We’d like to bring to your attention two new features – Geofencing, and multiple-device accounts.
To be completely honest, these are not that new – TekTrak users have been abel to use them for over two months. However, we waited until now because we wanted to make sure all TekTrak users, across all platforms and channels would be able to use it. Unfortunately, Apple did not approve our updated version of the iOS app, but more on that later.
Geofencing
Geofencing enables you to define an area on a map (based on an address), and be notified whenever your device leaves and/or enters that area. For example, if you want to know when your son got home from school, you set a geofence around your home, as the following picture shows:
Of course, you can set the radius to be smaller or larger. The beauty about geofencing is that it works in the background, so you do not need to do anything – just set it up, and you wil be notified.
To set it up, you need to click on the geofencing button on your TekTrak dashboard. Then, type in the address that would be the basis for the fence, click on set and set the radius with the bar above.
Next, pick whether you want to be notified when the device enters the geofenced area, leaves it, or both. Finally, enter the e-mail address of the person to be notified. Don’t forget to click on “save”!
Multiple-Device Accounts
Until recently, if you had two devices with TekTrak, you needed to create two separate accounts with different e-mail addresses. Now, not only you can have several devices associated with a single account, you can also manage them from the same dashboard on the website. You will see a drop down list at the top-right corner of your TekTrak dashboard, which allows ou to easily switch between devices.
When new Android users sign-up for TekTrak, they now need to choose both a username and an e-mail. The username will be specific for the device, but the e-mail and the password will be the same for all devices on that account. As we mentioned before, Apple did not approve our update, and even removed TekTrak from the App Store, which means that new iOS users will not be able to download TekTrak. Existing iOS and Android users can link existing devices together.
How do I link two existing devices to one account?
Log-in to your TekTrak dashboard and go to the Account page. Then, change the e-mail address to the main e-mail address of the account. Enter the password to the main e-mail address and click on save. That’s it! Now that device will be linked to the e-mail/account you entered!
Please do not hesitate to contact us with any questions!
Every now and then we love to share with you stories of TekTrak users, who managed to get their lost or stolen phones back. Here is the latest example from the e-mail we received:
I just want to thank you and let you know that because of your app I was able to locate and retrieve my stolen phone.
Today it was stolen from me at work. I called my wife who got online and tracked it over 50 miles away. The phone was turned off for a while but she stayed on the computer watching in case someone turned it on and they did!!! It logged the address. I made a police report and we both drove to the location from separate locations and met at the destination. I called police and waited for them while my wife went into the “market” and went to different vendors looking at all the similar phones. She identified it by serial number and found it! Someone sold it to a vendor and it was now for sale. The police came and we were able to take our phone back. What a day!
When the phone is turned off you can’t track it. But we just went with the last location. We were lucky. Thank you again.
Well, there you have it. We’re always happy to hear these stories, so feel free to share them with us!
If you are using TekTrak iOS app, you may experience some technical problems. In the last few hours, some TekTrak iOS apps have difficulties connecting to our servers and checking-in.
We deeply apologize for this inconvenience and we are working to solve this issue as soon as possible. We will update you as soon as this issue is solved.
Please note that this does not affect Android users – TekTrak Android apps are working fine.
Here is a great story about how a TekTrak customer managed to retrieve her stolen iPhone. This is the e-mail we got from her:
“Just to let you know my experience with Tektrak this weekend. I was at a wedding reception and my phone was stolen. I went back home, logged onto the website and was able to locate my phone going down the interstate turning off an exit and finally ending at an address complete with a picture of the house. I contacted the police who said these systems were notoriously wrong and would do nothing to help. I then looked up the address on the county assessor site and found the name of the home owner. Then contacted the groom who knew who it was, he went to the home and retrieved my phone. Without tektrak, I would have lost my brand new iphone 4!!! Thank you so much.”
We are so happy that TekTrak helps people when they need it the most.
