"Computer games don't affect kids; I mean if Pac-Man affected us as kids, we'd all be running around in darkened rooms, munching magic pills and listening to repetitive electronic music"
To quote the splendid current iadvert
If you don't have an iphone how the fuck can we trace your every move!
Or something like that.
Cogito cogito ergo cogito sum
If that worries you, then you probably don't want to read this, or put the mac address of your wifi router into here.
Alternatively if you think that it might be quite a nice feature to have your phone show you how to get somewhere, or even locate where you are when you're lost, read it in the knowledge that without infrastructure like this, all those things become much less accurate and much more prone to error.
Last edited by NotLettingItGo; 04-30-2011 at 09:21 PM.
Doesn't matter how smart your phone is, the network provider can pinpoint you down to about 10 metres anyway. That's how the emergency services know where you are should you ever call them on a mobile.
Newer technology is just extending location services to everyone, and of course the only way phone manufacturers can do that (across multiple network providers in multiple countries) is to create their own geo-location system, using cell location, and wifi hotspot locations. Lots of phones come with GPS, but that drains the battery quite quickly, so wifi and cell location systems are far less draining to use. But of course they need a big database of where the cells and wifi hot spots are for it to be able to work. That's all this is. Apple should really change their iPhones to be an opt-in system (like Google), but they're Apple so I wouldn't hold your breath for that. They have already committed to fix the never ending location cache that the iPhone keeps, reducing it down to 7 days. As well as committing to fix other issues with it.
Google maps whips every SatNav systems arse on an Android system, the Apple map system isn't so good for navigation, but has this wonderful compass capability built into it, so it can actually show you which way you're facing on the map. I think it's good stuff.
All technology is a double edged sword, always has been, and always will be.
Especially two edged swords
Cogito cogito ergo cogito sum
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