Thursday 22 March 2012

On the Plus Side Reporting Crimes Has Never Been Easier « interesting12

The iOS 4.3.x home screen, as shown on an iPho...

The iOS 4.3.x home screen, as shown on an iPhone 3GS. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Reporting Crimes has never been easier.

For a while now, various areas have tested 911 systems to allow texting (for a couple of years at least). Initially I thought this will be great! Because in movies people hiding in closets from bad guys are always busted attempting to make life saving 911 phone calls because when they need to be quiet, they’re inevitably asked to, “state their emergency.” I’d hate for that to happen to me in life.

The recent incident of the prank text message goes to prove how easy someone can mess up a good thing.

Text message leads Saskatoon police to surround house

“A Saskatoon woman’s random prank text message about a dead body led to armed police surrounding her family’s suburban home on the city’s east end.”

There are several crime reporting apps, like Suspicious Activity Reporting Application for example.

“See something that looks like a violation of the law? Snap a pic, tag it with GPS, and anonymously report it to the state.”

And Crime Push, the software that works with iOS and Android and to send texts, photos, sound and video to authorities.

Shy ahlevani created the app after some thugs robbed him multiple times, once at gunpoint.

“9-1-1 is great but it’s the 21st century,” Pahlevani said. “One hundred million people have smart phones, so it just makes sense to have an application to capture things already built into an iPhone.”

Source: ABC7

Or the several apps that allow you to listen into police scanners. (Actually I have no idea why you’d want a police scanner on your phone…just for fun. What sounds fun about that? Unless you’re a …creeper…)

Commercials have increased, in Los Angeles at least, for Time Warner Cable’s late last year launch of IntelligentHome, a new home management system to the Southern California market.

“Offering invaluable reassurance and personalized comfort, anytime with anywhere access, Time Warner Cable IntelligentHome allows secure camera feeds and other tools that mean parents can confirm a child has arrived home, pet owners can keep an eye on their pets while at work, and travellers can monitor their homes as well as change light settings to give the impression someone is home.”

Time Warner Cable IntelligentHome is an easy-to-use wireless home management system that offers 24-7 professional home security monitoring with a flexible set of tools that allows customers to remotely track the daily events taking place in their homes and the power to adjust the lighting and the thermostat just the way they want it.  Users have access to real-time information no matter where they are, through customized text alerts, secure camera feeds or activity logs, via any internet connection.”

Okay that sounds great until you lose your phone, or your kid starts messing with the lights, and oh I dunno do we really want a camera in the bedroom with 24/7 video access attached to our phones. Phones that someone at customer services may be monitoring too?

But on the plus side…reporting crimes has never been easier.

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