Pinboard (guardiantech)

Find your lost phone with Android Device Manager >> Official Android Blog

guardiantech — 2013-08-05T12:09:43+00:00

Have you ever lost your phone in between the couch cushions or forgot it in a restaurant? Or maybe searching for your phone before you rush out the door is part of your morning routine? Later this month, the new Android Device Manager can help you out. It's one of a few simple features you can use to keep your device—and the data you store inside—safe and secure.
If you ended up dropping your phone between those couch cushions, Android Device Manager lets you quickly ring your phone at maximum volume so you can find it, even if it's been silenced. And in the event that your phone or tablet is out of earshot (say, at that restaurant you left it at last night), you can locate it on a map in real time.

Coming later in August for devices running 2.2 and up. Useful. Also vaguely familiar.

How do smartphones reveal shoppers’ movements? >> The Economist

guardiantech — 2013-07-22T21:12:56+00:00

For several months Nordstrom tested a system that tracked the movements of people carrying Wi-Fi-enabled smartphones and other devices as they wandered through 17 of its stores or merely walked by. The firm posted a public notice of the monitoring, prompting a report by a television station in Dallas in May, at which point the retailer pulled the plug. Then the New York Times picked up the story, igniting a privacy debate about passive monitoring via Wi-Fi and other technologies. The system used by Nordstrom and several other firms, provided by Euclid Analytics, can precisely track the movements of individual phones, even though they never actually connect to a Wi-Fi network. How does it work?

Google Now draining iPhone battery >> PC Pro blog

guardiantech — 2013-05-01T21:00:39+00:00

Barry Collins:

The impact on battery life is far from minimal, if my experience, and that of many others, is anything to go by. On a two-hour journey to work this morning, my iPhone 4S battery dropped from 100% to only 65% by the time I reached work, whereas normally it would have between 80% to 85% remaining. It’s also much warmer than normal.
Users on the MacRumors forums are also reporting excessive drain. ”Just installed it and my iPhone 4 got nice and warm. The location services were on full time, even when I stopped the app! I had to delete it to get the GPS to stop.”

The Forgotten Mapmaker: Nokia has better maps than Apple and maybe even Google >> The Atlantic

guardiantech — 2012-10-04T21:32:08+00:00

Alexis Madrigal:

Nokia is the company that receives the GPS data from both FedEx and UPS, the company's senior VP of Location Content, Cliff Fox, told me.
"We get over 12 billion probe data points per month coming into the organization," Fox said from his office in Chicago. "We get probe data not only from commercial vehicles like FedEx and UPS trucks, but we also get it from consumers through navigation applications."
Depending on the device type, the data that streams into Nokia can have slight variations.
"The system that they have for tracking the UPS trucks is different from the way the maps application works on the Nokia device. You'll have differences on the amount of times per minute they ping their location, though typically it's every 5 to 15 seconds," Fox said. "It'll give you a location, a direction, and a speed as well."
They can then use that data to identify new or changed roads. In 2012, they've used the GPS data they get to identify 65,000 road segments. (A road segment is defined as the strip of surface between intersecting roads.) The GPS data also comes in handy when they're building traffic maps because they know the velocity of the vehicles.

Read on for the clever privacy protection tweak too.

Five reasons location is the smartphone's killer map >> Fast Company

guardiantech — 2012-10-04T21:19:15+00:00

Are you sitting somewhere comfy? Because right at this moment, your smartphone is likely calculating and then sharing your seated location. But don't worry: You are far from alone. Location-sharing services are on the rise. Here, the big reasons for the trend in personal placement.

Here's Gowalla CEO's Non-Denial Denial Email About Facebook Purchase >> AllThingsD

guardiantech — 2011-12-05T07:48:37+00:00

So Gowalla *has* been acquired by Facebook? That's pretty big – perhaps Zuckerberg can see something we can't.

Greater choice for wireless access point owners >> Official Google Blog

guardiantech — 2011-11-18T22:50:57+00:00

"The wireless access point information we use in our location database, the Google Location Server, doesn’t identify people. But as first mentioned in September, we can do more to address privacy concerns. "We’re introducing a method that lets you opt out of having your wireless access point included in the Google Location Server. To opt out, visit your access point’s settings and change the wireless network name (or SSID) so that it ends with “_nomap.” For example, if your SSID is “Network,” you‘d need to change it to 'Network_nomap.'” Now it's *your* fault if Google maps your Wi-Fi. Or something.

