . Butter is used all through French....................

I'm not kidding. They said they didnt have any butter.

 

[dhall]

There is at least one Accenture employee active in this thread, no?

Not that I know of

 

[HenryMystic]

Old Dead Guy Walt was known for hanging out in the parks and talking to guests like a real human being ... I'm not going to suggest for a second that Bob is a real human being, but I will suggest that he might want to learn how to fake it from time to time.

Now now dear Spirit, Iger stated in the interview last week that he admires Walt and loves to watch (or listen?) to a 20 hr interview Walt gave. He is clearly the true successor to Walt and is infallible.

 

[dhall]

Some more NEWS, but not on the subject of NEXT GEN.

There have been some very hot rumours about WDW wanting its own version of Club 33 or the Carthay Circle Club in O-Town. Nothing that I've been able to pin down as definite, which is why I haven't mentioned it.

But found out earlier that WDW is now offering $99 APs (yes, you read that right) to DL Club 33 members at the Gold Tier or higher as well as merchandise discounts around the resort. I am wondering if this is something designed to see how many west coast folks might be interested in a similar club at WDW.

That'll ease the pressure on TDO -- more guests who can compare Anaheim & Orlando from direct personal experience.

 

[Rodan75]

I

That is correct - using many sources Disney can build a more complete picture. Its also why your point that you can't avoid the chip isn't all that meaningful. Its not the chip or the band that defines if Disney can or cannot be devious with your personal info. Disney already has tools that would empower profiling.

What matters is how Disney correlates and uses that data. And that is whether their privacy policy and privacy controls come into play. An area Disney has shown they are restrictive and had at leasst reasonable controls.

Its why I've been saying repeatedly that the RFID portion is really just the blinky light that is detracting from other true core concepts.


The rfid portion is an enabler and added new values, but really doesn't fundamentally change how Disney would face privacy

I agree. To be honest, Disney has most of the data for grand correlation already. You use a card to buy your ticket, that ticket is tagged to your ID by the card. You use your ticket to get a fast pass, you use your credit card to buy a snack at the food cart. Disney can put those pieces together for whatever it would be worth. As long as Disney has PCI compliant security, it is all okay to mine and correlate. RFID is the fancy light and user interface layer that could make he process slightly easier, KTTW on a grand scale. There is no ROI unless Disney used this project to enhance or replace existing reservation and POS systems to make them more efficient.

Everyone should be concerned about privacy. Mymagic may prompt the concern, but you should look at everyone who tracks you.

 

[Darth Sidious]

It's actually a very good one, with growing demand for those specific skills. Lots of Fortune500 (and beyond) companies are looking for people that can do it.

I'd love that job... I will join the dark side! I will mine for data! Just kidding... you'd just be analyzing internal sales numbers, some of which derived from aggregate NextGen numbers. In all seriousness that is something I want to do.

 

[stlphil]

Right now, it's a mess ... so no one has to worry about using MagicBands (and how wonderful they look on multi-ethic families in publicity shots).

I don't see anyway they are even an issue in 2013. I just don't. Except for test groups. And they can't even get the system to work for say 600 guests, how are they going to make it work for EVERY guest that enters.

Mind you, they have Accenture working for them ... and Cisco ... and DTSS ... and they still are as clueless as a teen fanboi when a 55-year-old Imagineer suddenly wants to 'friend' them.

Long-winded, sorry Alissa. But I think you will always be able to avoid the band, you just won't be able to avoid the chip.

Sometimes it's fun to state the obvious, but as they work through these glitches the cost of this project goes up, and up, and up...

 

[dhall]

Thanks for the tech talk to @flynnibus @Lil Fort and @kittybubbles.

I found it all somewhat helpful.

But I also saw nothing to say that it isn't possible for Disney to track you (and that may be the wrong or loaded term) while in the parks. They may not know exactly where you are, but it would seem they can pinpoint it down very, very closely using either MagicBands, FP+ AND your smartphones and tablets.

So, they may not know you are on the third bench on the porch near CBJ, but they can tell you just exited the show and walked out the Frontierland Mercantile (or whatever they call the only shop in the land now) through a specific set of doors and that you haven't activated any reader since. ... and one could surmise that with your phone on, they could know exactly where you are on said bench.

I am starting to think that much of this back-and-forth is simply a semantics mixed in with what portion of the project can really do this or that.

