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Get Ready For the High-tech Beach
coondoggie writes "Ocean City, New Jersey is a nice, family-oriented beach that will apparently soon be the high-tech model for seashore lovers and now perhaps geeks everywhere. The city has on its plate a $3 million plan for myriad public services and Internet access using radio-frequency identification chips (RFID) and Wi-Fi wireless technology. A wireless network will let Ocean City expand economic development and control the cost of local services. Wireless allows the City to save on cell phone usage, T-1 lines, and it adds efficiency. The city is looking to replace its ubiquitous but mostly annoying beach tags — which indicate you paid to get on the beach $5 per day, $10 for a week, or $20 for the whole summer — with wristbands that contain an RFID chip. Yet another cool feature of the high-tech beach will be the ability to track beachgoers — an application that is being touted by parents."
I live in the land of the free....beaches.*
WTF: you paid to get on the beach $5 per day - Australia may suck big sweaty pendulous donkey balls, but at least we don't have to pay for our beaches.**
* Not so good as the land of the free biatches
** Please return to your scheduled why-noone-needs-wireless-on-the-beach flamefest.
I was wondering how long that post would take to appear.
Unfortunately, I have to agree... -sigh- While this would be great to find your children, should they be unruly or kidnapped, nobody else has a use for this. And the kids would rip it off if they didn't want to be tracked (they're unruly) and the kidnapper would rip it off, too. It's no better than the slips of paper, and probably quite a bit more expensive to implement -and- maintain.
So who is it better for? People that want to track you. That's it. You can't very well throw anyone out that managed to break theirs (on purpose or not) as they paid their money and can't be held accountable for the technology failing.
"If you make people think they're thinking, they'll love you; But if you really make them think, they'll hate you." - DM
Since there is a big crowd of Slashdotters who are reasonable luddite-like, and who rightfully decry the unnecessary adding of technology to everything, I am guessing that an article suggesting that what the majestic natural experience of ocean and land needs is RFID tags was perhaps posted knowing that it would cause scorn and derision.
Which doesn't mean I am not going to fall for the bait.
Man, is this a stupid idea OR WHAT?
Hopefully I didn't put any [] around my words.
Security Monitor Guy into walkie talkie: Hmm... Jim, I'm seeing JANE_2 and SAM_12 at exactly the same location in some shrubbery behind the dunes. Perhaps they're lost.
Security Patrolman: Yea I'm watching them now.
Security Monitor Guy: Why does your voice sound distant?
Security Patrolman: The walkie talkie is on the ground coz my hands are... occupied.
I hate printers.
I grew up going to the beach. Some of my earliest memories are of fun days at the beach. One thing I've never seen in the last 30 years was public lockers. It just seems like such an obvious thing to me. You go to the beach, you can't swim with your wallet in your pocket. So where do you put it? Under your towel and hope no-one steals it? Pretty much. I asked a friend who is a lifesaver once if he'd ever seen lockers available. He had, but it's pretty rare. Apparently the most common excuse is that the lockers would attract thieves. That's, umm, interesting logic.
How we know is more important than what we know.
Big Brother hell!
What happens when the sharks get wind of this? Not only will they have frickin' lasers on their heads, they'll be able to track our every move with their radio direction sensors.
Those chips'll be inside fish in no time, you mark my words...
"I've got more toys than Teruhisa Kitahara."
I've been to Ocean City, NJ every summer for 10+ years.
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Ocean City has a large life guard staff. A lot of people (esp. from Philly) visit this beach. The guards aren't just guys sitting around getting a tan-- they actively monitor the beach. There's a stand every hundred yards or so, with 2-3 guards to a stand. I estimate at least 200 lifeguards are on the beach on a normal day. In a given week, I've seen 3-4 saves done.
By using the beach during lifeguard hours, you automatically give them consent to perform first aid, saves, CPR, etc. in the event of an emergency. Being that many beach-goers are not locals (shoobies), it would not be fair to charge a tax to citizens for a service used in a large portion by outsiders. By paying for a beach tag, you are supporting this public service that is not supported by taxes alone. The tags are only $20 for the season. I think that's a small price to pay for safety and compared to what they could charge.
http://www.ocnj.us/comersus/store/comersus_viewIt
For the record, you may use the beach for free after life guards have left (5PM I believe).