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Welcome to the new site. Here's a thread about the update where you can post your feedback, ask questions or spot those nasty bugs!
In Perspective, Fun: Modern times
- Thread starter Jerome Marot
- Start date
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- Tags
- cellphones google hack privacy
Asher Kelman
OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
So he is making fun of Google mapping in his own artistic spoof or is he actually impacting their enterprise?
Jerome Marot
Well-known member
" 99 second hand smartphones are transported in a handcart to generate virtual traffic jam in Google Maps.Through this activity, it is possible to turn a green street red which has an impact in the physical world by navigating cars on another route to avoid being stuck in traffic. "
Asher Kelman
OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Brilliant! It would never have occurred to me as I don’t use that navigation and “turning red” is new to me!
Great performance art too!
Is it illegal anywhere?
I would be great way to stage an escape route after a bank robbery!
Great performance art too!
Is it illegal anywhere?
I would be great way to stage an escape route after a bank robbery!
Maggie Terlecki
Moderator
I heard about this. Hilarious!
James Lemon
Well-known member
I had a GPS micro chip surgically implanted near the back of my right ear. Now I always know where I am!
Jerome Marot
Well-known member
Yes, but does google know where you are, can suggest "best deals" near where you are whenever they please and sell your position to the highest bidder?
James Lemon
Well-known member
Interesting image and back story! Google maps is something that I actually use, it has proved to be a functional piece of technology for me.
Jerome Marot
Well-known member
The following blog post from google celebrates the 15th anniversary of their map services: https://www.blog.google/perspectives/jen-fitzpatrick/charting-next-15-years-google-maps/
As expected, google praise themselves for their product. In my experience, however, the reality is quite different.
As expected, google praise themselves for their product. In my experience, however, the reality is quite different.
Asher Kelman
OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
What is the bad side of it apart from them being caught vacuuming up data from open Wi-Fi networks as they go down the streets!
Asher
Asher
Jerome Marot
Well-known member
Let me answer that question by an analogy.
Often, when visiting countries with living standards below our own, we will be approached by an "assistant". Invariably, it is a young person, presenting him or herself as "our friend" and wants to help us discover the great places of his or her country. You can follow that person, but you will soon find out that the "secret places" are little more than tourist traps only eager to let you part with your money. More often than not, you will pass aside the truly great places that country has to offer. These did not negotiate a percentage with your new "friend".
Now, there is another assistant made by a multibillion dollars company that also wants to be "your friend" (as if multibillion dollars companies needed "friends"...). Except that this assistant knows where you live, where you work, where you have been in the past 15 years, everything you have bought or checked online, reads your mail and has access to your bank account.
Often, when visiting countries with living standards below our own, we will be approached by an "assistant". Invariably, it is a young person, presenting him or herself as "our friend" and wants to help us discover the great places of his or her country. You can follow that person, but you will soon find out that the "secret places" are little more than tourist traps only eager to let you part with your money. More often than not, you will pass aside the truly great places that country has to offer. These did not negotiate a percentage with your new "friend".
Now, there is another assistant made by a multibillion dollars company that also wants to be "your friend" (as if multibillion dollars companies needed "friends"...). Except that this assistant knows where you live, where you work, where you have been in the past 15 years, everything you have bought or checked online, reads your mail and has access to your bank account.
Jerome Marot
Well-known member
I can give an actual example of problems I have experienced by using google maps or similar websites.
I was on a short trip to Lisbon last year and relied at first on google maps and trip advisor. On such trips, I like to discover the city walking or using public transport and also like to visit some places off the beaten path. I wanted to visit a botanical garden. My hotel was not in the city itself, but 10km to the west.
While searching for botanical gardens, google maps would not give me the famous one in the city center by only gardens closer to my hotel. Naively, I thought the one I looked for was in the list, and proceeded to visit the largest one, which was closed for renovations. Only when I was there, and therefore closer to the city center, did it show me the one I was looking for, which was open but still quite afar. It also then showed me further botanical gardens, much farther away and as far as I can tell not open to the general public.
Back to the hotel, it showed me the one which was closed and not the one in the city center. The usual workarounds did not help.
Tripadvisor was markedly worse. All it apparently wanted me to do was to book a tour by a city guide. Except that the tours were organized from tourist hotels in the city center (so not mine) and only bookable the day after tomorrow. And that I did not want a tour at all, of course. And I could not find out how to use public transport.
I had a rental car (even if I also wanted to use public transport), and google maps or apple maps, while proving to be invaluable in main roads, were very frustrating when traffic was congested as they were not able to suggest anything else than using the car to add to the jam.
On the second day, I found out that there is a non-commercial site for travelers: http://wikitravel.org This proved to be a much better choice, explained how to use public transport and where to find actual interesting places. http://openstreetmap.org , of which I am a contributor, also proved much more useful when visiting the terrain on foot.
In that trip I also discovered a peculiarity of google apps on the iPad (I used and iPad for the trip). One cannot escape google spying powers on Android (except by heavily hacking the device), but one can on the iPad and normally I do not use a google account at all. During part of the trip I had to (for unrelated reasons, someone send me a google spreadsheet). This is where I found out that google apps circumvent iOS protections and make it sure that you are logged in all google apps at once. So if I wanted to use the spreadsheet, I would also be logged in when using the map application, or any other application and the browser. And then, I also got different answers to my searches.