Smartphones are seeing growth in demand that has outpaced the rest of the mobile phone market due to their ability to provide mobile business solutions, file storage, mobile entertainment, and their ability to act as portable navigation devices. People store private and personal information on their smartphones, and use the devices for e-mails, social networking, banking and payments, consumption and creation of information, content, entertainment and media, navigation, taking pictures, and of course, talking and texting. Using smartphones as platforms for third party application helped create an unprecedented rate of adoption. Having said that, today’s smartphones pale in comparison to future smartphones and how important they will be in our lives. This project seeks to examine some of the trends and technologies that will affect how smartphones will affect our lives in the future. In which way will we utilize these small, yet very powerful devices? This project is my personal take and guess about the future. I am probably wrong about most of it, but excited about it nevertheless. I hope you will be too.
Near Future
The smartphone market has experienced tremendous growth in 2010, with sales of approximately 297 million smartphone units sold worldwide in 2010, which is expected to continue in the next few years. The smartphone operating systems will consolidate to 3-4, led by Android, which analysts predict will have as much as 45% of the market. The main reason could be found in the fact that a third of smartphone buyers decide on the phone they want to buy based on the number of applications available for that phone. As phone companies realized that, they opened app stores and encouraged developers to create applications for their operating systems. The aforementioned trend leads the phone companies to be more cognizant of developer needs. As a result, the operating systems move towards open code (like Android). This, along with the adoption by leading phone manufacturers, explains the sore of the Android platform from single digit percentage to the being the leading OS in upcoming years. This also explains the rise of iOS in the last 3 years, especially since the launch of the App Store in the summer of 2008. However, Apple’s closed garden approach prevents developers from utilizing the iPhone’s full capabilities, and this is why despite the initial success, Android will pass it in the next few months.
Regarding the more distant future, experts have opposing views. Some feel that 10 million apps will be available by 2020, and although the rate of app development will diminish in the second half of the decade, the mobile application market will be as big as the Internet in 2020 (Ilja Laurs, CEO of leading independent app store GetJar). Others feel that there will be consolidation of apps, and we will have no more than 5-10 apps that will fulfill the majority of our needs.
Hardware changes will make smartphones a platform for more complex applications and services. Touch screen and space-movement evolution (e.g. back-side touch, gesture movements, mass-shift), increased processing abilities, and improved battery life will all contribute to further adoption and applications of smartphones.
Google predicts than in the next decade smartphones will replace desktops. The emergence of cloud computing and peripherals, like docking stations, will allow us all to have a powerful computer at our fingertips, wherever we go. We will wirelessly connect our smartphones to big screens in the office or at home, to keyboards, to printers, etc. In fact, Microsoft has already registered a few patents regarding smartphone docking stations as a way to replace the PC.
By 2013, more people will access the web through their smartphones than their computers, and by 2020, mobile phones will be the primary Internet devices for most people in the world. “The mobile phone – now with significant computing power – [will be] the primary Internet connection and the only one for a majority of the people across the world,” the Pew Internet & American Life Project writes in a new “Future of the Internet” report. “Telephony [will be] offered under a set of universal standards and protocols accepted by most operators internationally, making for reasonably effortless movement from one part of the world to another.”
In the future, smartphones will always be connected to the web, through ubiquitous wireless networks (Wi-Fi, Wi-Max and to a lesser extent, through 4G cellular network).The transition towards cloud computing will go hand in hand with the continuous, ubiquitous, seamless connectivity. Smartphones will constantly synchronize with the servers in the cloud, so wherever the user is, whatever device (computer, phone, etc.) he/she uses, all the data and information will be readily available and backed up. We see the first services offering that today, but they are only the first step. As cloud computing servers and processing become cheaper and more prominent, we will experience accelerated shift towards the cloud. All the data will be constantly syncing with the cloud, and will be available on all devices at the same time.
In addition, phones will connect with each other, either directly or through the cloud. There will be full data exchange, such as applications, data, movies music, etc. from one phone to another, through Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and Wi-Max. SIMFi cards (combination of SIM cards and Wi-Fi hotspot), will enable the phone to be not only connected to other phones, but also to other internet-enabled devices, such as laptops, TVs and more. That would be the first step towards the internet of things.
The hardware changes, as impressive as they, will be fueled by software. Some of those are already starting to affect the usage of smartphones, while others are still not quite there yet. The use of Augmented Reality (using the phone’s camera and location to add a layer of information to “real life”) will turn the phones into real-time, location-aware, endless source of information, making our physical reality an abundant source of crowd sourcing information and will also play an important part of the shift to peer-recommendation advertising through social networks (consolidation of Facebook and Yelp), among other uses (gaming, education, design, visual search and more).
