Blogs by Magic

Thoughts & ideas from a digital magician.

The dangers of geolocation

Developers looking to prove a point about the information people are sharing on social networking sites have unveiled a new tool called Please Rob Me. It hunts out tweets from people who are also using location-based services telling the world that they're out of town, and then directs the world to go rob their house. The creators of the site said: 'Don't get us wrong, we love the whole location-aware thing. The information is very interesting and can be used to create some pretty awesome applications. However, the way in which people are stimulated to participate in sharing this information is less awesome.' How long until the first actual robbery takes place?
via yro.slashdot.org

I love this concept. Let me say that again: I LOVE this concept. Props to Barry Borsboom for going out there creating it.

I love geolocation, but the idea behind Foursquare is a bit, well... dumb. Broadcasting where you are to everyone? Why? Why would you do that? It seems like one of those things that people did just because they could, never stopping to think about whether or not they should. Foursquare would operate just fine if it was mostly anonymous, or if only your friends new where you were.

Just look at Google Latitude. Google Latitude shows your location without even having to check in. On BlackBerry and Android based devices it can operate in the background, constantly updating your location in real time. I've been using it since I switched to a BlackBerry and I think it's incredible. You can literally watch people as they roam around the city. But the difference is that it doesn't broadcast it out to everyone, only the people you choose. There isn't even a public setting, because (I suspect) Google realized that would be a pretty dumb feature.

I have a feeling that most people don't care. They just want to broadcast everything, all the time. If you put QR codes in bathroom stalls that did nothing but tweet that you were taking a dump, I venture that most people (who knew what they were) would use them. Hey, that gives me an idea for a toilet paper company...

Currently wiping my ass with with Charmin Ultra Soft at Kaffe 1668 - Tribeca (275 Greenwich St, New York) w/3 others!

Brilliant, Aaron. Brilliant.

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Two weeks with a BlackBerry

Two weeks ago I got rid of my iPhone and dropped AT&T for a BlackBerry Bold 9700 on T-Mobile. My impression so far: I love it.

I have all four of my email inboxes being pushed out to my phone. I can look at them in a single inbox or individually. I can (and do) have different signatures for each email account. Since I’m using Google Apps for my email, I actually have the ability to do things like archive and report spam. It syncs both contacts and calendar items flawlessly with Google Sync, in addition to being able to do it natively with the new BlackBerry OS 5.0. Facebook is integrated directly into the address book, so when people call me I see their latest Facebook profile picture.

Google Talk runs in the background and lets me answer IMs the same way one might answer a text message. Google Latitude constantly updates my location and allows me to see where my friends and family are on Google Maps. When I take a picture, I can send it to Facebook or Flickr with a few clicks from within the camera application. I even got into the Foursquare for BlackBerry beta.

My battery time is now measured in days instead of hours. I can use the Bluetooth connection without restrictions to transfer files or use the phone as a tethered modem. Calls are clear, rarely dropped, and I don’t have to worry about signal strength when I’m at home or work, since I just use the UMA and WiFi functionality.

But the most interesting application was something that isn’t new, just something I wasn’t actually aware of — BlackBerry Messenger (or BBM). For those who don’t know, or have never used it, BBM is a collaborative messaging environment that allows you to create groups of up to 30 other BlackBerry users and participate in real-time chats, share pictures, videos, notes, events, and a host of other things. However, most of these features are relatively new to BBM 5.0 and late model BlackBerry devices, which might explain why I wasn’t aware of BBM previously.

All things considered, BlackBerry Messenger is a really neat application with two huge flaws:

  1. It’s too corporate. Your phone is identified by a unique 6-character PIN. No one wants to remember that. The latest version allows you to send people a QR code instead, that will let them add you as a contact or join a group, but it’s far from perfect. Most people still don't know what QR codes are.
  2. It’s proprietary and only works on BlackBerry phones.

Those are my only two gripes. After using it for a little while with a few friends, it reminded me of Google Wave and got me thinking… What is Google Wave going to look like on a mobile phone? Could the future of social networking, email and collaboration lie in mobile, BBM style application? A mobile version of Google Wave could bring BBM style functionality to a host of different devices and break down the barriers that have branded it as a corporate communication tool.