Disqus
The Japanese government has approved local service provider Softbank to conduct an experiment with schoolchildren involving GPS-enabled phones. Basically, select kiddies will be designated as “carriers”, and their transmission of the disease will be tracked based on GPS proximity to other students. The goal of the study is to track how diseases move, and see if an SMS notification system could realistically warn people of potential danger zones.
This sounds cool on the one hand, but on the other, it would necessitate a phone keeping close tabs on your health readings, or otherwise manually marking yourself as infected. Call me crazy, but one way or the other, I don’t think anyone will jump on board to effectively wear a sign that says “Oh hai, I’m a plaguebearer!”, even if it may be considered a service to others nearby. Right now biometrics in cellular tech are mainly limited to peripherals, so it will be awhile before our phones start reading our vitals natively, but it’s not outside the realm of imagination.
[via GoMo]
About The Author
Simon Sage
Simon Sage’s education largely surrounded writing, technology and online community, leading him to begin his blogging career at www.BlackBerryCool.com and to quickly discover a vibrant and active community surrounding BlackBerry and mobile technology. In exploring RIM’s platform, he has learned what enterprises are looking for in mobility as well as what makes the innocuous BlackBerry so appealing to them. Recently Simon’s been covering RIM’s gradual move into an already-crowded consumer market, and the impact of burgeoning challengers, such as the iPhone, as well as long-time leaders, like Nokia, on BlackBerry’s advancement. With plenty of content under his belt, Simon will be branching off a bit to see what other smartphone manufacturers are working on while still using BlackBerry as a barometer. At IntoMobile, you can count on his posts being even-handed, well-informed and thought-out.
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