...allows the deployment of algorithms similar to Google's PageRank in the real world, where anything can now be ranked according to the attention it receives. This allows us, for example, to track mass consumer interest in products or ambient product advertisements.

I came across talk given at Googleplex , given on May 7th 2007, titled "Selling Interest by the Eye Ball". You can find video here [video.google.com] (hosted at G video).

I found prospect of this technology/implementation really amassing for actually measuring effects of advertising / marketing in the real world. Can you imagine economy and relationship between vendors/"brick and mortar" owners and advertisers if they are able to charge for products on the shelf per "eye ball viewed" viewed, or variation of it...
Whole talk is interesting, but the really exciting stuff is at last third of the talk.

[edited by: Tastatura at 7:14 am (utc) on May 12, 2007]