Fans of not watching gigs through some idiot’s phone screen will be excited to hear that Apple has been awarded a patent for technology that could put an end to punters using their iPhones to take photos and videos at gigs, 9to5Mac reports. Fucking finally.
Working by allowing the camera to take in information via the invisible spectrum of infrared light, the technology would allow venues or artists who’d rather play to a sea of faces than a wall of phones to set up a transmitter that would send a signal that would disable your phone’s camera.
The technology however has a myriad of other uses (augmented reality, stopping illegal filming in cinemas etc) and Apple have shown no signs that they are planning to implement it anytime soon, so our gig photo/video blocking dreams may still be a long way from reality.
And even if they do come true, with the patent being awarded to Apple the tech would only stop iPhone users from making a nuisance of themselves. This means any budding paparazzo or videographers would be free to jump over to Android to keep their dreams of perfectly documenting every moment of their lives alive.
Apple could still license the tech to other companies though (for a hefty fee I’m sure) and having held the patent since 2011, and renewing it in 2014, you would assume they have some endgame with the tech in mind. We can only hope that they use it well.
After all Apple, to quote Uncle Ben, “with great power comes great responsibility”. Please don’t shirk your duty and make this screen glow nightmare end.
For now though, we’ll just have to make do with Marky Ramone’s fantastically DIY solution for “assholes” who hold up phones at gigs.
