With the Era of Over-sharing and the Social Fire Hose upon us, the heft and value of privacy is changing — and, for better or worse, many argue that it’s diminishing. Perturbed by the access many companies (inconspicuously) have to our browsing history, former Googler Brian Kennish developed a Chrome Extension to address the browser privacy issue. Facebook Connect, as it was called then, disabled… → Read More
A new app called Pinion from a Toronto-based developer is making its official debut with a soft launch today, taking a new approach to the concept of an app that uses location services to remotely track your activity and give you insight on how you spend your time. Unlike past entrants including Chronos and Saga, however, Pinion wants to keep things as simple as possible, and hopefully make the… → Read More
Apple has been dabbling in wearable tech, at least when it comes to the U.S. Patent Office, and a new application uncovered Thursday by AppleInsider adds to that growing category. Apple has filed for a patent covering so-called “smart shoe” systems which feature sensors that can track wear and usage and tell you when you need to replace them, charting your progress on a companion app for a mobile… → Read More
Founded in 2010, Boston-based Healthrageous has developed a platform that helps individuals, employers, health providers and everyone in between, to prevent and manage chronic health conditions. The startup’s platform collects biometric data from users various health-tracking devices, which it combines with information on their personal preferences to assist in setting goals, action plans and to… → Read More
MapMyFitness is a veteran of the online health and fitness space, with the first iteration of its website appearing back in the summer of 2005. Since then, the startup has developed a suite of fitness-oriented websites (like MapMyRUN.com, MapMyRIDE.com, MapMyWALK.com, et al) to let users track and store their running, cycling, walking and hiking endeavors, along with accessing a database of… → Read More
While attending an exhausting, snowy yet insightful LeWeb in Paris, the TechCrunch Europe team met with a variety of startups and founders. One of them is a recently launched Slovenian company called Toshl, which gives people a well-designed mobile app to track their day to day expenses.
Both the web interface and the mobile version, which is available for most mobile phones such as iPhone… → Read More
If you’ve ever wondered what an FBI GPS tracking device looked like, take a gander at this Guardian ST820 in the wild. Designed for law enforcement, this ended up on a Redditor’s friend’s car after his father died. The intimation in the post is that the father was a Muslim religious leader and was somehow in trouble with the feds. → Read More
This is theCATS.i. It’s a tracking device that its creator says is so small it’s “almost undetectable when being worn.” I could see paranoid parents putting it in their kid’s pocket to make sure he doesn’t wander off. I could see a dog owner slap it onto the collar, to keep an eye on Fido at all times. And, in a Hollywood-esque moment, I could see slipping it in your wife’s purse, to make sure… → Read More
Poor Simon Cowell. Apparently someone on a motorcycle had been constantly following closely behind the notoriously cranky American Idol judge’s Bentley and he couldn’t figure out why. Turns out, there was a magnetic GPS tracking device stuck to the undercarriage of his car, which helped explain why the aforementioned motorcyclist kept showing up at Cowell’s private meetings. It’s unknown… → Read More
Finally, GPS working for the thief, rather than against him. A Japanese car thief devised a clever little planto steal cars with the help of GPS. He had his two ex-wives (so you know he’s a gentleman) rent cars, often expensive ones. Then he’d plant a small GPS device inside the dashboard, after which he’d make a copy of the its key. Once the rental cars were returned, he was… → Read More
GigaOM has a list called 5 Ways Your Gadgets Will Betray Your Privacy, which should reinforce the idea that you can pretty much be followed unless you move off the grid. And if you’ve already moved off the grid, you’re not reading this since CrunchGear is a member of the evil network of interconnected computer machines. The five things include; a box that goes inside malls to track… → Read More
I guess this is for those people for whom UPS and FedEx’s tracking functions are inadequate. I think it’s fun checking where my new RAM or mouse or whatever is, even if it’s only updated every five or six hours. Therefore, it might be even funner to be able to see exactly where it is at all times. Actually, I get the feeling this is more for tracking incredibly important packets… → Read More
Imagine you’re Visa. You’ve got terabytes of personal data on millions of customers, and it all has to go somewhere. The cheapest solution is tape storage, which you keep in a secure room and write all that sensitive stuff to. Then, when the time comes to archive it somewhere cool and dry, like a storage facility, you put it on the truck, and it disappears en route. Uh oh, spaghettios! → Read More
Want to know what in the hell’s taking the pizza guy so long? Order from Domino’s from now on. You can use the new Pizza Tracker feature to keep an eye on your pizza’s location, accurate to within 40 seconds (which in pizza time is an eternity). You’ll also be privy to your driver’s first name and you’ll be able to rate that driver. But why do drivers need… → Read More
Watch and learn, people. Obviously there are other ways for this to happen, but this should give you a general overview of how it works. There are some counter measures, but nothing is fool proof. Tread lightly is what comes to mind when doing anything that’s deemed to be an act of piracy. Video: How People Are Tracked Using BitTorrent [Torrent Freak] → Read More
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