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back to article Apple: C'mon, flick on iBeacon. Let us track you. You'll get BADGES

Apple will show off its creepy iSpy fanboi-tracking system at the forthcoming Consumer Electronics Show. Attendees at CES will be able to use iBeacon to take part in a treasure hunt around the exhibition, with a prize for whoever manages to track down a complete set of "badges". The iSpy work out is organised by the Consumer …

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  1. Destroy All Monsters Silver badge
    Holmes

    Everything tastes better with iBacon!

    "This promotional scavenger hunt demonstrates our commitment to leveraging the latest in emerging technologies, making CES the most interactive and engaging ..."

    Oh snap! I ran out of bingo cards!

    Am I now disqualified?

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  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Why not just go Geochaching?

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  3. ukgnome
    Trollface

    Well at least the Fandroids are used to the tracking.

    3 3
  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Apple working out.

    How many of their sheep have yet to defect to better and cheaper premium Android devices.

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    1. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Apple working out.

      "How many of their sheep have yet to defect to better and cheaper premium Android devices."

      Having recently had to battle(*) with my wife's rubbish Samsung Galaxy Ace, I have a very very poor opinion of Android. This phone seems to be the perfect intersection of rubbish hardware spec with budget operating system.

      (* provide her, a standard technophobe consumer, with technical support)

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  5. Big_Ted
    Devil

    hmmm

    "and encourage participants to visit important exhibits across the show floor"

    ie divert them from Android exhibits to Apple exhibits.......

    and if they don't go where they are told we will swap their charger for one that will blow up their phones.......Heh Heh Heh....

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  6. Gadget Rage is BAD

    Geocaching

    Dear AC.. theres several benefits of iBeacons over geocaching, the primary ones being that you don't need a GPS signal so it works indoors and it uses low energy Bluetooth which uses far less battery power than GPS.

    Aren't sheep those who follow the majority? In which case I'd have thought that'd be Android users these days no?

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    1. BillG
      Reply Icon
      Gimp

      Re: Geocaching

      Aren't sheep those who follow the majority?

      No, sheep are those who blindly follow the leader and do exactly as they are told.

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  7. Steve Todd

    Hamill clueless as usual

    iBeacon uses part of the open Bluetooth 4 spec for the beacon data. There's been nothing stopping Android users using this. The only difference is that built in to iOS is code that, when it spots a beacon packet, looks at the GUID, tries to find an installed app that uses this ID and launches it if found.

    This is all opt in stuff, and is easy to disable. Android owners likewise have to install an app, and it has to be scanning bluetooth in the background. There is no spying involved, it's all open and obvious.

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    1. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Hamill clueless as usual

      Too true. Not only that, but Paypal invented the Beacon technology Apple is using under the name iBeacon. Had Android received support for it first and Apple added iBeacon later, we'd be treated to the inevitable sight of fandroids complaining about Apple copying Android.

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  8. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    scavenger hunt!

    the precision of this statement is noteworthy, given the usual...

    but... HANG ON?! This wonderfully accurate description is is out of synch with the usual (...) falling out of gold-lipped of the senior vice presidents of comms and strategic relationships, because what follows is... well...

    our commitment... leveraging... emerging technologies...engaging technology event.

    Methinks the "scavanger hunt" but comes from a delivery of a mission statement prerogatives pertinent to en entirely disjoined agenda!

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  9. Alan Denman

    switch it on?

    I guess I was mistaken.

    I thought iSpam was to be turned on by default.

    Zombies simply don't mind.

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  10. Eradicate all BB entrants

    Available on Android .......

    ..... makes it tempting to have some fun. Do all I need now is an Android Virtual Hypervisor, 30-40 VM phones in one device, all using the bluetooth chip (with own codes) to freak out Apple staff.

    'We have 30 people looking at Apple mini's, we need more staff ASAP'

    Even better if someone could cram it all in a rubber ball, throw it in the store and watch chaos reign.

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    1. Steve Todd
      Reply Icon
      FAIL

      Re: Available on Android .......

      Yet another Fandroid who hasn't a clue how this all works. The beacon does nothing but transmit ID packets. The client, on your phone, identifies the packets and optionally contacts a server via cellular or WiFi to find out what, if anything, to do. Your 30 VMs would all have to be running an app that emulates the Apple Store app, and even then they would have to ask the server for something before staff would be called.

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      1. Eradicate all BB entrants
        Reply Icon

        Re: Available on Android .......

        None of what I mentioned currently works or even exists, it was light hearted crap about having fun with it. If BHS or Tesco had rolled out this technology I would have said the same thing.

        And the use of Android was not because I am a Fandroid, I chose Android because the phone has the features I want and I can root the bugger if I need to. IOS has never has offered the features I want and it is only recently that Win8 phones got them. I knows it's Monday but for fecks sake Steve we ain't all that miserable, countdown to the weekend starts here my friend :)

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        1. Steve Todd
          Reply Icon
          Stop

          It's not new and it's not clever

          Every time Mr Hamill posts an article about iBeacon there's some Fandroid proposing some way of spoofing the system to annoy Apple, and they always fail to understand how it works so that the spoof wouldn't work. Welcome to the club. If I spent my time describing ways of annoying Google I'd expect a similar response.

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          1. IsJustabloke
            Reply Icon

            Re: It's not new and it's not clever

            Have you considered not giving a shit rather than getting all uppity about it?

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            1. Steve Todd
              Reply Icon

              Re: It's not new and it's not clever

              Why? It doesn't seem to have occurred to you.

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              1. IsJustabloke
                Reply Icon
                Facepalm

                Re: It's not new and it's not clever

                I'm not the one that felt the need to post to foamy mouthed comments about the subject and I don't actually give a shit I was just offering you some sage advice but hey go your own way. ;)

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