Smartphones will become a predominant form of payment systems and replace credit cards. Built in apps will utilize phone hardware (e.g. NFC) for payments very efficiently (without peripherals). Experts predict that over 50% of payments will be done via phones in some countries by 2015. It would also mean that phone companies will become much more than communication companies (e.g. paying with the iPhone through your iTunes account will make Apple a finance company as well). Another cell industry shift will be caused by people’s increased use of VoIP to talk to each other, which will lead to the decline of the cellular carriers’ power (and increase the power of handset manufacturers), and will essentially make them internet providers, without voice services.
Smartphones will become more valuable to the user both from pure economic perspective and from utilization perspective. Furthermore, they will become our identification cards, storing very important personal information. More users will give up privacy and the information about their location will always be available to their social networks, supported by real-time facial recognition technologies. Today we are seeing the transition towards more revealing online/real life identity, through social networks like Facebook and location-based services like Foursquare, but we also see the fear some people have about the abundance of personal information companies like Google and Facebook have. Storing information on the phone (or accessing the cloud through the phone) will have security implications. Exposure of the information to unauthorized eyes will be far more destructive, causing increased chances of loss of privacy and possible identity theft, invasive advertising based on location, etc. All these issues will have to be addressed by mobile security companies, like TekTrak.
Looking Even Further Into the Future
As mentioned before, there are contradicting views regarding where smartphones will be in this new decade, not to mention the 2020s, which perhaps depend more on technological breakthroughs than the 2010s. This article focuses on very specific developments, but it does not mean it does not acknowledge other possible developments (e.g. charging your phone through the air, which of course depends on electricity and wireless breakthroughs).
Developments in nano-technology will allow smartphones to become flexible, shape shifters, and change design and feel in accordance with the task that needs to be done. Technology developments (miniaturization, durability, etc.) will allow the integration of phones into clothes (today phone-watches exist) and even our bodies (instead of Bluetooth earpiece – a nano-device in our ear will make us hear the call in our ear). The most likely trend would be wearable computing, that will be, of course, constantly connected to the web. Having those close to our bodies will help us in healthcare aspects[.
Integration of sensors into smartphones will allow them to analyze, create and share data about their immediate surroundings in real-time, both to the user and the public, and produce relevant output (immediately change your driving route, adjust admission fees to parks based on demand, etc.).
Phones, and more sophisticated methods of data collection and connectivity, such as wearable computing, will be able to gather information such as temperature, traffic, air pollution, UV radiation, and much more. This data will be sent to the cloud, where powerful computers will process it, and will be able to analyze and publish data that will be ubiquitous to all, so based on where I am going or where I am, I will be able to know everything in real time. Based on the data everyone sends the powerful computers, our phones will be able to use the data to actually make changes in life, both public (like optimize traffic through traffic lights and interchangeable lanes or prepare for an earthquake), and personal (like send an ambulance to a person who is about to have a heart attack). We will be able to send data to the cloud about objects around us – like rocks, grass, road blocks and potholes, and that would be incorporated and processed by powerful computers and get the proper response – like sending workers to fix the pothole (sort of like an automated CitySourced).
Looking even further into the future, sensor technology will change the world, because it means that every physical object- a bridge, a loading dock, the clothes we wear, and even our skin can connect to the web (Internet of Things). "Part of the understanding of the world depends on the possibility to organize and measure it. Often we do things we believe will be a change for the good, but eventually cause more damage than benefit. For example, if we take everything into account, the energy that hybrid cars use might be worse for the environment than efficient fuel cars." (Rob Andrela, consumption analyst).
HP is developing an initial prototype of central nervous system for the earth (CeNSE) using microscopic sensors to deliver real time information about the environment and its surroundings. For example, a sensor on a bridge can report irregular vibrations, and sensors in residential homes can report irregular levels of mercury, lead, or pesticides. "Like the internet at the time, I believe sensor technology is the next big thing when it comes to increasing demand for computing services. High performing, very cheap sensors are becoming reality, they will enable real time inspection of our infrastructure for the purposes of activity optimization and prevention of catastrophic failure situations while saving money and live." (Stan Williams, inventor of CeNSE and HP executive),
Qualcomm is also developing sensors as part of an initiative called smart services, while a company named Kovio is developing wireless chips that can be printed like newspapers. This way, for example, a poster of a new movie that is hanging on a bulletin board can communicate with your smartphone and can provide it with information about nearby theaters and show times.
