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Colleges phasing out landlines in favor of mobiles
In an effort to get hip to the times (read: stop hemorrhaging cash on unprofitable landlines), some colleges are now submitting to the reality that virtually all students prefer mobile phones as their primary form of contact by decommissioning or reducing reliance on campus and dorm phone systems in favor of wireless. Several are going so far as to provide their students with custom plans and mobile apps connected to campus systems. As we initially reported last year, one of the more ambitious projects is coming together at New Jersey's Montclair State University where incoming freshmen now receive obligatory LBS-enabled cellphones loaded with school software and services co-developed with Rave Wireless. The LBS aspect has apparently been a hangup for some students, though, weirded out by the concept of being tracked by their deans and professors until they're assured that the GPS tracking functionality of the phone is strictly opt-in only, which can be activated by individuals in an emergency to assist police. Morrisville State in New York even buddied up with Nextel Partners (yeah, that Nextel Partners) to beef up campus coverage in exchange for bundling wireless plans with students' room and board bills. It's always refreshing to see stodgy institutions wising up to these sorts of trends -- albeit late -- but as the AP points out, many students are likely to be coming in with existing phones and family plans that end up cheaper than what the schools are able to offer. Of course, if Montclair offers real-time tracking of every pizza delivery driver in town, well, there's your killer app right there.
The Boy Genius Report: Motorola will find you!
Field report tidbits from Engadget's resident mobile insider, the Boy Genius."I received information from a source of mine and this kind of freaks me out. Basically Motorola has a new tracking system in all prototypes called M-Track, which will transmit all sorts of wonderful personal info on your phone directly to them. This includes, but not limited to: your phone number (obviously), SIM ID, location, cell tower, and more of the like. I understand the need to track prototypes, but c'mon Moto, some of us can't help ourselves. After all, what is better than going to the club and showing a hot girl your new unreleased Motorola phone? Nothing I say, nothing."
GlobalSat TR-101 GPS phone for easily misplaced children
Thanks GlobalSat, we we're starting to think the worrying-parent market was drying up a bit. After that first wave of GPS kiddie phones hit, the feature set has been slowly sinking into the everyphone, which doesn't allow for that special self-importance that comes to a child owner of a stripped-down tracking phone. The TR-101 allows for calls to 3 preset numbers, and sends location data via SMS or over the Internet. It uses a full-on SiRF Star III chipset, and can be remote controlled via other phones or through Online software. There's also an SOS button for emergencies, Google Earth integration for visualisation, and quad-band GSM support to keep track of the little bugger all over the globe. No word on price or availability.
Nielsen plans to track cellphones and other portable devices
If anyone needed more proof that TV on cellphones and other portable devices is here to stay, one need only take a look at old media stalwart Nielsen Media Research's latest move, who are set to expand their tracking to just about everything that can pick up an episode of SpongeBob Squarepants. Not the least of which, of course, is cellphones. Nielsen plans to track all these devices with something the company calls "Solo Meters," which are independent of any particular portable media device. In the case of cellphones and other devices with WiFi or Bluetooth capability, the tiny meter will passively listen to communications from the device. For other devices, Nielsen will use a small in-line meter that's attached between the device and the headphones -- how that works exactly, we're not sure. [Via The Wireless Report]
GPS datalogger captures speed, coordinates to SD
Parents looking to stalk their own children keep a watchful eye on the kids, but not interested in logging onto a website every five minutes to monitor Junior's whereabouts, can now ditch the live feed in favor of a product that lets them record their youngster's movements for later perusal. E-tailer Spark Fun Electronics has started offering a complete kit containing a GPS module, battery pack, embedded antenna, and most importantly, an SD-capable datalogger board that can capture up to 440 hours of coordinate data on a 256MB card, and display the resulting map on Google Earth. That's right, mom and dad, instead or paying for one of those commercial cellphone tracking services, simply sewing the Lassen iQ FAT16 Datalogger kit into a child's letter jacket or hiding it in their car will give you all the Big Brother-esque information you desire (including speed, for parents of lead-footed teens), and on your own time to boot. Showing your kids that extra little bit of overprotective love will set you back $140.[Via Make]
Sprint enables existing phones for child tracking
Instead of launching a separate child-friendly handset or just farming out the idea altogether, Sprint is launching their new "Family Locator Service," which involves software to enable existing Sprint phones for tracking. A total of 28 GPS-enabled Sprint phone models can be located with the service, and a bit of downloaded software is compatible with 17 of their phones to track up to four handsets, and even display a child's location on a map. The service is $10 a month, and it's based on software by WaveMarket Inc., which can also be used on your PC. Sadly, we missed the press conference, which somehow managed to involve Sprint getting all defensive about this being a "Big Brother" tool, and stating: "It's not about tracking. It's not about monitoring." Uh, right.
