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Track a Soda Can with GPS?
I am Kobayashi writes "According to the Indianapolis Star Online, next summer Coca-cola will feature a promotion in which winners will be located by satellites tracking GPS devices implanted in the winning cans.... Hopefully they track you fast before you throw-away (or recycle) your winning can...." And in another bit of Coke news, they've got a new high-tech billboard: jhkoh writes "Reuters/Yahoo is reporting that Coca-Cola has unveiled an 'intelligent' billboard in London's Piccadilly Circus -- at 99 feet wide, the world's biggest -- that supposedly will respond to weather, movement, and SMS text messages. The billboard itself is 52 square meters of LED display. How soon before someone hacks it?"
winners will be located by satellites tracking GPS devices implanted in the winning cans....
Is this where my 1.25 goes each time I buy a 20oz. Coke? Funding expensive marketing ploys? How about the old way? Why can't that be the way we do contests?
"Excuse me ma'am, I see you are holding a Coke, you won the contest, now come with me into this dark alley to claim your prize." - that scares me, there ARE people out there that would do that...
Well, as a Coke lover, it looks like I am not going to be drinking Coke anytime soon. I would rather lose (or be dead in the case of GPS in cell phones which I have complained about before) a contest than be tracked by a third-party.
Oooh, it's just for the promotion. Oh, it's just to make sure they don't leave the store w/o being bought. Oh, it's just to see how many ARE leaving the store w/o having to track the money. Oh, it's for your own good. Oh, wait.
No thanks.
As if RFID tags weren't enough, now I can be found just out of pure thirst...
Business \Busi"ness\, n.;
A scam in which all people involved perceive as beneficial...
What an odd bastardization of Geocaching!
Geocaching is exploring for objects other people have hidden using GPS. It's a blast and very addictive.
However, GPS does not send signals... it only receives... How are they going to track people?
Davak
Tracking my Coke is one thing, but please don't track my beer
Hmm... GPS reception inside aluminum cans? Seems a bit sketchy if you ask me.
AND it will have to transmit as well, thats going to be a nice piece of technology.
But seems you could possibly cheat - there are devices to detect semiconductor material (used to detect "bugs"), so with a bit of tweaking you could possibly figure out which can has something inside.
"When it's raining, big drops will appear on the screen and when it's breezy, the Coke sign can ripple as if it's being blown by the wind," a spokeswoman for the company said.
Well, it sure is good to see technology used for the benefit of humanity, and not just a stupid gimmick.
Coca-Cola and the Howard Dean campaign are new slashdot advertisers?
Onward to the Aether Sphere!
Mmm, 52 square meters of full goatse glory! Remind me to avoid London...
Hate me!
How long till someone hacks it
Well, since it was supposed to be a Pepsi billboard, I'd say not long at all
ha, ha me make funny
I like my beverages with warning labels!
Even easier: just look for the can with the antenna!
Build boards not bombs
Does this mean that the first person who hacks the transmitter's signal to track down the winning can gets to claim the prize? I don't think this will ever work because most cans are stored in places that don't get good GPS reception (buildings, steel machines, trucks, etc...) and the transmit out (presumably a cell connection?) is another matter entirely.
plus it's a little creepy having Coke track down the winners like that. What's next? A tiny transmitter in the cola itself that the "winner" swallows so Coke can track them even if they put the can down?
I read the internet for the articles.
If you start glowing green, people call in and report your location via the GPS units in their cell phones.
You can't judge a book by the way it wears its hair.
Now I'll need to buy some more tin foil. A lot more.
Where does the school board find them and why do they keep sending them to ME?
I've got obese family members who code in little to no clothing. I'm sure they wouldn't mind...
tasks(723) drafts(105) languages(484) examples(29106)
Number of time "GPS" appears in this story: ZERO!!! Not all satelite tracking uses the US Government's GPS system!
ATLANTA -- Here's a way to really target a consumer.
Next summer, Coca-Cola plans to use satellites to find U.S. buyers who happen to purchase special cans of Coke products.
They will be winners in a giveaway that will feature Hummer H2 sport-utility vehicles. The giant vehicles will be presented in person, using satellites to locate the recipients. And in a promotion tied to the Summer Olympics, Coke's prize is likely to be $1 million in gold, again awarded on the spot.
The promotions, described in a proposal that has been circulated within the Coke system, are a twist for the beverage maker, because of both the technology involved and the splashy prizes.
Coke spokesman Mart Martin declined to provide details about the promotions, which remain months away. "We are still in the process of finalizing our plans," he said.
But U.S. Coke bottlers have learned quite a bit about them. Last week in Australia, Coke unveiled a similar plan. Dubbed Thrill Seeker, it is tied to the Rugby World Cup finals, scheduled for October and November.
Thrill Seeker uses satellite tracking to locate winners. The prizes are Peugeot cars and $10,000.
Summertime prizes are common in the soft-drink world, given that they help stir interest during an important selling season. This year's summer promotion from Pepsi, for example, touted a potential prize of $1 billion. (It wasn't won, by the way.)