The part that I bolded is as far as I think they will go, because that's the level they need to do the type of modelling that they're probably after, and it strikes a reasonable balance for the amount of data that they have to store and analyze. Who shops in which stores & how long they stay are two of the key things the shop-keeper managers driving this want to know.

 

[dhall]

I'd love that job... I will join the dark side! I will mine for data! Just kidding... you'd just be analyzing internal sales numbers, some of which derived from aggregate NextGen numbers. In all seriousness that is something I want to do.

Come to the dark side -- we have cookies.

 

[Pixiedustmaker]

One of the original selling points of the Magic Band was "The RFID chip has the ability to locate where you are in the park and can locate your lost children."


http://blog.lawyer.com/index.php/2013-1-11-magic-band-to-track-behavior-at-disney-parks/

Not all possible uses of RFID triangulation are bad, and given the size of WDW, I think that having this tech would help parents locate their kids, or even just keep an eye on them. Abductions do happen, and the perp is often a non-custodial parent or other relative.

 

[Longhairbear]

Some more NEWS, but not on the subject of NEXT GEN.

There have been some very hot rumours about WDW wanting its own version of Club 33 or the Carthay Circle Club in O-Town. Nothing that I've been able to pin down as definite, which is why I haven't mentioned it.

But found out earlier that WDW is now offering $99 APs (yes, you read that right) to DL Club 33 members at the Gold Tier or higher as well as merchandise discounts around the resort. I am wondering if this is something designed to see how many west coast folks might be interested in a similar club at WDW.

Funny you mention it, and thanks for reminding me. This summer we ran into 2 of our old DLR crowd. He mentioned the same thing, but said there was no interest from any in the FLA area. So it's back on again I guess. I don't think any location was mentioned.

 

[Darth Sidious]

Realistically, NextGen should, if it isn't already, function like Palantir's systems. This system is a smart database that have computers that string together commonalities and directs you to specific result. For example, they sold this system to the DoD and they use it to predict terrorist attacks based on data collected. Hell if I was Nick Franklin I would have contracted Palantir. http://www.palantir.com

I am not suggesting they purchase counter terrorism software but rather they utilize the software to automatically detect patterns in guest behavior. Those patterns will trigger 'smart' responses that offer discounts or advertise products that seemingly would interest someone doing those string of events.

If you'd like to read more on the technology you can check out this BusinessWeek article I read last year on it: http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/palantir-the-vanguard-of-cyberterror-security-11222011.html (funny thing is Disney World is part of the example but that isn't why I suggested it)

 

[Pixiedustmaker]

Old Dead Guy Walt was known for hanging out in the parks and talking to guests like a real human being ... I'm not going to suggest for a second that Bob is a real human being, but I will suggest that he might want to learn how to fake it from time to time.

Besides the obvious criticism of WDW74's continued use of an inappropriately morbid and disrespectful nickname for Walt Disney (what did Walt ever do to this guy?), its cringe-worthy reading posts infused with the author's own language of neogolisms dripping with sarcasm, and real antipathy. (MAGICal . . . sarcasm? Why keep using this little made up nothingness in so many posts?)

Maybe WDW74 is worried that TDO will want to track the online super-critics and Adam Woo him from the parks by rescinding their annual passes?

It seems that debate of NextGen is sort of academic at this point given that it will be rolled out.

Though we all have our pet peeves regarding TDO, maybe we should come up with a new term when somebody really goes off the rails, such as a "Donald Duck rant?"

Bob Iger isn't perfect, but under his tenure Carsland was built, and he acquired Star Wars. Seems to "get" Disney more than Eisner did. Not so sure I'd go so far as to basically call him a sub-human . . .

 

[IlikeDW]

Thanks for the tech talk to @flynnibus @Lil Fort and @kittybubbles.

I found it all somewhat helpful.

But I also saw nothing to say that it isn't possible for Disney to track you (and that may be the wrong or loaded term) while in the parks. They may not know exactly where you are, but it would seem they can pinpoint it down very, very closely using either MagicBands, FP+ AND your smartphones and tablets.

So, they may not know you are on the third bench on the porch near CBJ, but they can tell you just exited the show and walked out the Frontierland Mercantile (or whatever they call the only shop in the land now) through a specific set of doors and that you haven't activated any reader since. ... and one could surmise that with your phone on, they could know exactly where you are on said bench.

I am starting to think that much of this back-and-forth is simply a semantics mixed in with what portion of the project can really do this or that.

