Tag: iphone

Beware of Unwanted Cell Phone Tracking Software

The Internet is abuzz with the latest news that some GPS-enabled cell phones are automatically sending information like your GPS coordinates to third parties, often without notifying you of this activity.  The first to fall into this PR fiasco was the Palm Pre, which had their continuous and constant GPS tracking discovered by Joey Hess.  While the allegations that this cell phone tracking software actually is constant and continuous has not been officially confirmed or denied by Palm or major news outlets, there is a pretty damning statement released by Palm that seems to indicate that Mr. Hess finding are gospel truth:

Palm takes privacy very seriously, and offers users ways to turn data collecting services on and off. Our privacy policy is like many policies in the industry and includes very detailed language about potential scenarios in which we might use a customer’s information, all toward a goal of offering a great user experience. For instance, when location based services are used, we collect their information to give them relevant local results in Google Maps. We appreciate the trust that users give us with their information, and have no intention to violate that trust.

To me, this is a muddy statement that admits to the use of GPS cell phone tracking software to gather information on a users location.  While Palm is claiming that they would never do anything bad with this information, there is little doubt that a lot of bad can be done.

Palm Pre Cell Phone Tracking SoftwareAnother key issue with the Palm Pre debacle is that they did a piss poor job of informing users about the tracking going on behind the scenes.  Sure, they probably included it in their privacy policy – but let’s be honest here, no one, and I mean no one reads a privacy policy these days.  They are long.  They are boring.  And we generally have a hard time sifting through the legalese to find the real information that we want to know. One blogger pointed out that the responsible thing for Palm to have done in regards to their GPS cell phone tracking would have been to have forced users to opt in to the “feature” rather than turning it on automatically. That seems pretty sensible to me, but for whatever reason the folks at Palm decided otherwise.

The second brouhaha currently fomenting on the Internets is that some of the GPS cell phone tracking software for the iPhone sends your position information to third parties whenever you use certain apps. According to one developer friendly to hacking the iPhone (so they cannot be implicitly trusted) there is one mobile phone analytics package that is particularly “spyware-esque.” The name of the spyware-esque mobile phone analytics is Pinch Media and they provide support for several different iPhone apps.

What is reported as going on is that these applications using Pinch Media track the following information:

  • Your iPhone’s unique ID – which can link you directly to any activity that the phone engages in
  • iPhone model
  • OS version
  • Application version (in this case, camera zoom 1.x)
  • If the application is cracked/pirated
  • If your iPhone is jailbroken
  • Time and date you start the application
  • Time and date you close the application
  • Your current latitude & longitude
  • Your gender (if Facebook enabled)
  • Your birth month (if Facebook enabled)
  • Your birth year (if Facebook enabled)

That is a lot of data for a third party to have about you and your iPhone use.  While the iPhone does manually require that you opt in to all location monitoring applications, they do not necessarily require that developers disclose the exact bits of information being tracked or where they are being sent off to.

There is a text document that is terribly hard to read that offers some more information about different apps that are the worst privacy offenders.  It can be found here: http://textbin.com/y6223

Automatic Cell Phone Tracking Software and Privacy

The privacy implications of these actions by corporations is huge.  All steps down the road to tyranny begin with but a single step, and this is not good news for our children 50-75 years from now.  Once corporations and government agencies begin gathering this type of information on us it is going to be a short road to some form of oppressive regime.  If they aren’t trying to control us with fear, they will be trying to do it with pleasure – and the only solution that I can see is to make hard stands now as consumers.

While we are huge proponents of the massive benefit that can be derived from GPS tracking, we also feel like that this information should not be used for marketing or other purposes.  Placing a financial incentive on a person’s location information is only going to degrade a human brother into an object sought after for their capital and not as a person with thoughts, feelings and emotions.

We are huge fans of free GPS cell phone tracking software, thinking that it can help parents stay connected to their children, provide an awesome safety net for people of all ages, improve our fitness levels through fitness tracking programs, and even help us stay connected to our friends.  In time we hope to see GPS make commuting and all driving more efficient and “earth friendly,” end abduction and other forms of personal assault, and help keep the criminal element at bay.

Unfortunately, privacy concerns like the ones raised against Palm Pre and the iPhone will prevent ground being taken toward these ends.  While the cell phone tracking software could be utilized for great good for a great number of people, I fear that it will probably only be used to make the rich richer and the poor poorer.  That is not the future for GPS tracking that I would want, but it seems to be the future that just might be.