The oddity of Coke's promotion revolves around how winners will get their prizes. The cans used will be equipped with Global Positioning System transponders.
In Canada, Coors used a "Tracker Bottle" in Quebec in 2001 and 2002. The program spread to all of Canada last summer.
That experience should indicate the tracking system will work. Coke doesn't want a repeat of 1990, when the much-touted "Magic Can" promotion turned out to be a mess. In that case, Coke put cash in cans, but many malfunctioned.
Wow!
All this while assinating union leaders in developing nations.
Those cola loving fellows are hard workers.
Ciaran O'Riordan
Expert in software patents or patent law? Contribute to the ESP wiki!
I didn't read the article, but, generally speaking, GPS receivers don't transmit, and GPS satellites don't track.
What on earth could Coca-Cola possibly be thinking of using for receivers? Any transmitter is going to have to be small enough to fit inside of a can of Coke, which means it's going to have a pretty darn small range. (There's a reason that Iridium phones are so bloody big.) That'd mean that receivers would have to be essentially ubiquitous. The only thing I can think of that might come close to fitting the bill would be cell towers.
Add to that the fact that both the receiving and transmitting circuitry as well as the battery would have to fit inside a small metal can, and you're not looking at much power or battery life. Also, to get a GPS signal, you pretty much have to be outside or next to a window. In short, I have no idea how this could work, and given the restrictions above, this seems like a vaporware ad campaign.
Approximately 30 seconds before "Breaking News: Tony is GAY" appears on the screen and the entire high school soccer team falls over laughing.
Unless constantly flooding it with references to RANDOM CRAP(tm) is considered hacking...
No, no, that's not hacking... that's Slashdot!
In general, in the US, it is illegal to have a sweepstakes-style contest that requires a purchase for entry (because it is technically gambling).
Avoid London.
-kgj
Once again, the English system proves superior. 560 square feet sounds way more impressive than a mere 52 square meters.
I should think otherwise:
GPS Transpoder
Looks like the power draw is low enough to survive a trip in a coke can too < 40 milliamps.
Hopefully they track you fast before you throw-away (or recycle) your winning can....
Maybe they would just award the prize to the trash can. But, how would a trash can spend a million dollars?
I'd imagine he would just waste it.
Adidas To Bring Back Sneakernet
It's the Coke can with a Pringles can attached to it.
Tuus crepidae innexilis sunt.
I'd like to see one of the lucky winners try to get on an airplane with a specially modified can in their carry-on baggage. She's got a bomb!
Mea navis aericumbens anguillis abundat
Uh... tracking someone with GPS?!? Not likely. GPS is a system that provides satellites in earth orbit, sending out time-stamped signals. A receiver picks up those signals from 3 or more satellites (even 4 or 5) and calculates the position from the time differences. Other sources of information, like wireless network base stations (GSM etc.) enhance accuracy. [end of very rough description]
Bottom line: GPS does not work within buildings. You need to see the sky - or to be more exact, you need a line of sight to at least 3 satellites.
Now, even if you assume that everyone is running around outside holding their cans high up over their head... the coke can would be able to find out its own position (and I'm not even convinced that there are GPS receiver small enough to fit inside a can...) That does not mean that Coca Cola will know the position of the can, because how will the can transmit it's position back to the company? Are they going to fit a cell phone into the can, too??
No, I honestly don't believe the story right now, I need to see that can first.
My cats ate my karma. They also wrote this comment.
Well, either the unit is built into the can, or it is in the beverage itself. If it is in the can, you don't have to worry (once you wipe down the can). If it is in the beverage, then they've got you.
"I'm not impatient. I just hate waiting." - My Dad
That article too, is light on details, but it claims that Coors Light was able to use a GPS based device in a bottle to locate winners and give them their prize.
Does anyone have any more details on how this system works? Does it only work if I decide to drink my Coke/Coors outside in an area with a good cell phone signal, and then only if I don't move for a minute after activating the GPS receiver?
-- It is too late for the pebbles to vote, the avalanche has already started.
In very small print, at the bottom of every can, it will say 'No purchase neccessary, steal can to enter contest'.
Here's a simular Coca-Cola promotion that went horribly wrong:
The idea was called "Magic Can", you'd open up your Coca-Cola can and real spendable US dollars just might pop out. Of course, the cans with the money in them wouldn't have cola, but instead a device powered by chlorinated water that would propel the bill.
However, the device often got damaged in shipping, and this lead to several cases where a "winner" didn't look before they drank, and ended up digesting the chlorinated water before realizing that their can didn't really have any cola. Their $100 bill would end up getting spent in the emergency room...
Coca-Cola found itself reduced to putting out ads that instructed "winners" how to safely extract the bill in the event of a failed device....
Once I figure out the system, I'll know EXACTLY where to find that "lucky" million-dollar winner...
How clever: Get people to be excited about being "tracked" with technology!
Check out this site for more information on how your privacy is being invaded today...