Windows Phone DOES transmit location information without user consent >> ZDNet

guardiantech — 2011-09-26T20:46:07+00:00

Sends data even before you agree, from the camera system.

Foursquare hits 10m: infographic >> FourSquare

guardiantech — 2011-07-20T20:54:48+00:00

Nice animation.

Apple and Android phones face tighter laws in Europe >> FT.com

guardiantech — 2011-05-19T21:34:08+00:00

"Apple smartphones and those running on Google’s Android system look set to come under tighter regulation in Europe, after an EU data protection advisory panel ruled on Wednesday that location information collected by the devices should be classed as personal data.

"This is likely to mean strict limits on how location data can be collected and stored by smartphone companies, telecoms operators and any businesses hoping to run location-related services on phones."

Apple reveals a powerful location-based service for the iPhone >> Patently Apple

guardiantech — 2011-05-11T17:12:03+00:00

"The idea is simple. Deliver a location based service to information savvy iPhone users that wish to receive temporary retail and service-based applications. Imagine standing at the entrance of a restaurant and viewing their menu on your iPhone or entering a public library and being able to access their database. The minute you leave the library or the front of that restaurant, the app disappears so that you don't clog up your iPhone with hundreds of local business apps. I don't know if Apple will tackle this at their upcoming developer conference, but this is a phenomenal opportunity for hungry developers and/or Business Form companies looking for a new avenue for revenue. There are millions of non-geek business owners who are going to want in on this service so as to attract new tech savvy iPhone using clients. Snooze on this opportunity and you'll Lose."

Intriguing.

How the iPhone knows where you are >> Macworld

guardiantech — 2011-04-29T05:19:29+00:00

Read this and you will, finally, understand this whole saga.

Apple's Not Spying on You; You're Spying for Apple >> Gottabemobile

guardiantech — 2011-04-28T16:07:32+00:00

"Apple asks for diagnostic and usage information about your iPhone, which is fair enough to do. However, I don’t believe tracking tower and hotspot locations counts. That information is external to the device, not part of it. If Apple wanted to collect data on my iPhone’s location, I would consider that a fair part of that agreement. But instead they’re using my iPhone to collect tower and hotspot locations, and that’s not right. I only signed up to give info about my device, not those belonging to other people.
"The lack of transparency on that point is a serious problem, far more legitimate than the paranoia circulating. To be clear, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with reporting tower and hotspot locations back to Apple. I just think this falls outside the range of “diagnostic and usage information about your iPhone”. It’s about property that belongs to others. Therefore, it requires separate, specific permission, as well as a detailed explanation of the risk involved.

With iPhone's secrets, Apple loses track of reality >> ZDNet UK

guardiantech — 2011-04-28T16:05:00+00:00

Rupert Goodwins: "Steve Jobs normally talks to the press about as often as the Earth gets visited by Halley's Comet. And, like the comet, it's usually a portent of doom.
"There have been three sightings in living memory: the iPhone 4's Antennagate, the as-yet-unexplained rant against Android and tablets in last October's earnings call, and yesterday's response to the discovery of iOS 4's unexpectedly good memory for location. Let's call it Trackergate.
"Leaving aside the Android rant — perhaps Eric Schmidt ran over the family cat — the two other responses show strong similarities, and make a fascinating insight into how a company reacts when it's backed into a corner and can't ignore the flack."

Suffice it to say, Goodwins ain't buying it.

Apple CEO Steve Jobs talks about how the iPhone does and doesn't use location information >> AllThingsD

guardiantech — 2011-04-27T21:33:17+00:00

Basically, he goes around the press release. But since he pretty much dictated it, no surprise. Interesting that Apple takes this so seriously now, though. All we got was lots of 'no comment' last week.

Android Wifi/Cell Cache >> Atesea

guardiantech — 2011-04-21T21:46:32+00:00

A map drawn from an Android phone's location cache data.

Is Your iPhone Tracking & Recording Your Location? >> Michael Rawlins

guardiantech — 2011-04-20T16:09:11+00:00

Yes, it is, but Rawlins points to some odd data points which don't map to locations he's been to. Likely these are cell towers that your phone connects to somehow; or efforts at triangulation from distant towers to nearer ones.