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Crowdflow tracks 880 iPhones across Europe, wants to put you on the map
Do you have dreams of becoming a digital firefly, flitting back and forth across Europe? The folks at Crowdflow can help with that -- all you need to do is use your iPhone, and adopt a share-alike attitude. Using location data collected from 880 iPhones, the team has created a video showing iPhone movement through Europe for the month of April, 2011. This glowing digital ballet is just a start, however -- Crowdflow is asking iPhone users to extract and submit their own location logs to help build a visual map of how cellular networks are distributed throughout the world. If you're not afraid of lending your geodata to an open database, hit up the source link for your own chance to join in Crowdflow's eerie cellular glow.
Researchers display evidence that iOS 4 records all your travels, again (updated)
If you didn't already think your smartphone knows too much about you, here's a handy reminder. A duo of UK researchers have uncovered a potentially worrying (and oddly enough, undocumented) feature in iOS 4: it asks your iPhone to record your location constantly, then timestamps that data and records it for posterity. The trouble with this unsolicited location tracking is that the hidden file that holds the data -- consolidated.db -- is relatively easy to uncover and read, making any desktops you've backed your phone up to and the phone itself even bigger privacy dangers than they would usually be. Some extra digging revealed this behavior has been known about for a good while (see Courbis and Alex Levinson links below), though mostly by people involved in computer forensics. Additionally, restoring a backup or migrating to a new device keeps the data logging going, which the researchers point to as evidence that what's happening isn't accidental. See a couple of visualizations of the extracted results on video after the break. [Thanks, Tom] Update: The original text of this article was updated to reflect that this was already a known issue, albeit in limited circles. The ability to easily visualize the data is new.
Microsoft's OneVision Video Recognizer can detect, identify, and track your face on video... so smile!
Here's your classic case of "just because you can, doesn't mean you should." Microsoft's Innovation Labs have just demonstrated a OneVision Video Recognizer algorithm that's powerful enough to perform face detection duties on a running video feed. It can recognize and track humanoid visages even while they're moving, accept tags that allow auto-identification of people as they enter the frame, and can ultimately lead to some highly sophisticated video editing and indexing via its automated information gathering. Of course, it's that very ease with which it can keep a watchful eye on everyone that has us feeling uneasy right now, but what are you gonna do? Watch the video after the break, that's what.
Item-level RFIDs get support from big retailers, track your every purchase
Toilets, cows, and Germans have all been tagged by RFIDs, but according to a new study, it's footwear and fashion that top the demand for radio-enabled tracking. In a report released yesterday, ABI Research said more than three-quarters of a billion RFID tags will be used in global apparel markets in 2011, with retailers like Walmart, Macy's, and JC Penney leading the way. Item-level tracking isn't new -- in fact we saw something similar in 2006 -- but with the likes of Walmart on board, the system is expected to grow as much as 60 percent in the next three years. The study suggests inventory and security as driving factors in the adoption of RFIDs, but we've got our suspicions. And anyway, we don't want anyone to know how much we spent on that Material Girl leopard print shrug -- not even a machine.
PSP-playing boy falls onto train tracks, saved by a real life hero (video)
Not the best news for Sony execs to be waking up to this morning, as the company's PSP has played a starring role in an unfortunate, though thankfully innocuous, incident. A 10-year old Milanese boy was recently so absorbed by his portable's make.believe world that he forgot the real one around him had boundaries with bright lines painted around them. A moment later the young gamer found himself next to the train tracks a few feet below the platform designed for human occupation, though he wasn't there long as an off-duty policeman by the name of Alessandro Micalizzi quickly leapt down and lifted him to safety. See it on video below and feel free to draw your own conclusions about your gaming habits.
Metropolis II: the kinetic sculpture built out of boy racer dreams (video)
The Los Angeles County Museum of Art has got itself a new toy. Or, to be more precise, it's got itself a whole fleet of Hot Wheels mini speedsters, courtesy of one Chris Burden. He's the gent responsible for dreaming up Metropolis II, the above interwoven set of tracks and circuits, which is populated with 1,200 "custom designed" cars, 13 toy trains, and some assorted scenery built out of Lego, tiles, and wood blocks. We're not sure whether it's intended to represent the daily rat race we call modern life or if it's simply a boyish dream turned real -- decide for yourself after watching the video after the break.
