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Be Careful with Nike + iPodYour Nike + iPod can reveal your location! |
By Codrut Nistor, Editor, Software Reviews
4th of December 2006, 15:58 GMT
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On May 23, 2006, the world got to see a new innovation from Apple, and after some short delays, a lot of
people started buying it. The name of this new wonder gadget for Mac's creators is Nike iPod Sports Kit, a wireless kit allowing communication between a pair of Nike shoes and an iPod nano.
A lot of people rediscovered the joy of running with the help of this kit, and the information that can be stored using it includes the workout elapsed time, the distance traveled, pace, calories burnt, and you have the ability to name your runs, as well as meet and challenge other runners, ask questions and give feedback on the forums.
The cost of the entire kit can go beyond 200$, but that shouldn't be a problem, since you'll be running for your health, and also have fun in the process. The problem was discovered by some people from the University of Washington that discovered some negative side effects of using the Nike iPod kit.
Don't worry about your health, because the wireless transmissions of this kit won't hurt you at all, but it shouldn't be a health related issue to be bad. The problem is the fact that these wireless capabilities can negatively impact your personal privacy and expose your location to other people, and these people may not have friendly intentions...
If you think that only experts can track you, then you should think again about this, because the research group from the University of Washington was able to easily build several devices for detecting and tracking the sensors of the Nike=iPod kits, and they didn't use hardware parts coming from NASA...
A Nike iPod receiver attached to a Windows Xp laptop, a cheap surveillance device using available gumstix computers, a second-generation Intel Mote and Microsoft SPOT Watch and even the Google Maps web application can be used to track you, so be careful when choosing your running routes, and try to turn off the shoes sensor when you're not working out.
If you want to get absolute privacy, then you can quit using the kit, or maybe run inside an underground bunker that won't allow wireless communications with the outer world... but whatever you do, don't worry much, because life is too short, and you'd better enjoy it the way it is!
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