I suppose that most people would not notice. Google maps pretends it is most useful when driving to work. Maybe it is, but I don't need a map to drive to work, I know my way around. OTOH, one expects a map to be useful in places he or she does not know. Except that if it only presents you biased info in places you do not know, you are not likely to ever find out.
There is a further peculiarity of all electronic maps that you are not likely to notice. In a next post, if you are interested.
I was on a short trip to Lisbon last year and relied at first on google maps and trip advisor. On such trips, I like to discover the city walking or using public transport and also like to visit some places off the beaten path. I wanted to visit a botanical garden. My hotel was not in the city itself, but 10km to the west.
While searching for botanical gardens, google maps would not give me the famous one in the city center by only gardens closer to my hotel. Naively, I thought the one I looked for was in the list, and proceeded to visit the largest one, which was closed for renovations. Only when I was there, and therefore closer to the city center, did it show me the one I was looking for, which was open but still quite afar. It also then showed me further botanical gardens, much farther away and as far as I can tell not open to the general public.
Back to the hotel, it showed me the one which was closed and not the one in the city center. The usual workarounds did not help.
Tripadvisor was markedly worse. All it apparently wanted me to do was to book a tour by a city guide. Except that the tours were organized from tourist hotels in the city center (so not mine) and only bookable the day after tomorrow. And that I did not want a tour at all, of course. And I could not find out how to use public transport.
I had a rental car (even if I also wanted to use public transport), and google maps or apple maps, while proving to be invaluable in main roads, were very frustrating when traffic was congested as they were not able to suggest anything else than using the car to add to the jam.
On the second day, I found out that there is a non-commercial site for travelers: http://wikitravel.org This proved to be a much better choice, explained how to use public transport and where to find actual interesting places. http://openstreetmap.org , of which I am a contributor, also proved much more useful when visiting the terrain on foot.
In that trip I also discovered a peculiarity of google apps on the iPad (I used and iPad for the trip). One cannot escape google spying powers on Android (except by heavily hacking the device), but one can on the iPad and normally I do not use a google account at all. During part of the trip I had to (for unrelated reasons, someone send me a google spreadsheet). This is where I found out that google apps circumvent iOS protections and make it sure that you are logged in all google apps at once. So if I wanted to use the spreadsheet, I would also be logged in when using the map application, or any other application and the browser. And then, I also got different answers to my searches.
I suppose that most people would not notice. Google maps pretends it is most useful when driving to work. Maybe it is, but I don't need a map to drive to work, I know my way around. OTOH, one expects a map to be useful in places he or she does not know. Except that if it only presents you biased info in places you do not know, you are not likely to ever find out.
There is a further peculiarity of all electronic maps that you are not likely to notice. In a next post, if you are interested.
Jerome Marot
Well-known member
I'll also add a picture taken in a botanical garden during that trip. It ressembles the tree in the other thread:
Asher Kelman
OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Again, the tree brings us back to you, the content provider! That’s good. It keeps me orientated. I particularly enjoyed the picture and all the pictures you referenced once more.
Great comedians do that and screenplay writers and the payoff is always enjoyable.
Great comedians do that and screenplay writers and the payoff is always enjoyable.
James Lemon
Well-known member
My only experience with google maps is entering an address and having it guid me to my destination.
I don’t use it to find hotels, gas, bank machines or anything else that may be near me.
I don’t use it to find hotels, gas, bank machines or anything else that may be near me.
Jerome Marot
Well-known member
If you use google to find the address, it amounts to the same when the two services are linked.
Jerome Marot
Well-known member
There was amusing article yesterday in the Washington Post about the subject: https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2020/02/14/google-maps-political-borders/
(Fair warning: you may want to copy that link and open it in a private browsing session, unless you are already a Washington Post subscriber)
(Fair warning: you may want to copy that link and open it in a private browsing session, unless you are already a Washington Post subscriber)
James Lemon
Well-known member
Yes sometimes too many features that I find redundant in most cases. I use stuff in limited ways my vehicles have many features and knobs that I don't know what they are for.
Jerome Marot
Well-known member
The feature is not redundant for google or they would not have implemented it twice. Likely, the features and knobs of your car serve a purpose for the manufacturer. It just so happens that I know someone who is working for a car manufacturer. He goes into great length to save fractions of cents. There is no extra knob in his budget.
James Lemon
Well-known member
Yes a $2.00 saving on a simple part for production of 20 million vehicles is a substantial savings. However a recall on vehicle because a failure of that same part cost the manufacture more than the savings. This happens more than you might think. Recently I had two trucks that had to have faulty block heaters replaced that could cause your vehicle to burn up. These are simple things that have been put in for a hundred years, now all of the sudden there are problems.
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Asher Kelman
OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
I want one with auto crash protection that is the best!
Tom dinning
Registrant*
Now I know where all the fossil fuels are being burnt.
Jerome Marot
Well-known member
That car uses double to triple the fuel mine does. OTOH, mine has about half the load capacity and would not make it on the dirt roads James drives for his work. It really depends on what one needs, I would say.