Saturday, February 13, 2010

Location Location Location

I love my i-Phone. It does so many things well. I can get my e-mails, shoot video, take photo's, get news, manage my finances, surf the web and the list goes on. But one of my favorite features on my i-Phone is when an app asks me to use my "current location" to pull up information such as finding the nearest movie theater or restaurant. It's such a time saver. And to think this location based capability wasn't even around a few years ago. Thanks to innovative location technologies, some of which are discussed in this Tech Crunch article, our mobile location enabled devices have made our lives easier.

But of course there are many privacy concerns related to the aforementioned mobile location feature. For instance, the threat of hacking and spying is real which is the topic of this shocking youtube clip. Bottom line, people feel its unnerving for others to know where they are which is completely understandable. To those folks, I say use this feature at your own risk. Also consider most phones like the i-Phone will let you disable the location setting if you so chose. As for me, I think it's worth the risk. Thus far, I've had no complaints using this feature and have arrived at my movie and restaurant destinations with time to spare because of it.

3 comments:

  1. Peter, how soon before it is telling you when you are hungry, or when you have to use the bathroom? Where does the technology line stop before we are slaves to our own electronics? While I am guilty of using my crackberry too much, sometimes the best activities involve little or no technology. You can look up where the nearest restaurant is, I'll stumble around looking with my friends for an extra 10 minutes. ..

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  2. I think you and I may have the same app for the Iphone. Its awesome, I use it all the time. But as much as I love the app, if it allowed others to see my location I would have to get rid of it.

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  3. I still have what is the equivalent of the pager, so I suppose I'm qualified to really comment on a lot of this iPhone technology. It does sound convenient, but I've rarely needed on-the-spot directions and information when I'm out, which I guess is why I haven't rushed in to get a new smartphone.

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