Tracking Things

Received several offers about the Tile App.  A little tag you can put on things and then track and locate with your smart phone.   About $20 each.  Available by end of year. Track the usual things like computers and luggage.  At first I thought this would track at any distance,  like a GPS beacon, but you have to be within a few hundred feet of devices that are close to their phone network, which is not extensive yet.   Now the general tracking would be very interesting.  Imagine it placed in a car surreptitiously.   Or in someone's pocket?  I worked with a company that was doing this kind of work with elements of the supply chain:  Track America.  Their system dialed the telephone network periodically to report location. Consumerizing this at a low cost would have interesting privacy implications.

London Recycling Bins are Following You

I have a recycling bin.  It sits out at the curb once a week.  When I saw this piece that was what I was thinking of.  My bin tracking my recycling.  Very different here.  A piece of urban infrastructure to follow you via your cellphone.  London was an early implementer of camera monitoring, so perhaps not surprising.   Update:  The system test has been stopped due to privacy concerns.