GPSOZ’s newsletter worth a read
Submitted: Thursday, Sep 24, 2009 at 15:51
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Richard Kovac
Fact or fiction - worth a read:
A couple of weeks ago a friend told me that someone she knew had their car broken into while they were at a football game. Their car was parked on the green which was adjacent to the football stadium and specially allotted to football fans. Things stolen from the car included a garage door remote control, some money and a GPS which had been prominently mounted on the dashboard. <<<mistake number one
When the victims got home, they found that their house had been ransacked and just about everything worth anything had been stolen.
The thieves had used the GPS to guide them to the house. They then used the garage remote control to open the garage door and gain entry to the house. The thieves knew the owners were at the football game, they knew what time the game was scheduled to finish and so they knew how much time they had to clean out the house. It would appear that they had brought a truck to empty the house of its contents.
Something to consider if you have a GPS - don't put your home address in it.. Put a nearby address (like a store or service station) so you can still find your way home if you need to, but no one else would know where you live if your GPS were stolen.
GPSOZs newsletter
I have got enough money to have a remote garage door, spent to much on the Troopy.. :-)
But it's something I would hate to come home too.
This has been copied with permission from Brian at GPSOZ.
Regards
Richard
Reply By: Member - Graham H (QLD) - Thursday, Sep 24, 2009 at 16:06
Thursday, Sep 24, 2009 at 16:06
Whilst this is absolutely possible I believe this is actually an urban legend
and is as per here
http://www.snopes.com/crime/intent/gps.asp
Wish people would check first Not above but GPSOZ poster
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Follow Up By: landseka - Thursday, Sep 24, 2009 at 16:16
Thursday, Sep 24, 2009 at 16:16
I totally concur.
Having your "Home" on your navigator is no more risky than having your name in the phonebook.
The "alleged thief" would not know that l'il sis was at the footy and dad was home with the trained rotties. lol
I love Snopes only slightly less than Google.
Regards
Neil
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Follow Up By: Richard Kovac - Thursday, Sep 24, 2009 at 16:47
Thursday, Sep 24, 2009 at 16:47
Graham H
as in the title: Fact or fiction - worth a read:
Thats all it is ... worth a read
Better than hearing about
St George for heven sakes.. :-))
Cheers
Richard
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Follow Up By: Member - Graham H (QLD) - Thursday, Sep 24, 2009 at 17:04
Thursday, Sep 24, 2009 at 17:04
Yeah true
Just I get emails from friends all the time who have friends who seem to have
nothing to do but troll thru the net finding rubbish and mass mailing it to
everyone without checking.
This one has some merit but only a fool would leave their home exactly listed in
a GPS.
Be hard to find me I have about 10 differnt van parks in
mine.
LOL
I always take
mine off and wipe the circles off the screen as
well even in the
carpark when shopping.
Cheers
FollowupID:
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Follow Up By: landseka - Thursday, Sep 24, 2009 at 17:06
Thursday, Sep 24, 2009 at 17:06
I always check Snopes when I see a post / email beginning ".... a friend told me that someone she knew".... or the like it is a dead givaway that it is crap.
Cheers
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Follow Up By: Richard Kovac - Thursday, Sep 24, 2009 at 17:16
Thursday, Sep 24, 2009 at 17:16
landseka
I don't think anyone said it was true... just "worth a read"..
Cheers
Richard
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Follow Up By: Member -Paul M (WA) - Thursday, Sep 24, 2009 at 18:20
Thursday, Sep 24, 2009 at 18:20
There would be someone in the world to do that act ,
Set your GPS for home address for the local cop
shop
good read
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Follow Up By: Member - Mark G Gulmarrad - Friday, Sep 25, 2009 at 11:13
Friday, Sep 25, 2009 at 11:13
..................bring on
St George :-))
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Reply By: Gone Bush (WA) - Thursday, Sep 24, 2009 at 16:13
Thursday, Sep 24, 2009 at 16:13
Yes, I also believe it's an urban myth. Been doing the email rounds for ages.
As you say, it is possible, but anyone with a brain would put a PIN number security on their GPS so that it couldn't be used.
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Follow Up By: Member - Duncan W (WA) - Thursday, Sep 24, 2009 at 19:54
Thursday, Sep 24, 2009 at 19:54
Mine won't let me.
While the consensus is that the story is urban myth, the principal of the story is quite possible. Too many GPS' being stolen these days and most voice by turn type have your home address.
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Reply By: Member -Signman - Thursday, Sep 24, 2009 at 16:17
Thursday, Sep 24, 2009 at 16:17
Another urban myth..I have read it in various forms in 3 or 4 'journals' over the last couple of months !!
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Follow Up By: Richard Kovac - Thursday, Sep 24, 2009 at 16:49
Thursday, Sep 24, 2009 at 16:49
Like this one Signman "Mobile Phone numbers go public". :-))
Sorry
Richard
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Follow Up By: Member -Signman - Friday, Sep 25, 2009 at 09:18
Friday, Sep 25, 2009 at 09:18
Touche....
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Reply By: ExplorOz - David & Michelle - Thursday, Sep 24, 2009 at 16:27
Thursday, Sep 24, 2009 at 16:27
Geofencing solves this and is a feature in some gps tracking apps.
David has just driven today with our protype of EOTrackMe (a new app he has written for the iPhone) - which automatically tracks him on his ExplorOz Member Profile page - see his trip today
HERE. He has purposely setup a geofence around our house so that when the public view our tracks you can't work out where we live as you don't know the algorithm of the geofence (nor when the device is set to start etc).
