Tuesday, February 5, 2008

Computer chips will - as always - solve all of our problems

Check out this article on GPS nav units, and other electronics, being stolen from cars as they are left installed, in plain sight. How to fix this? Easy!
GPS manufacturers could solve the theft problem easily by installing computer chips to track them — but of course, that would make the devices cost more.
Um... a "computer chip"? GPS is a receiver. A chip does not have a radio. How would the data get back to... anywhere. Of course it costs more when its got a transmitter inside it. And how does it know its been stolen anyway? There is mention of registration of devices, I suppose. Do they want to allow on signed devices to work on the network (like US DBS services)? Because that's not how GPS is set up, at all. Anyway, this is not the first time I have heard such stuff, and it won't be the last.

No comments: