• Microsoft filed a patent to serve ads to people based on emotional states, which they learn through searches, emails, body movements, speech patterns, and more.
• Microsoft would not comment on their plans, but many are saying this will be applied to users of Kinect.
• For example, imagine you can detect a person laughing or smiling.  Weight loss advertisers may opt out, because, according to the document, "a person that is really happy is less likely to purchase a self-investment product that leverages on his or her shortcomings."

From the article:

Microsoft has filed for a patent for technology to target ads to consumers based on their emotional states, taking the notion of "tracking" to a literal level.

In an application filed in December 2010 but just made public last week, Microsoft sought to patent an advertising engine that gauges people's emotional states based on their search queries, emails, instant messages and use of online games, as well as facial expressions, speech patterns and body movements. The ad engine is device-agnostic; as Microsoft noted in its application, "client devices" could include...