Kidney Watch 2.0
After some talking with Mr Spiff in Feb this year, and copping some harsh criticism on the last method, it became apparent that work was needed.
Firstly – accuracy. It is hard to get your address in places like Asia and Latin America (generally the places where you need it the most). Chinese addresses are über-long, but at least they have them. In Peru? Forget about it! Even the taxi drivers can’t find addresses that are printed on Peruvian business cards.
GPS fixes this, with your position down to 47m on average, after 30 seconds. More than enough to guide the cavalry (green smoke would help too – but doesn’t fit in your pocket, and may raise questions on a date). The iPhone GPS can even work without a data connection (handy also if you are lost in the bush).
GPS Log now has an export to SMS option that allows you to send your GPS position to your friend by SMS. I have also created a stand-alone product focusing on this feature (this is the product that evolved out of the stand-alone “kidney watch” product ideas). http://gpsme.cc/ (if you have GPS Log, no need to try this one)
This is actually a very useful, potentially life-saving feature. Mum tells me the sad story of a guy who died in Queensland when he got lost in the bush. He had cell-phone signal and phoned 000 nine times but they couldn’t find him. 2 floats that could save your life…
The second, more concerning feature is verification.
i-think22 proposes duress words. My only problem with that is that if you are under duress you may not be able to reach your phone. I prefer the Dead Man’s Switch approach where if you don’t perform an action in a fixed timeframe, the cavalry roll in. Of course, both together may provide even more optimal coverage.
The issue with the Dead Man’s Switch is the possibility that your antagonists may intercept the signal and duplicate it (e.g. Speed), or that you may accidently forget to activate the switch, and be rather red-faced when the cavalry roll up.
I would like to see a customised version of the SMS feature, designed for Kidney Watch. So tell me – what should be in it?
December 22nd, 2009 at 14:32
The duress word should absolutely be used with the dead man’s switch. Also, the switch might not necessarily call in the cavalry straight away, but simply raise the alert level, getting people looking for you (or at least prepared) sooner rather than later. I’m working on creating an online service that gives you full control of making sure that if something does happen, help will only be a short way away.
December 22nd, 2009 at 18:53
Cool!
Alert levels are a good idea, as the last test showed.
Will it have an offline mode in case you have no data connection?
December 24th, 2009 at 22:41
What if you had a reminder to push the dead man’s switch, that was subtle, like “remember medication”. Then if the enemy saw it, they would just think it’s an innocent reminder to take some form of regular medication, which could also allow you to potentially protect your kidneys by claiming that you have some form of illness which renders kidneys unsuitable for transplant.
If it helped to keep up appearances you could keep some mints or something in a sterile jar.