... will be *overjoyed* when Coke pulls up in an H2 with $1M in gold to give him in exchange for a Coke can in the pile in his shopping cart...
The world won't end in darkness, it'll end in family fun, with Coca-cola clouds behind a Big Mac sun.
I have had this argument many times, and am still very skeptical about GPS transponders.
GPS (if that's being used, which is likely) is a one-way system, which means a passive device receives timing signals from a constellation of visible satellites, and uses the timing differences to estimate location and speed of the receiver.
The critical question is what happens next to that data. It can't be transmitted back to the GPS satellites, since they are only able to receive control signals from their operator (Loral?). In fact, it's unlikely to be any satellite-based system, due to the power requirements to punch a signal up to above the atmosphere (such as a satellite phone or VSAT terminal.) Such requirements mean a big heavy battery, and a very carefully aligned directional aerial (in most cases.)
So, what's the back channel? One example of a GPS transponder uses GSM to send the coordinates to a local cell network, probably via SMS. A European system (Galileo) being developed for tracking vehicles on roads throughout Europe, using UMTS or similar technologies.
Note that all of these devices so far require a package that is somewhat large than that which can be hidden inside a can of Cola!
Paul Gillingwater
MBA, CISSP, CISM
Not only is GPS a passive technology, meaning it is a receiver not a tranmitter that requires an omni directional 1.575ghz antenna, it also does not work indoors. The whole system would also need a battery and additional transmitter to report position information. While it is possible to fit all this within a coke can, there would be little room for soda and it is unlikely that it would function inside an aluminum container.
This is probably something the marketing boys came up with and released before they figured out it was not feasible. Here's why:
:)
1. The GPS satellites don't tell you where you are. A GPS receiver figures out where it is by triangulating its position by measuring how far it is away from each satellite. This takes some pretty advanced electronics which would barely fit in a soda can.
2. GPS does not track. Nothing is beamed back to the satellites, and even if it were, it would not reach them without a lot of power and a high gain antenna. The most common ways to get realtime tracking information on a GPS receiver is to couple it with ground-based radio or cell network. This would have to go in the soda can along with the rest...
3. GPS (generally) only works outside. The signals that GPS uses are very high frequency, weak, and thus very prone to attenuation due to obstacles. They COULD use the can itself as an antenna, but even that probably wouldn't give you enough gain to get the signal indoors.
4. Power source. None of this stuff works without power. How are they going to propose to keep this thing powered while they have this thing stored in the back of a warehouse for god knows how long before it gets put on a shelf and bought? Even if you didn't have it activate until you, say, opened it, there's still a pretty good chance you will not be in a location where GPS signals can be acquired.
Pepsi, please stick with the damned instant win cards.
Oh, and you are planning on going though with this, it may not be a good idea to fill the can.
-R
For the upcoming Rugby Worldcup 2003 in Australia, Coca Cola has this system already in use for their current competition (one could win in total about 50'000 AUS Dollar (10'000 Visa, Peugeot 206 XTR and VIP Final tickets) if he has the right bottle).
I havnt looked at the cans, but The current Thrillseeker competition in Australia is in the bottles. These are definately big enough for a cell-phone like device and arent made of metal. From the label:
Look under the cap and if you've won, you'll find "Winner" and instructions on how to activate your winning Thrillseeker bottle. Once activated, we'll be able to find you using the latest satelite technology, so our Thrilseeker Squad can deliver your prize to you in hours
There is also a disclaimer, which includes:
Subject to satelite reception and
You must keep all parts of your winning bottle to claim your prize
Hope this helps all the pedants debating the satelite tracking angle. *grin*
Personally, when I go to the store, Im gonna keep a look-out for the bottle which has a satelite dish and a hefty power pack attached.
"If I could only live my life with my threshold at 4... " -- Wil Wheaton
Coca-cola will feature a promotion in which winners will be located by satellites tracking GPS devices implanted in the winning cans....
You'll never look at the guy picking pop cans out of the trash the same way ever again...
Lumpy (I think was his name) has posted a link to dpie who have a device devloped for Budweiser (of USA) to use in promotions ... if you read the linked article (which I posted an excerpt of elsewhere) then you'd find answers to many of the questions you have.
Won't I just be able to find the can using a "bug catcher"?No, the transmitter is activated on opening the can.
The batteries will be flat real quick!?See above
They can't fit a GPS receiver and a UMTS/GSM transceiver in a coke can, can they?Yup sure looks like it www.dpie.com/news/gpscan.html (<-- that link again).
GPS is reception system, how'll they find me?The GPS coordinates (or possibly raw data?) will be sent via GSM (mobile phone carrier) signal, alerting some marketing hoodlums to come and rough you up!
Wow, what a cool item!?Yeah, they can even respond to the 'coke can' and query it for more details.
Isn't that a waste of technology/resources?Undoubtedly. What a twisted society we live in. Next thing we know we'll all be buying PCs instead of sending food and medical aid to the starving and downtrodden of the world ....