GPS-tracked Clothing

Anil Kandangath writes "A Japanese firm has shown off new technology that enables GPS units to be embedded in clothing that will enable the wearer to be tracked continuously. The device is thin enough to be tacked on unobtrusively and is powered by a thin watch battery. It is also capable of taking biometric measurements and transmitting them PCs and handheld devices. Though marketed as a device to enable people to keep track of spouses, how long before such technology becomes intrusive in our lives?" Like tracking your spouse is ok?. What a world! Update: 05/29 18:00 GMT by Z : Not actually real. A Contagious Media project. Please do not try to monitor your SO's panties.

Comments

April Fools

[Anonymous Coward]

plus 58 days...

spoof

[Hank Chinaski]

this is obviously fake ... slashdot editors do your homework.

Re:spoof

[NetFusion]

The contagiousmedia.org is the giveaway. Slashdot covered this web page meme advertising contest earlier.

Re:spoof

[Zone-MR]

You mean the panties with hidden GPS sensor and wireless transmitter which transmits signals that can be received on "up to four devices" isn't enough of a giveaway already? ;)

Re:spoof

[A beautiful mind]

And Taco obviously attempted to do some perl scripting, with a revolutionary new way:

Like tracking your spouse is ok?. What a world!

I mean, most, less experienced or cunning perl coders would have done it this way:

"$comment = $track_spouse ? 'What a world!':'';"

If you look at the revolutionary concatisanation, the new way to use ? and . next to each other clearly indicate a brilliant new way to use the Conditional Operator and the "." Additive Operator.

Some less experienced people on slashdot might wonder, that it was just a typo(sic!). They must be new here and do not grasp the subtle indications of the existence of a brilliant mind CmdrTaco must be possessing.

Re:spoof

[northcat]

It'd be better if taco edited the story and made it clear that it was a hoax.

Ridiculous

[CypherXero]

Oh comeon, that's ridiculous. If you have to track your spouse, then you have a lot more issues than you might think. Good relationships are built on trust, and if you can't trust the person, then all hope is lost.

Re:Ridiculous

[ShieldW0lf]

Spoken like someone who's never lost their spouse at the mall. I'd much rather track her RFID panties down with my Dick Tracy watch than have her show up at our meeting place an hour late with a thousand dollars worth of clothes that make her look fat in any mirror besides the one in the store...

"Oh no, her heart rate spiked! I'd better get over there before she gets to the sales counter!"

Re:When will the public revolt about issues like t

[nkh]

You don't need laws for this as:

- this story smells like a hoax: basic drawings without an explaination and "no one can order due to overwhelming demand"
- any women could sue the ass of her husband if someone was stupid enough to try it, no need for new laws.

Isn't this a viral media competition entry?

[Colin Smith]

To see how many hits you can generate?

forgetmenotpanties.

www.contagiousmedia.org

I call hoax

[iturbide]

Check the testimonials. PantyMap tracking software? Come on people, I don't buy it. Still, hoaxes are fun. |Anyone remember fufme.com?

a whole new market for tinfiol

[PSVMOrnot]

I can see a great new market for tinfoil hat manufacturers...

Re:a whole new market for tinfiol

[maxwell demon]

Tinfoil hats with integrated GPS-tracking devices?

Tracking...

[darkov]

Really, what is the point of stalking them after you've married them?

If you need electronics to track your spouse

[Xargle]

you've made their chain too long.

It's a joke, but still

[broothal]

Ok - at first I didn't realize this was a joke, but just a quick look at the advertized product gives it away.

But even though this is a joke, the technology to achieve this isn't that far away. I'm going to be a parent in about 6 months, and while my kid is young, I wouldn't mind attaching a GPS to the kid. Of course, once he/she reaches a certain age, I will have to trust him/her. But until then, I'd be using such a device in a jiffy. I think... it's my first, so I don't know what to expect from having kids ;)

Medical uses. If this were real.

[MisanthropicProgram]

I could see medical uses for a product like this. Especially for people with dementia.
Grandpa, senile, heart condition, and who's also a diabetic, gets lost while walking and has a heart attack. Now, you can find him and get him treatment. I can see it now, ADT and Brinks will start offering this service. It gives a new meaning to the add, "I've fallen and can't get up!"

Re:When will the public revolt about issues like t

[rainman_bc]

any women could sue the ass of her husband if someone was stupid enough to try it, no need for new laws.

Hmmm... Where I'm at, a wife cannot sue her husband, at least not without a divorce. That's a silly idea - martial assets are shared. If a wife sues her husband she is essentially suing herself.

If you suspect your spouse is cheating, your relationship has bigger problems.

But yes, I too suspect this to be a hoax.

Absolute Hoax.