Sensors and wearable computing will allow the phones not only to communicate more efficiently with doctors, but also be our doctor – doing tests – heart rate, blood pressure, temperature and much more. Phones will be the direct and immediate interaction mechanism with intra-body mechanisms (nano-bots), and will monitor our physical condition and automatically enhance health and give needed treatment in real-time. As mentioned before, some people believe that even our organs (such as our skin) will be able to communicate with the web, either through nano-bots or through two-way sensors.
The following videos show how several of the technological developments previously described will be implemented in smartphones:
Nokia Morph concept:
Asusware wearable computing concept:
That’s it! Please feel free to share your thoughts and ideas about the future in the comments.
Arik
Sources:
Gartner, “Market Share Analysis: Mobile Devices, Worldwide, 4Q10 and 2010″. 08 February 2011
IDC Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker, March 29, 2011.
ABI Research, “Smartphone Market Data”, April 2011
For those of you who are more interested in the business side of running a start-up, following is an interview Rob Woodbridge from UNTETHER.tv (excellent mobile industry video blog) conducted with TekTrak CEO, Arik Waldman. Enjoy.
It’s often easy to get caught up with the everyday struggle of start-up life, spending days refining a specific feature or deliberating which icon we want to have on our website, because it will provide a better user experience to our customers. While we do put user experience at our center of attention, sometimes life shows you that important things are not the shade of your webpage, and although we are a high-tech company providing a valuable service to our customers, some things are more important.
I was really touched by the following story, showing that we are doing some good in this world, and sometimes the hard work can reward others (and you) in ways you could have not imagined. We received an amazing e-mail from one of our customers in Japan.
We never expect disasters to happen to us, although we read and hear about them year after year in the news, and while our mentality is to think that we will be able to handle them once they arrive, we are seldom prepared for the ones that shock our world, like the recent disaster in Japan. In a time of crisis, our first thoughts are about the loved ones that may be affected, and we are driven to find any information about their safety. Naturally, we pick up the phone, but phone lines and mobile networks are not operating, and it becomes impossible to contact anyone.
K.S. from Tokyo went through the exact same experience following the earthquake three weeks ago. K.S. and his wife could not get in touch with their daughter, as the cell network was overloaded. Fortunately, TekTrak was installed on their daughter’s phone, and so the worried parents could go online and see their daughter’s location on our website. Using the Location History feature, they could see their daughter had been moving after the earthquake hit, and track her location in real-time, using the Remote Locate feature, as she made her exhausting journey home.
From K.S.’ e-mail:
“My daughter was at her school and normally it takes an hour for her school bus to reach home in Tokyo. Due to the terrible traffic conditions resulting from the earthquake her school bus took 7 hours to reach home. She has an iPhone, which I had loaded with TekTrak a long time ago against theft, etc. Little did I know back then that this $4.99 spent was one of the best purchases for us in the App Store…
We were very anxious as we could not talk to her but since the 3G network was up we could see her progress and felt good knowing that she was making slow but sure progress.”
K.S. has agreed to share screenshots from the TekTrak website following the stressful experience. In these shots, you can see how the daughter was in school at the time of the earthquake (2:46pm local time), and how she travelled home (home location was removed following K.S. request):
As you may know, our application works in the background of the operating system, sending the phone’s location automatically, without you having to do anything. This feature enabled K.S. to see where his daughter had been and where she was in real-time.
We get e-mails form our customers, thanking us for helping them find their phone, which is always good to hear. But K.S.’s story is truly something else. It makes me very happy to know that we are doing good in the world as a company, which is just as important as doing well as a company.
RT @ramaaldy: Tips TekTrak - Ever Lose or Misplace a Device?: So I was reading a review on CNET today and came across this app... http:/ ... 1 month ago
@martin_arzuaga Unfortunately, Apple removed us from the App Store, so for now, you cannot download TekTrak for iOS. Sorry. 1 month ago