TUAW's Daily App: onTap
A little while back, I wrote about an app called Corkbin -- it helped you track and share the various wines that you tasted while out and about. A few commenters asked for something similar for beer, and onTap is exactly that. It's made by the same company, and it serves the same purpose. When trying out a brand new beer (or an old favorite), you can snap a picture of it with your iPhone, log it, and even share it across Facebook or Twitter. Just for fun, the app also has a dictionary of some beer terms, and you can also browse and view brews from around your area in order to see what people are drinking nearby. Just like Corkbin, it's a solid app, especially for those of us who enjoy a tasty beverage and trying some new variants from time to time. Plus, you know, it's completely free. It's a great app to help you get the most out of exploring your favorite beers around town.
PALRO buddies with its first apps, busts new moves on video
Well, that didn't take long. Just a few months after Fujisoft's PALRO was formally introduced to the Japanese education segment, said humanoid is now set to receive a host of new applications as well as become useful as a people tracker. It's bruited that PALRO will soon gain a Twitter client (to read tweets aloud as best it can), a cooking app, a Japanese word game and remote monitoring abilities (among others), but it's unclear how these obviously commercial apps will help / not help the robot inch closer to a citizen's release. In related news, PALRO has been spotted with a few newfound abilities, namely the instinct to track people and objects via its built-in camera. We'll spare you the rhetoric on why teaching these things to watch our every move is a tragic, tragic mistake, but feel free to peek the video after the break if you're brushing the inevitable downfall of mankind off as a silly rumor.
Walmart to add RFID tags to individual items, freak out privacy advocates
Walmart's been pushing RFID for years now, using it to better manage the company's vast inventories and understand where products are and how fast they're approaching. Now, the mega-retailer is about to take things to another level, and it just might push competitors into getting with the program. As of now, there's limited consumer-facing benefit to tracking pallets in transit, but a Wall Street Journal report suggests that Wally World will be placing radio-frequency ID tags on individual clothes. The initiative is slated to kick off next month, and it's expected to help apparel managers know when certain sizes and colors are depleted and need to be restocked. In theory, having this ability will ensure that consumers never see their desired size or hue as sold out, and if the clothing trial is successful, the tags could be rolled out to a near-infinite amount of kit. Of course, privacy advocates are all wound up about the idea, though it seems as if most sniffing concerns could be dealt with if the tags were removed as customers departed the store. Unless you're leaving in a hurry, that is...
Gateway gets snazzy with glowing touchpads on EC39C and ID49C08u laptops
Who needs a backlit keyboard when you have a backlit touchpad? Okay, that's really a rhetorical question, but Gateway's newest 13.3-inch EC339C and 14-inch ID49C08u do in fact have glowing blue touchpads. The pad itself only lights up when you put your finger to it, and like HP's ClickPads have integrated mouse buttons. The rest of the thin and light machines are equally as impressive -- they have nabbed Acer's chiclet style keyboard and have that dedicated social networking key that Gateway seems to be adding to many of its systems. The key, which may very well have the cutest logo of all time stamped upon it, launched a social networking widget that allows for adding Facebook, YouTube and Flickr feeds to a timeline. Internally, the EC39C packs a Core i5 ULV processor and NVIDIA Optimus for switching between the GeForce 310 GPU and Intel's integrated HD graphics. The ID49C08u has a standard voltage Core i5, 4GB of RAM, a 500GB hard drive and an onboard optical drive. Your guess is as good as ours about availability and pricing, but we did grab you some nice hands-on shots and a video of that crazy touchpad after the break. %Gallery-94279%
AddOn Spotlight: NeedToKnow
Addon Spotlight focuses on the backbone of the WoW gameplay experience: the user interface. We'll look at everything from bags to bars, buttons to DPS meters and beyond -- your interface folder will never be the same! This week, we look at a different style of cooldown, debuff and buff tracker. In a previous Addon Spotlight, I reviewed Sexycooldown, a timeline-style buff/debuff/cooldown timer that brings with it functionality and an awesome look and feel. This week, I wanted to showcase another of my new favorite addons that performs certain tasks similar Sexycooldown/ForteXorcist, but does so in a different style. A few emails that I have received have asked for a bar-style cooldown and debuff tracker. Well, here is your answer: NeedToKnow. I've tried my absolute best to avoid a dumb joke about "you're on a need-to-know basis," but you do need to know about NeedToKnow! NeedToKnow.
