The latest startup, two year old Euclid Elements wants to provide real world info to brick and mortar stores akin to the analytics available for websites (who visited, for how long, what did they buy....). How? By putting in a sensor that captures unique wi-fi-based info from pedestrians. The phone must have wi-fi and it must be on for you to be tracked. But, don't be afraid, all the data is anonymized and you can opt out on the company website. (I opt out by not turning on wi-fi, done!)
The data, including how many people passed by, how many came in, for how long can help partners, like launch partner Philz Coffee, determine tactics to draw in people or sell food to those wh are staying for 45 minutes around say, lunch time... Launched in 2009 with $500,000, the company just got in first round funding of $5.8 million, which was led by New Enterprise Associates with Triple Point Capital and Harrison Metal.
- C|net
by Adena Schutzberg on 11/04 at 03:00 AM |
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A source close to Google says that Google has changed how it processes location requests, thus limited the sharing of locations of mobile devices. CNET reported on such sharing earlier in June. Exactly what has changed is not clear, but CNET reports it's seen a change.
Out of approximately 3,000 MAC addresses that CNET tested over the last few days, not one delivered a location from Google's database. Before June 15, Google's database showed them as appearing in locations as varied as [the U.S., China].
- CNET
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by Adena Schutzberg on 06/27 at 04:30 AM |
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To allay fears about Apple iPhones tracking personal locations, the company issued a statement.
Excerpts below:
Why is Apple tracking the location of my iPhone?
Apple is not tracking the location of your iPhone. Apple has never done so and has no plans to ever do so.
Then why is everyone so concerned about this?
Providing mobile users with fast and accurate location information while preserving their security and privacy has raised some very complex technical issues which are hard to communicate in a soundbite. Users are confused, partly because the creators of this new technology (including Apple) have not provided enough education about these issues to date.
Why is my iPhone logging my location?
The iPhone is not logging your location. Rather, it’s maintaining a database of Wi-Fi hotspots and cell towers around your current location, some of which may be located more than one hundred miles away from your iPhone, to help your iPhone rapidly and accurately calculate its location when requested.
When I turn off Location Services, why does my iPhone sometimes continue updating its Wi-Fi and cell tower data from Apple’s crowd-sourced database?
It shouldn’t. This is a bug, which we plan to fix shortly.
For more information, Apple has supplied press contacts:
Natalie Harrison
Apple
.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
(408) 862-0565
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by Joe Francica on 04/27 at 09:53 AM |
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Oops, that was supposed to go into our "Worth a Click" section! User error!
-- original post ---
"The quick summary: I believe I have confirmed that Apple is not storing your location, but the (actual or estimated) location of cell towers (and WiFi access points) that are close to you, to help locate you as you move (these are not necessarily towers that you have been in communication with). In the data I have examined there is nothing that is based on the accurate location of the iPhone. For a good example, see my previous post showing the location of cell equipment in Coors Field baseball stadium, and not revealing the location of my home which is very close to there. In my opinion, if Apple was storing this data in order to know where you had been, they would be storing different, more accurate location data that they have access to."
- GeoThought Blog
by Adena Schutzberg on 04/24 at 09:44 AM |
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The most startling "spatial" statistic that jumps out at me when I look at the newly minted National Broadband Map, released yesterday by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) is the availability, or lack thereof, of "fiber to the end user." What a disaster! Here we are the most prosperous nation in the world and we don't even have the opportunity to buy the best available service for high speed Internet!
Why am I so discombobulated? On a recent trip to Amersterdam late last year, I visited a friend's home only to be shown how he has fiber optic service directly into his house. I was stunned. I wouldn't even know how to request such service in my home town of Huntsville, Alabama. And just as an aside, why shouldn't the Rocket City be tripping over fiber optic cables, given its status as a hub of rocket scientists at the Marshall Space Flight Center and advanced munitions operations on the Redstone Arsenal.
We need fiber to our homes...but its unlikely to come anytime soon. Just look at the map!
Other revealing statistics in the NTIA press release that should wake up our Congressmen to the abyssmal status of our ability to compete in the information technology world of the 21st Century include:
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5-10% of Americans lack the ability to have any kind of broadband service
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36% of Americans have access to wireless (fixed, mobile, licensed, and unlicensed) Internet service at maximum advertised download speeds of 6 Mbps or greater
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Only 4% of libraries subscribe to service above 25 Mbp
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67% of surveyed schools subscribed to speeds lower than 25 Mbps (its estimated that schools need between 50-100 Mbps to support the student population)
Assistant Secretary for Communications and Information and NTIA Administrator Lawrence E. Strickling perhaps said it best: “The National Broadband Map shows there are still too many people and community institutions lacking the level of broadband service needed to fully participate in the Internet economy."
And it's not just that...its the level and availability of superior service that will kill our competitive stature in the world. It will compromise our national security if we do not find the funds to support a build out of fiber throughout the country.
See also my interview with Connected Nation on further National Broadband Map information.
by Joe Francica on 02/18 at 05:57 AM |
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