Of course the goal of advertising has always been to present the right message to the right consumers but the current form of television advertising that was ushered in during the Mad Men era is a blunt instrument in an age of computer controlled laser surgery.

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Like a motion-controlled video gaming system, the Virtual Music Instrument employs a camera that is mounted on a computer screen and aimed at someone, capturing their gestures.

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During a colonoscopy, a doctor examines the inside of the colon and rectum by inserting a colonoscope, a thin, flexible instrument that sends images to a TV screen or computer.

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Last week I popped over to Palo Alto airport in my Cessna flying carpet, sat in a corner at an ancient IBM computer and took a 60-question written quiz for my private pilot's instrument rating.

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Each time the head moves across the instrument a different diode is switched on, and the results are recorded and fed into a computer.

ECONOMIST: Monitor