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Shopkick and Macy's Team Up for First Retail-Based iBeacons

old-wiz said:
And users will be tracked through the store and the profile can be used in all sorts of ways. suppose you buy a pair of shoes...bingo..your info gets sold to shoe companies and suddenly you're on their lists as well.

The opportunities for abuse are amazing.
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As compared to Google tracking everywhere you go on the web even to the point of circumventing your privacy choice if you use Safari.... With the iPhone, you can turn off Bluetooth. Google gives you no such option if you want to surf the web without being tracked.

The difference here, if you watch the video, is that you must opt in if you want the service. On the web, the tracking companies make it virtually, if not completely, impossible to opt out.
 
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Shannighan said:
I'm not sure why people continue to compare NFC to BLE / iBeacons. The technologies are different, and developed with different purposes in mind. The biggest different being their range, with BLE having a range of ~30 feet as opposed to the ~5 inches typically found with NFC. (I do realize RFID can have much larger ranges)
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I don't disagree with your logic, but Apple isn't going to use NFC, and BTLE and WiFi are going to replace NFC for transactions. BTLE certainly can be paired and secure, which was the point of NFC for transactions.
 
That was real cool, I see this is why apple did not go the way of NFC and plans to use this better implemented device.

For everyone freaking out about privacy, just don't use it. If you don't trust your phone, this works off of bluetooth, so you can always just turn bluetooth off. Although I am sure you need an app for it to work.

For the most port it should be good for people who are ok and want to use it, for everyone else, there would be no difference, I just think its a great idea.
 
old-wiz said:
And users will be tracked through the store and the profile can be used in all sorts of ways. suppose you buy a pair of shoes...bingo..your info gets sold to shoe companies and suddenly you're on their lists as well.

The opportunities for abuse are amazing.
Click to expand...

If you are carrying any mobile, your movements are almost certainly being tracked 'anonymously' anyway - try this for example http://www.pathintelligence.com/technology/

Your purchases will be tracked every time you don't use cash...
 
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coolfactor said:
She stopped right in the doorway to look at her phone. I can see that happening a lot. Our society already suffers from "phone-itis", and this takes it to a new level. People walking around with their faces in their phones instead of talking to real people.

Okay, secretly, I think this is cool, probably because it's an Apple-born technology. Will I get to use it on my little island of paradise? Hmmmm... that's hard to say. I visited my first Apple store this year, and that was an hour and a half plane trip away. lol
Click to expand...

Real people are inefficient, can be in bad moods, and may not know what you want them to know. Your iPhone always loves you.
 
old-wiz said:
And users will be tracked through the store and the profile can be used in all sorts of ways. suppose you buy a pair of shoes...bingo..your info gets sold to shoe companies and suddenly you're on their lists as well.

The opportunities for abuse are amazing.
Click to expand...

I agree with you 100%... and why won't the government stop it...? because these companies are keeping the economy running by employing people to monitor you. it's a catch 22...
 
These companies need to start paying us if they want our information, nothing in this world is free except for our personal data for some reason.
 
Why do people care if companies know about them. Companies only want to know info to sell you stuff! Is that such a bad thing? AND it's opt in. So what's to complain about?

This super protective nature around privacy is something we care about now only cause tech is relatively new in our timeline. In the future, people will look back and ask why people didn't want others to know helpful info about them
 
While I think there are several nice usage scenarios for iBeacon I seriously don't desire an interrupted shopping experience like that.
 
so I would get ads while I am walking around? This sounds annoying as hell. My phone just beeping and buzzing as I walk around the store trying to find my items. Its essentially just pocket advertising.

I guess I am not the target demographic.
 
This video makes the customer look like a materialist, yet brain-dead automaton.

My phone is telling me I must buy this ugly plasticy purse.
I WILL BUY THIS UGLY PLASTICY PURSE.

My phone is alerting me to some over-priced Gucci crap.
I WILL BUY THIS OVER-PRICED GUCCI CRAP.​
 
2013 will go down as The Year of the Creepy Retail Stalker.

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I have yet to see a definitive statement from Apple or an expert who knows whether they can still track me with Bluetooth turned off. Seems logical that they couldn't, but I've read that hotspots can ID you even with WiFi turned off so I don't know...

Anyone have any definitive statement to point me to?
 
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