MM
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Follow Up By: Richard Kovac - Thursday, Sep 24, 2009 at 16:43
Thursday, Sep 24, 2009 at 16:43
You're lost me....
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Follow Up By: Member - Graham H (QLD) - Thursday, Sep 24, 2009 at 16:52
Thursday, Sep 24, 2009 at 16:52
Couldnt find it in the link.
Can you explian a bit better how it communicates with the Iphone and what mapping you need on the phone
Thanks
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Follow Up By: ExplorOz - David & Michelle - Thursday, Sep 24, 2009 at 17:04
Thursday, Sep 24, 2009 at 17:04
This is still just a beta version so we have not officially launched it yet but since we're testing it and your posts was relevant I thought I'd mention it. We will be releasing it to Members very soon and you'll get more info then. Essentially, David has written an iPhone app - and will write versions suits all smartphones with gps enabled. You would simply download the app to your phone and if you're an ExplorOz member you can then be tracked - obviously you control all the geofencing and other settings to customise to your needs and you simply use the settings on your Member profile for who you want to see your tracking progress - ie. all users, members only, or no one other than yourself (which is how David's page is set now and why it didn't work for you but I could see it).
MM
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Follow Up By: Gone Bush (WA) - Thursday, Sep 24, 2009 at 17:11
Thursday, Sep 24, 2009 at 17:11
Geez, Michelle,
you could make a fortune giving this to a lot of blokes' wives !!!
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Follow Up By: Bonz (Vic) - Thursday, Sep 24, 2009 at 18:51
Thursday, Sep 24, 2009 at 18:51
That is awesome, the interactive way it uses google maps and images is great
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Reply By: ExplorOz - David & Michelle - Thursday, Sep 24, 2009 at 16:58
Thursday, Sep 24, 2009 at 16:58
Oops - the link I gave you was to David's Member Home Page and silly me didn't realise that page is under development for this app. The link I should have given you is this -
EOTrackMe from here you simply click on the link to Latest Position Updates and you'll see David driving now in
Perth metro.
MM
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Follow Up By: ExplorOz - David & Michelle - Thursday, Sep 24, 2009 at 17:07
Thursday, Sep 24, 2009 at 17:07
When you open this page, you need to click on Latest Position Updates - you'll see the Member Name for who it is tracking. In time, this page would eventually show all Members currently using the EOTrackMe service so you can see where people are - no more looking for EO stickers!!
MM
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Follow Up By: Gone Bush (WA) - Thursday, Sep 24, 2009 at 17:15
Thursday, Sep 24, 2009 at 17:15
Does this mean I have to update my Nokia 5110?
Maybe one of these phones would work:
Image Could Not Be Found
One's got an inbuilt
camera but I really like the one with a
camera AND vibrate alert....
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Follow Up By: Bonz (Vic) - Thursday, Sep 24, 2009 at 18:41
Thursday, Sep 24, 2009 at 18:41
Drivers side front tyre needs air Michelle
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Follow Up By: Member - John (Vic) - Thursday, Sep 24, 2009 at 18:42
Thursday, Sep 24, 2009 at 18:42
:-))
Stephen you have to much time on ya hands me thinks LOL
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Follow Up By: Member - Graham H (QLD) - Thursday, Sep 24, 2009 at 19:05
Thursday, Sep 24, 2009 at 19:05
What happened to those pics last time you posted them Gone Bush
Seems they only lasted a Moderately short time
HA HA --)))))))))
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Follow Up By: Member - Graham H (QLD) - Thursday, Sep 24, 2009 at 19:11
Thursday, Sep 24, 2009 at 19:11
Its pretty good it gives the position 8 mins in the future or is one of our clocks out
LOL
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Follow Up By: ExplorOz - David & Michelle - Thursday, Sep 24, 2009 at 20:33
Thursday, Sep 24, 2009 at 20:33
Graham,
Can you tell me if the time on the
forum index is showing you to the correct time for where you are?
DM
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Follow Up By: Richard Kovac - Thursday, Sep 24, 2009 at 20:47
Thursday, Sep 24, 2009 at 20:47
He's in WA
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Follow Up By: Member - Graham H (QLD) - Thursday, Sep 24, 2009 at 20:47
Thursday, Sep 24, 2009 at 20:47
Yes its showing AEST correctly
Im just down the road in Benares Rd
Perth
I was looking at the tracking site at 5.08pm and it was showing last update
5.16 pm which was 8 min fast.
I waited for it to refresh as
well.
It still is on that time, so guess David is
home for the night.
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Follow Up By: ExplorOz - David & Michelle - Thursday, Sep 24, 2009 at 21:25
Thursday, Sep 24, 2009 at 21:25
Graham,
The reason your were presented with this time is because your profile is configured for QLD as you
home state so the system presents your
home time (AEST) if your profile was set-up for WA it would show you WA time. The time zone set-up is based on your profile state - if that makes sense!
DM
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Follow Up By: Member - Graham H (QLD) - Thursday, Sep 24, 2009 at 21:33
Thursday, Sep 24, 2009 at 21:33
Yes thats fine as we are moving around so just leave it like that and work out the correct time in my head.
It doesnt explain how the tracking time was 8 mins ahead of WA time which is what I was referring to.
Cheers
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