I normally try to avoid posting anything about popular tech toys, but I couldn't resist today. Tuesday marked the announcement of Apple's latest and greatest iPhone called "iPhone 3GS" ("S" for speed). This post is not so much about the newest iPhone itself. Rather, I wanted to discuss a disturbing trend that these types of electronic devices are producing. No - I'm not talking about paying too much for phone plans or texting while driving. I'm talking about a "cool" feature on these devices that allows you to upload pictures and videos to a website with "geotagging." Geotagging in Apple products is the ability for someone to identify where a photo or video was taken automatically through the help of satellites. If, for instance, you're in France and you want your friends to know where you are, you would take a picture and post it on your web page. The web page would know automatically where you were and would state the exact location where the picture was taken on the website. Car companies are even getting in on the act. New cars will be able to be driven completely by your iPhone. This means that anyone who hacks into a computer system will be able to tell where you're driving.Do you see where I'm going with this? Geotagging is fun and all - until someone gets hurt. If you have an iPhone or any device with geotagging capabilities, be careful. I know it's tempting to post your trips online with automatic location recognition - but think about you and your family's safety before you do.
Now go out there and buy yourself a cool new iPhone 3GS!
No comments:
Post a Comment