GadgetTrak retrieves 95 percent of stolen laptops, puts RoboCop to shame (video)
Want your stolen gear back? Don't call some gung-ho superhero who's as likely to blow up your small grocery store as he is to catch those perps, call GadgetTrak instead. The little startup company has grown since we last heard of it back in 2007, and is now operating a $25 per year tracking service that has delivered a statistically significant 95 percent success rate on reuniting gadgets with their owners. Available for Mac OS and Windows laptops, as well as mobile phones (BlackBerrys, WinMo, and iPhone) and even removable USB storage, the software's intelligent enough to remotely activate your webcam and ping the incriminating info back directly to you -- no data is sent to GadgetTrak. Check out some recent news coverage of the software and its implementation in local schools after the break.
New Gran Turismo 5 trailer shows Toyota FT-86 concept driving through your dreams
It's time for another edition of Expensive and Awesome Stuff That You'll Never Be Able to Do! Over at the Tokyo Auto Salon 2010, Polyphony Digital showed off a "GPS-track day unit," which is a little box with a card slot in it that you install in a very expensive car like, say, the Toyota FT-86G Concept, as seen above in the new trailer for Gran Turismo 5. That unit will then record your likely very expensive real-life run around a driving track like the famous Nürburgring lap, at which point you'll be able to pull a card out, plug it in your PS3, and then see the real-life run simulated inside the video game itself, where you can watch or even ghost race against it. It was also mentioned at the Auto Salon that there will be a 3D version of GT5 out "as soon as 3D TVs become available on the market," so presumably later this year. Thanks for watching! Next time on Expensive and Awesome Stuff That You'll Never Be Able to Do: land your very own helicopter on your very own superyacht. [Thanks, Steliosco!]
WowWee Roborover gets friendly with the furniture in our review
See that glowing face? Yep, it's the super-enthusiastic Roborover from WowWee. We won't lie: we were a bit stoked by the arrival of this yellow explorer at Engadget's doorstep. Too bad it didn't exactly walk all the way from its warehouse, forcing us to go through the painful procedure of cutting up the tapes and untangling the ties of its shipping box. Five minutes later we've got a 4-pound robot on our hands, and we'd say overall the build quality is an eight out of ten (the cuts on the plastic parts could do with a finer finish) which is pretty good for a toy. You'll be pleased to know that those treads are for real and supported by a third mini roller at the back, but the friendly manual does say, "For indoor use only." Think we'll skip that page, thank you. Now kids, you might need your daddy's screwdrivers and some extra cash to feed the Roborover three "C" size batteries, and another three "AAAs" for the chunky IR remote. All ready to go? Skip along to learn how the Roborover explores the "ancient tombs of your parents' closet."%Gallery-75825%
DJ Hero to feature 80 original mixes of 100 songs
We assumed DJ Hero's musical offerings would be impressive (considering the source of the mash-ups therein), but a recent Activision press release just gave us an idea to the number of tunes we'll be weaving together this fall -- according to the release, the game "features more than 100 individual songs that have been transformed into more than 80 exclusive, original mixes."The press release also dropped a few of the artists included in the aforementioned 100 songs, including Black Eyed Peas, 50 Cent, Marvin Gaye, Beck, and the Beastie Boys. Hopefully, the dispatch's failure to include James Taylor in this list was a simple, accidental oversight, and not indicative of Mr. Taylor's non-involvement in the turntable-centric title.
