The guys over at Stanford University have come up with something very useful; it's an easy and affordable way to embed media inside pre-recorded video footage. While that doesn't sound like much on it's own, when you realise what it can be used for the ramifications become clear. You could be watching your favourite show and, rather than have the flow interrupted by advertisements, they can instead be shown from inside the program you're currently viewing. It's akin to product placement but with more refinement. ; )

They're using a clever means by which, after a physical surface has been manually identified inside existing video footage, another video can be projected on top of it and kept in place, even when the camera moves, through various tracking algorithms.

With the recent introduction of advertisements in youtube videos, I wonder if google are paying attention to this new tech and examining how they can make the process of catering to their sponsors a little less intrusive.

The video below communicates the principle far more eloquently than I can hope to through words.