Golf GPS Tracking

Knowing where you are at at any given moment on a golf course can be huge for your game.  Today, you can know the distance from ball to hole with a simple simple handheld device – a golf GPS tracking device.  This can be a stand along GPS, like the Garmin golf GPS Approach G5, or it could a mobile phone that has one of the golf GPS software upgrades installed on it.  Either way, you are going to get  some important improvement for your golf game by being able to make an appropriate club selection for your next stroke.

Handheld Golf GPS Units

There are several stand alone golf GPS units out on the market today.  These units are small enough to fit comfortably inside the pocket of your pants and can certainly fit inside your golf bag to be pulled out at a time convenient for you.  Here are several different GPS models designed specifically with golfers in mind:

Golf GPS Review: Garmin Approach G5

The Garmin Approach G5 is the cream of the crop in terms of personal golf GPS tracking units. The case is durable so it can jostled around a bit in your golf bag. It also is waterproof, so if you accidentally throw your golf clubs into the drink you won’t have to worry about destroying your investment (but we don’t recommend throwing anything into the water – its is just bad form). This GPS has a touch screen and comes preloaded with thousands of golf courses preloaded on the device. This device uses some of the latest GPS receiver technology to give golfers of all skill levels personalized and accurate distances to help users improve their club selection and their scores.

One of the great parts about the Approach G5 is that you get to look at the golf course you are on with a lot of detail. And since you can know your position on the course to within a couple of yards thanks to this Garmin’s high-powered GPS tracking receiver you can make full use of this detail. You don’t need to eye a hole and think that it is 100 yards away – you can get the full power of a constellation of 20+ global positioning satellites to give you your location in real time. This means that you can use the Approach at your buddies ball and then at your own in a matter of minutes without you both having to buy one of these devices.

The Approach G5 also will let you touch a spot on the course map so that you can get a picture of how far away your next shot is. If there is a bend in the hole that you want to get to but you don’t have the skills to bend your shot so that you can safely land in the fairway with every shot you simple touch the point you want your ball to land and pick the appropriate club for the task. You won’t have to guess anymore and your game will be more about being able to hit the ball well instead of about how well you judge distances.

If you are serious about keeping your game above board you don’t have to worry about breaking one of the USGA rules about golf GPS units – the Approach G5 meets all the golf GPS tracking rules that this organization has set.

One of the cool features that the Approach G5 has is that is can act as a digital score card for your foursome golf party. Keeping track of one of those pencils and score cards can be a real pain, especially if you are walking the course. You want every second of your time out on the greens to be about making the next shot, not about where you put that pencil.

Golf GPS Review: GolfLogix GPS

A little lower down the chain of quality golf GPS units is the GolfLogix GPS. This device is also made by Garmin, but doesn’t offer the awesome eye candy and functionality that the G5 does. It is still a very solid GPS for golf enthusiasts and comes at a significantly lower price than the G5.

This GPS will recognize the course that you are playing on automatically and will give you distances from the front, middle and back of the greens. It is light weight (5.3 oz) and incredibly durable. If you are thinking about getting a stand alone GPS tracking device for your golfing needs this is certainly going to be one that you have to at least consider.

It doesn’t provide the touch screen capabilities of the G5, but for users who just want to know distances to the green this unit will do just fine. It is one of the most well known golf course GPS units on the market today and comes with great support from the GolfLogix.

Golf GPS Tracking Applications For Mobile Phones

But if getting a dedicated golf GPS systems is not up your alley then you might want to consider turning your smart phone into one. We have already listed several different free GPS tracking software packages that let you turn your smart phone into a GPS tracking machine, but there is also a golf GPS program that can be downloaded for free as well.

If you have an iPhone or a Blackberry and want to us it as a golf GPS you should head over to the GolfLogix website. In addition to being the operators of the dedicated golf GPS unit mentioned above, they also offer free GPS applications for the iPhone and Blackberry mobile phones. This means that in addition to being able to install a regular GPS tracking software on your phone to let you know where you are or to let your loved ones know where you are you can also use it a golf GPS. In fact, you can even use your iPhone or Blackberry for both GPS functions at the same time!

If you are in the market for a golf GPS range finder but you don’t want to fork out hundreds of dollars and already have a smartphone then then you might want to consider getting one of these free applications. I don’t even think you need a good data plan for it because it doesn’t send data out of the phone like a normal GPS tracking application might. All you are doing is using your mobile phone’s computer to use the GPS information gathered from your phone to run against the mapping software produced by GolfLogix.

If you have any experience with any of the golf GPS tracking solutions let us know about it in the comments below.