CenTrak intros world's thinnest active RFID, opens new realm of possibilities
Despite being oh-so-promising years ago, we've seen little innovation in the RFID space over the past several months. Today, however, CenTrak's proving that the dream is still somewhat alive. The outfit has just introduced the planet's thinnest hybrid active Radio Frequency Identification tag, which is said to be so thin that it's almost "indistinguishable from a standard employee badge." The IT-740 Staff Badge checks in at just three millimeters thick and includes a trio of programmable buttons, a system controlled LED, hole mounts for portrait or landscape orientation, water resistance for easy cleaning and "ultra long battery-life." For employees, rocking one of these guarantees that your superior will recognize every step you take, every move you make and every bond you break. Which, sadly enough, isn't nearly as bodacious as The Police make it sound. Bonus coverage after the break.
NavGenius PND looks like a GPS, is really a covert location tracker
Those sadistic souls over at Lightning GPS are at it again, making the lives of parents and promiscuous children awesome and horrible, respectively. Just in case NavTrac's RTV10 PND isn't enough to keep your mind at ease when Johnny (and his track record of poor decision making) is out and about, there's the newly announced NavGenius. At first glance, this here navigator is about as vanilla as they come, but underneath the shell is a dedicated tracking module which enables the owner to monitor every turn, stop and donut from the web. Heck, you can even re-route vehicles from any connected computer, and the owner can get an SMS should the driver exceed a certain speed or break a customizable perimeter. All that's required to shatter the last pinch of trust you actually had with your offspring is $599.95 up front and $39.95 per month for the tracking service -- which you only pay until they wise up and take a Louisville Slugger to the device.
NavTrac's RTV10 PND does GPS tracking, two-way messaging
Can't say we've ever heard of NavTrac, but we are digging the differentiation seen in its RTV10 portable navigation device. Hosted up by LiveViewGPS, this unique navigator not only provides the usual turn-by-turn guidance to get you from point A to point Z, but it also includes a GPS tracking function (for fleet managers and suspicious parents) as well as two-way messaging functionality. While it's not truly a "connected GPS," this one does provide more communication with the outside world than most, and if you're curious of the specs, it features a 4.3-inch 480 x 272 touchscreen, built-in speaker, 4GB of internal flash memory, 64MB of DRAM, a SiRF Atlas III GPS module and a rechargeable Li-ion. Sadly, this no-namer won't run you cheap, as the unit itself rings up at $599 while the subscription to the aforementioned communication services will knock you back another $39.95 per month. Full release is after the break.
Geolocator-equipped backpacks to track bird migrations
We've seen birds tasked with carrying around sensors in order to provide data about external happenings, but up until now, tracking birds' migration patterns from start to finish has been a tedious, if not impossible task. Gurus from York University in Toronto have apparently figured out the solution, and it all sounds much simpler than you might imagine. By equipping birds with minuscule "backpacks" -- which weigh less than a dime and use geolocators to collect all sorts of information about flight times, patterns, stopovers and speed -- scientists can get an accurate look at where the animals were and when they were there. In a recent test involving 34 birds, researchers were able to retrieve the packs from 7, and while that may not be a majority, biologist J. M. Stutchbury noted that this "was 7 more than anybody else." Right you are, Doc.[Via New York Times, image courtesy of PaulNoll]
XACT | TRAX personal tracking device requires no monthly subscription
Your options are pretty wide open when it comes to personal GPS trackers, but Xact Technology is hoping to catch your heart by promising no monthly fees for its XACT | TRAX. Hailed as an ideal solution for keeping tabs on pets, loved ones, movable property, etc., the GPS tracking module relies on a proprietary, web based portal in order to see where your subject is and to set "geo-fences." Location requests can be sent via the web or SMS, and readouts are provided on an easy-to-read map along with physical address, date and time. Sadly, we've no price to share, but at least you can rest assured that the cost of entry is it.