[Beardo the Bearded]

I'm an EE. I work with GPS. Right now (well okay, during the week) I'm working with the cutting edge Xemics GPS engine. It's about 3cm x 4cm x 0.5 cm. That's the engine plus the em shield.

Now, let's add the following:

Batteries. The engine requires a steady 3.0 - 3.6 V supply capable of sustained current of 50mA. You're looking at a 1/2 AA form factor minimum.

Antenna. GPS antennas require a view of the sky. Beyond that, special antennas designed to fit against the skin are about as thick as a pencil and about 2 cm long.

CPU and circuitry to decode the GPS signal. (Polling RS232) The size is up to you. The minimum is about the size of a quarter, so I'll grant this part if they use the internal oscillator.

Let's assume the signal is to be broadcast. Then add:

Transmitter. This will probably include a crystal.

Antenna for the transmitter. If we're talking about a VHF transmitter at 150 MHz, the antenna is going to be about 24 INCHES long. (That's already 1/4 wave!)

Now fit this into panties unobstrustively.

No way. There is absolutely NO WAY a GPS tracker could be fit into a pair of panties. A jacket, maybe IF it was puffy.

Re:Absolute Hoax.

[Dun Malg]

I'm an EE. I work with GPS. Right now (well okay, during the week) I'm working with the cutting edge Xemics GPS engine. It's about 3cm x 4cm x 0.5 cm. That's the engine plus the em shield.

Transmitter. This will probably include a crystal. Antenna for the transmitter. If we're talking about a VHF transmitter at 150 MHz, the antenna is going to be about 24 INCHES long. (That's already 1/4 wave!)

This is a point which can't be repeated too often: GPS is a totally passive system at the user end. I look forward to a time when regular people understand GPS well enough to know that GPS doesn't track anything ! All a GPS device does is calculate its own location using radio and math. If I had a nickel for every time some jackass script writer has a TV/movie character say "we're tracking him via GPS satellites"...well...I'd have a lot of nickels. I fear eventually we'll get a society full of semi-educated dolts who think that GPS=Tracking Device and will demand that laws be passed mandating GPS devices be at least footstool sized so nobody can "plant one on them"; but they'll all walk around with cell phones, of course, which have no tracking capabilities at all, right?

Re:Absolute Hoax.

[elgatozorbas]

Antenna for the transmitter. If we're talking about a VHF transmitter at 150 MHz, the antenna is going to be about 24 INCHES long. (That's already 1/4 wave!). Now fit this into panties unobstrustively.

Is that a 24 inch antenna in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?..

Degauss

[a_greer2005]

This is a great reason to keep some degaussing tools around, hell, why nit just rig up a degausser in the dryer, problem solved.

this is absurd. To throw the trackers off, I just leave peices of clothing at friends houses, in a locker at the bus station and the YMCA, all over the place, hell put a few garments in friends cars so ther are many moving targets..
How would this work anyway, do you have to register your boxers with "big brother"? is it tied to a unique id embedded into the unit and documented on the tag?

I see this being a navelty, like the Macarana or bell bottoms.

A quick google search reveals

[fohat]

That this site is indeed a farce. http://www.gearlive.com/index.php/news/article/for get_me_not_panties_05260101/

the link

[westlake]

Contagious Media Showdown

Currently in second place, 175,000 visitors, 115 blog links. Geeks are so gullible when it comes to sex and tech.

Wake up Taco

[frovingslosh]

Boy, what a stupid front page article. Not only is it an obvious fake article, but it doesn't make any sense. The device supposedly transmits to other devices, including laptops and cellphones, but how does the untrusting spouse get the data in real time? Are we to believe that the cell phone constantly transmits the data but the user isn't aware of it? Or maybe incoming calls go to the panties before they go to the phone owner? And it just makes no sense anyway. Maybe the biometrics in the panties, but why waste power and deal with a gps receiver and antenna, when the phone it has to be used with could just have the GPS components anyway? How could you believe this???

Re:When will the public revolt about issues like t

[orangesquid]

Uh... I'm thinking Disney World with two kids.

Mom and Dad can each go with one kid to wherever that kid wants to go, be able to find each other later, no need for cell phones.

Around 1 in 5 of fathers, aren't.

[Colin Smith]

e.g.
http://tinyurl.com/2yl43

Up to nearly 1 in 3 in some areas. Sooo there appears to be fairly good statistical evolutionary reasons for males to be naturally distrustful.

DNA tests are quick, cheap and easy these days.

It seems they broke the rules:

[zippthorne]

7) No ads, no bots, no scams.
You are permitted to promote your entry however you see fit, with three exceptions: You may not use paid advertisements, automated processes that fake traffic, or scams that produce traffic without people actually seeing your content. Most other stuff is fair game.

emphasis mine.

It seems that by posting to slashdot, they have violated the rules.