Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Real Life Doom With Point-And-Shoot Positioning

Posted by timothy on from the but-i-was-born-with-this-ability dept.

SoupIsGoodFood_42 writes "A company called GeoVector has come up with a system that lets you point out a location. They say it could be used to get info on buildings and objects. E.G. pointing your mobile device at a movie theater could tell you what's on. They've also developed a "real world" version of Doom. So don't be surprised if you're in Japan early next year and see people running holding their cellphone/PDA like a gun."

13 of 267 comments (clear)

  1. GPS? by AntiOrganic · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Haven't a lot of GPS devices been able to essentially do this for years, without all the pointing?

    1. Re:GPS? by SoupIsGoodFood_42 · · Score: 2, Insightful
      The idea with this is that you don't have to walk over to whatever you want to get into on. If you happen to be 2 blocks away from the movies, and want to know what time film X is on, you could point to it. Instead of having to walk all the way there, in which case you might aswell go right inside and look at their timetable.

      I'm guessing that this is based on GPS. But the idea in this and normal GPS devices are a bit different. GPS tells you something about where you are now. This tells you something about where you might want to go.

  2. Re:Silly by LostCluster · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Yeah, but the sign can't offer you a click-through way to buy your tickets without waiting in line. That's the reason why this is being developed, so that you can get content that relates to what you can buy at the places you happen to be walking by.

    No need to move cash around, or even deal with the credit card industry, the charges show up on your celluar bill, which also means your wireless carrier takes a cut of the money.

  3. Re:Awesome by BigDork1001 · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Yeah, that's good and all until a cop sees you running down the street with your friends with "guns" in your hand. Next thing you know you'll be dodging bullets for real.

    --
    "Armed forces abroad are of little value unless there is prudent counsel at home" - Cicero
  4. So?? by brunes69 · · Score: 2, Insightful

    PDAs and laptops are one thing. But what POSSIBLE benefit would a child have posessing a cellphone at school? All they are / would be is a distraction, with people making / recieving calls and text messages while in class, etc. It's not like they add anything to the educational experience. All they are is an annoyance to teachers.

    I would never let my child use a cell phone in school. IF I provided them with one I would explictly tell them it was only to be used after hours / in emergencies, and if they were ever caught with it out of their backpack not in these circumstances I'd remove it from them.

    1. Re:So?? by Binary+Gibbon · · Score: 3, Insightful

      When I was in high school, several times a week I found myself needing my cell phone to arrange for rides or coordinate plans with my parents. When I didn't have my phone, I was left high and dry, with no communication and no way to get home, more than once.

    2. Re:So?? by CableModemSniper · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Speaking as a fellow ex-high school student, which was it? You didn't have quarters, or the school didn't have payphones?

      --
      Why not fork?
    3. Re:So?? by lpret · · Score: 2, Insightful
      I have a smartphone. Should I not be allowed to use it simply because it is also a phone (as well as being a PDA)?

      In general they are nice for coordinating lunches, after-school activities, and keeping up with life. Simply because high-schoolers are sitting in class doesn't make it any different than yourself in a boring meeting.

      --
      This is my digital signature. 10011011001
  5. Re:Just when we thought we were safe... by saden1 · · Score: 2, Insightful

    What works in Japan won't necessarily work everywhere else. You'd probably get beat up in the States if you are seen doing some of the stuff Japanese kids do.

    --

    -----
    One is born into aristocracy, but mediocrity can only be achieved through hard work.
  6. How useful can it be? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    If you are standing infront of a movie theater, do you really need a PDA to tell what's showing?!? Seems to me like another solution in search of a problem.

  7. Re:Silly by SwissCheese · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Then why doesn't the assistant read the sign for them?

  8. Its all fun and games until..... by QueenOfSwords · · Score: 2, Insightful

    someone gets ventilated by an overzealous security guard.

    I mean most phones are small, and hard to distinguish as phones at long range.

    One part of me says 'cool, Doom/Cyberpunk LARP!'

    The other part says 'Don't try this in a public place, especially not one in a metropolitan area subject to constant, vague terrorism threats.'

    --
    -- INTX Grouch. http://www.midnightblue.net
  9. Laser Tag? by Gildogg · · Score: 1, Insightful

    "So don't be surprised if you're in Japan early next year and see people running holding their cellphone/PDA like a gun."

    Wasn't laser tag great? Hard to believe that people think this is something new...Finally, another way to waste the batteries on a cell phone so when you really need to use it you can't!