Track a Soda Can with GPS?

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Posted by michael on Tuesday September 30, 2003 @08:21AM from the drink-pepsi dept.

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?"

26 of 346 comments (clear)

Geocaching by Davak · 2003-09-30 08:24 · Score: 4, Interesting

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
GPS Reception by c_oflynn · 2003-09-30 08:25 · Score: 5, Insightful

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.
1. Re:GPS Reception by burtonator · 2003-09-30 08:49 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  Cheating was the first thing I thought of actually.
  
  Lets call this warcoking :)
  
  If they want to track you that means they have transmit which means I can potentially receive the signal.
  
  An easy way to game this would be to hang outside a Coke distribution center with antenna and a decent laptop.
  
  You just sit in your car and try to find coke machines that are leaving the facility and are transmiting.
  
  Then you follow the truck until it stops its xmit and you found your store. Then you go in and scan the shelves with the laptop until you find the right can.
  
  Bingo...
  
  What would be really funny to do is the money from the contest to buy another GPS ;)
  
  ha
  
  Kevin
2. Re:GPS Reception by PD · 2003-09-30 09:28 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  If I found a can with a GPS in it, I'd take it to Hippie Hollow (a local nude beach in Austin), open it, and wait for them naked.
  
  No problem signing the piece of paper typical in such contests giving them authorization to use my image in their promotional materials.
  
  --
  If tits were wings it'd be flying around.
3. Re:GPS Reception by Lumpy · 2003-09-30 11:53 · Score: 3, Informative
  
  Yup it's true....
  
  Here is how they do it.
  
  --
  Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
Ugh. by CGP314 · 2003-09-30 08:25 · Score: 5, Funny

"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.
1. Re:Ugh. by Em+Ellel · 2003-09-30 08:40 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  "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.
  
  Take my geek membership away, but would not a plain cloth sign do the same?
  
  -Em
  
  --
  RelevantElephants: A Somatic WebComic...
2. Re:Ugh. by uberdave · 2003-09-30 09:29 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  I saw a special weather string on my recent trip to the caribbean. The device is mounted so that the weather string hangs vertically. If the string is wet, that means it's raining. If the string is hanging on an angle, that means it's windy. If the string is horizontal, that means it's really windy. If the string is gone, that means it's a hurricane.
  
  --
  "I'm not impatient. I just hate waiting." - My Dad
So... by glenrm · 2003-09-30 08:26 · Score: 3, Interesting

Coca-Cola and the Howard Dean campaign are new slashdot advertisers?

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Onward to the Aether Sphere!
Hackage! by Dark+Lord+Seth · 2003-09-30 08:27 · Score: 4, Funny

The billboard itself is 52 square meters of LED display. How soon before someone hacks it?

Mmm, 52 square meters of full goatse glory! Remind me to avoid London...

--
Hate me!
Re:Just GPS? by Dstrct0 · 2003-09-30 08:27 · Score: 5, Funny

Even easier: just look for the can with the antenna!

--
Build boards not bombs
Time to hack by jandrese · 2003-09-30 08:30 · Score: 3, Funny

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.
radioactive tracers by SHEENmaster · 2003-09-30 08:32 · Score: 4, Funny

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.
Oh no by dr_dank · 2003-09-30 08:32 · Score: 4, Funny

Now I'll need to buy some more tin foil. A lot more.

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Where does the school board find them and why do they keep sending them to ME?
Making a killing by ciaran_o_riordan · 2003-09-30 08:36 · Score: 3, Informative

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!
Something not quite right here... by WeirdKid · 2003-09-30 08:38 · Score: 5, Informative

I didn't read the article, but, generally speaking, GPS receivers don't transmit, and GPS satellites don't track.
i have the answer by kurosawdust · 2003-09-30 08:39 · Score: 4, Funny

How soon before someone hacks it?"
Approximately 30 seconds before "Breaking News: Tony is GAY" appears on the screen and the entire high school soccer team falls over laughing.
Re:NOT GPS!!! by stratjakt · 2003-09-30 08:40 · Score: 5, Insightful

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

Don't feel bad, I'm sure you didn't know what GPS stood for, thinking it was just another hip sounding acronymn you saw on slashdot.

--
I don't need no instructions to know how to rock!!!!
I wonder how they will get around the legal issues by hchaos · 2003-09-30 08:43 · Score: 5, Insightful

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).
Reminder by handy_vandal · 2003-09-30 08:48 · Score: 5, Funny

Avoid London.

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-kgj
Meters vs. feet by micromoog · 2003-09-30 08:48 · Score: 4, Funny

The billboard itself is 52 square meters of LED display.
Once again, the English system proves superior. 560 square feet sounds way more impressive than a mere 52 square meters.
This begs the question... by travdaddy · 2003-09-30 08:56 · Score: 4, Funny

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
Easy way to spot the winning can: by Greedo · 2003-09-30 09:06 · Score: 4, Funny

It's the Coke can with a Pringles can attached to it.

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Tuus crepidae innexilis sunt.
GPS technology? by neglige · 2003-09-30 09:08 · Score: 3, Informative

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.

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My cats ate my karma. They also wrote this comment.
Let's not forget the fiasco of the Magic Can... by LostCluster · 2003-09-30 09:36 · Score: 4, Informative

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....
The homeless guy down the street from me... by dgulbran · 2003-09-30 09:41 · Score: 3, Funny

... 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...

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The world won't end in darkness, it'll end in family fun, with Coca-cola clouds behind a Big Mac sun.