Track a Soda Can with GPS? 346
I am Kobayashi writes "According to the Indianapolis Star Online, next summer Coca-cola will feature a promotion in which winners will be located by satellites tracking GPS devices implanted in the winning cans.... Hopefully they track you fast before you throw-away (or recycle) your winning can...." And in another bit of Coke news, they've got a new high-tech billboard: jhkoh writes "Reuters/Yahoo is reporting that Coca-Cola has unveiled an 'intelligent' billboard in London's Piccadilly Circus -- at 99 feet wide, the world's biggest -- that supposedly will respond to weather, movement, and SMS text messages. The billboard itself is 52 square meters of LED display. How soon before someone hacks it?"
Making a killing (Score:4, Informative)
All this while assinating union leaders in developing nations [colombiaso...ity.org.uk].
Those cola loving fellows are hard workers.
Ciaran O'Riordan
Something not quite right here... (Score:5, Informative)
Where are the receivers? This smells like a sham. (Score:2, Informative)
Add to that the fact that both the receiving and transmitting circuitry as well as the battery would have to fit inside a small metal can, and you're not looking at much power or battery life. Also, to get a GPS signal, you pretty much have to be outside or next to a window. In short, I have no idea how this could work, and given the restrictions above, this seems like a vaporware ad campaign.
gps in drinks old news (Score:1, Informative)
Re:Geocaching (Score:2, Informative)
1. It takes you to places you didn't know existed. I went out after one with my brother a month back and we had no idea where it was. Turns out it was at an old, practically adbandoned, city park. It appears to still be maintained, but in the several times I have gone back down there I haven't seen another soul.
2. It is not as easy as it seems. GPS gets you close, sometimes very close. But it can still be several yards or more off on a good day. You may get to a point where your GPS is reading the exact coordinates, but it is still 10 feet away. You have to look and find it. Some people are very creative when they hide things so it is a challenge.
3. Meeting new people with common interests. I have run into fellow cachers several times when out seeking a cache. In my area, there are even large meetings that are held, which usually end up in a day-long event.
4. Practice using GPS and navigational skills. Many people have a GPS, hoping to use it to get them out of a sticky situation when hunting, camping, or some other outdoor activity. What better way to practice than to use it to find something? In the real world, it isn't always "walk in a straight line from point A to point B" so practice is nice to have when the need arises to stray from the line.
It is basically hide and seek for big kids. It is still exciting to find one, especially if it is one you have been back to a few times trying to find and have been skunked each previous time.
I'm sure others will have some other reasons they participate as well, but those are the primary reason I do it, other than it is a good way to get outdoors and still be a geek at the same time.
Jeremy
GPS technology? (Score:4, Informative)
Bottom line: GPS does not work within buildings. You need to see the sky - or to be more exact, you need a line of sight to at least 3 satellites.
Now, even if you assume that everyone is running around outside holding their cans high up over their head... the coke can would be able to find out its own position (and I'm not even convinced that there are GPS receiver small enough to fit inside a can...) That does not mean that Coca Cola will know the position of the can, because how will the can transmit it's position back to the company? Are they going to fit a cell phone into the can, too??
No, I honestly don't believe the story right now, I need to see that can first.
Re:Where are the receivers? This smells like a sha (Score:2, Informative)
That article too, is light on details, but it claims that Coors Light was able to use a GPS based device in a bottle to locate winners and give them their prize.
Does anyone have any more details on how this system works? Does it only work if I decide to drink my Coke/Coors outside in an area with a good cell phone signal, and then only if I don't move for a minute after activating the GPS receiver?
Let's not forget the fiasco of the Magic Can... (Score:5, Informative)
The idea was called "Magic Can", you'd open up your Coca-Cola can and real spendable US dollars just might pop out. Of course, the cans with the money in them wouldn't have cola, but instead a device powered by chlorinated water that would propel the bill.
However, the device often got damaged in shipping, and this lead to several cases where a "winner" didn't look before they drank, and ended up digesting the chlorinated water before realizing that their can didn't really have any cola. Their $100 bill would end up getting spent in the emergency room...
Coca-Cola found itself reduced to putting out ads that instructed "winners" how to safely extract the bill in the event of a failed device....
Bogus claim? (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Something not quite right here... (Score:2, Informative)
Good examples applicible here include the Followit GPS transponder, a gadget the size of a large cell phone that includes a GPS receiver, and a GSM modem for two-way communication.
The Safe-ID system, used for harbor craft, receives GPS data and transmits the vessel's position over a UHF or maritime VHF radio link. These are used in high traffic ports as part of the port control system.
Re:GPS Reception (Score:4, Informative)
Here [dpie.com] is how they do it.
Already ongoing in Australia (Score:3, Informative)
Re:GPS Reception (Score:2, Informative)
Quoted from the http://www.dpie.com/news/gpscan.html website that Lumpy cited