I wonder how useful the 2.4Ghz signal will be in determining location. According tot he FCC filing The maximum peak conducted output power is 0.687 mW when you compare this to the output power of say an i-phone 4S which is 275 mW I assume this is due to the limited available battery capacity as the one in the band must be quite small. I also assume the lower power helps reduce the amount of noise(interference) that would be created if the signal could pass long distances or thru structures. It seems this level signal would be good for close proximity location like where in the line for a ride or which store are you in but less useful in say the hub or somewhere on main street watching wishes. it could also be a bluetooth type device which would allow a band to pair with something. Just my guess based on the info available.

 

[Pixiedustmaker]

I wonder how useful the 2.4Ghz signal will be in determining location. According tot he FCC filing The maximum peak conducted output power is 0.687 mW when you compare this to the output power of say an i-phone 4S which is 275 mW I assume this is due to the limited available battery capacity as the one in the band must be quite small. I also assume the lower power helps reduce the amount of noise(interference) that would be created if the signal could pass long distances or thru structures. It seems this level signal would be good for close proximity location like where in the line for a ride or which store are you in but less useful in say the hub or somewhere on main street watching wishes. it could also be a bluetooth type device which would allow a band to pair with something. Just my guess based on the info available.

There are some good reasons why Disney may not want to precisely track guests outside of queues:

1. Bad PR.
2. Unclear use. If it is your birthday, do you want Cinderella stalking you as you walk between lands?

I think a more reasonable use would be if a parent OK'd special personalized birthyday greetings for their kids while in line for a M&G, that way you tap the Magic Band and the face character, or somebody, knows to give you/your child a special greeting.

There might be "emergency" situations where by Disney punches a button and specifically begins to track a kid because he/she is lost or suspected to be abducted.

Disney already tracks everything at the resort, what merch is bought, what food is sold, and which rides are popular with turnstiles. Not sure how tracking guest movements, even on a depersonalized crowd level would be of that much benefit.

 

[PhotoDave219]

Bob Iger isn't perfect, but under his tenure Carsland was built, and he acquired Star Wars. Seems to "get" Disney more than Eisner did.

Hold on here for a second.... Eisner - despite all his faults and critics by the end of his tenue - saved the company in 1984 along with Frank Wells from corporate raiders. He expanded it into the ridiculous empire it has become.

We may not like what Eisner became, but every Disney fan owes that man a "thank you" for what he did at the start of his tenue.

 

[Pixiedustmaker]

Hold on here for a second.... Eisner - despite all his faults and critics by the end of his tenue - saved the company in 1984 along with Frank Wells from corporate raiders. He expanded it into the ridiculous empire it has become.

We may not like what Eisner became, but every Disney fan owes that man a "thank you" for what he did at the start of his tenue.

That's true, Eisner did hold the company together. I think people remember stuff like DCA, and Superstar Limo . . . but at least something was built in the parking lot as now we have Carsland. Westcot sounded great at the time, but I think it would have duplicated a lot of Epcot.

 

[PhotoDave219]

Realistically, NextGen should, if it isn't already, function like Palantir's systems. This system is a smart database that have computers that string together commonalities and directs you to specific result. For example, they sold this system to the DoD and they use it to predict terrorist attacks based on data collected. Hell if I was Nick Franklin I would have contracted Palantir. http://www.palantir.com

I am not suggesting they purchase counter terrorism software but rather they utilize the software to automatically detect patterns in guest behavior. Those patterns will trigger 'smart' responses that offer discounts or advertise products that seemingly would interest someone doing those string of events.

If you'd like to read more on the technology you can check out this BusinessWeek article I read last year on it: http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/palantir-the-vanguard-of-cyberterror-security-11222011.html (funny thing is Disney World is part of the example but that isn't why I suggested it)

I think thats EXACTLY what Disney wants this system to do.

(As for the CT use of the data..... HOLY ****. Scary stuff how much we can be tracked by our own government)

 

[PhotoDave219]

That's true, Eisner did hold the company together. I think people remember stuff like DCA, and Superstar Limo . . . but at least something was built in the parking lot as now we have Carsland. Westcot sounded great at the time, but I think it would have duplicated a lot of Epcot.

I'm not going to defend him beyond saving the company and I certainly criticize his management style and the management culture he left in place at TWDC but without him, TWDC wouldn't have made it to 1985. Read "Disneywar" if you want more specifics.