tracking

Bluetooth-enabled tags and trackers aren’t exactly new but they all have one limitation in common. Aside from the range limit of Bluetooth itself, of course. Because of the electronics required to make them work, they require energy sources, often the thinnest and smallest of batteries. But if semiconductor startup Wiliot successfully proves its new tech, they won’t have to. Bluetooth trackers can be as small and as thin as a postage stamp and get what little power they need almost from the air.

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This week a plan for a future Facebook app feature was revealed in a patent for "Office Trajectories" by the USPTO. In this patent, Facebook detailed a method for determining the current location of an individual - even when their phone is turned off and/or their GPS is deactivated. How might Facebook achieve this, you might scream? They'll just use all the information you've already given them, jam it all in a computer with Machine Learning, and spit out the most likely location - it's easy, really!

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Today we're going to touch on the latest news in how your phone is selling your location to 3rd party companies - and we're going to discuss why this is important. The most common thing I hear when I tell people they're being tracked and/or surveilled is something along the lines of this: "I don't care, why would they want to listen to me or follow me anyway?" There are several reasons every single person should be aware of how they're being tracked - and news this week shows that there's real reason to be alarmed.

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This week the folks at Intel revealed their latest RealSense camera tech, a model by the name of RealSense Depth Camera D435i. This is the sort of camera you use to add depth sensing and tracking capabilities to all manner of devices. This latest version of the camera from Intel adds the all-important inertial measurement unit (IMU) that brings a whole new dimension to the data provided to the end user.

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The AI Cube isn't Huawei's only unusual connected gadget revealed at IFA 2018, with the Huawei Locator also making its debut. Joining the competitive beacon segment, the compact dongle promises better positioning courtesy of using actual satellite location data, rather than triangulating its position through Bluetooth as some rivals do.

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Nomad has launched a new leather wallet with a special pocket for Tile tracking devices. When used with the Tile Bluetooth app, users are able to locate their wallet using a smartphone if they misplace it or it falls out of their pocket nearby. Didn't realize the wallet was missing until it was too late? Tile's system also lets other Tile users look for the lost item.

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Fitness trackers have become so common that people strap them on with no worry or concern. After all, they’re not like smartphones or even smartwatches with tons of features and apps that could be harvesting your data. Unfortunately, fitness trackers themselves and their official apps can actually be gold mines of information. Worse, they can actually pose security risks not just for individuals but for countries as well as services like Polar expose secret places and the people that go to and fro those bases.

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When Strava released its activity heatmap last year, it was quite proud of how many people have used the app to record their jogs and runs. It boasted of having 6 times more data, over a billion activities, and having the largest, richest, and most beautiful data set of its kind. Unfortunately, that is now landing it in a bit of a security controversy involving the world's most secretive organizations: military forces. Because in tracking users' routes and locations, Strava may have inadvertently also revealed the location of some of the army bases around the world, especially some secret ones from the US.

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The tracker market may be growing, but startup Fynd thinks it can out-perform Tile, TrackR and others with its new 4G LTE tracker. Tracking dongles, which promise to help you find your keys, dog, or kids, are increasingly popular, but most rely on Bluetooth and that has some big issues. While it's low-power, Bluetooth doesn't have the service coverage that cellular radios offer.

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Bluetooth tracker Tile has spawned a new, Tile Pro series, promising double the range and a generally more-unmissable alert for your lost keys. The new Tile Style and Tile Sport each increase the distance they'll work from your smartphone to up to 200 feet, twice what the previous Tile Mate and Tile Slim could manage. Meanwhile, there's the promise of greater resilience to the elements, too.

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Absolutely yes, your smartphone can be tracked - the question we should be asking is: what can we do about it? Today we're going to run down several easy ways in which we can see our phone being tracked, first of all. Then we're going to shut down this tracking in a few easy steps. It's really not too big of a hassle, just a trade-off - location tracking lets us map where we're going, but in exchange, our phone has to know where we are.

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At CES 2017 this week, running shoe company New Balance revealed its first fitness-focused smartwatch, the RunIQ. Designed in partnership with Intel, the wearable is powered by Google's Android Wear software and pairs common smartwatch functionality with a number of running-centric features. Priced at $300, the RunIQ is available for pre-order now and is scheduled to begin shipping on February 1st.

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