Social networking is about to get exponentially more annoying
December 9, 2011
MagnetU (credit: MagnetU)
MagnetU is a $24 device that broadcasts your social media profile to other “nodes” (people) around you, Technology Review Mims’s Bits reports.
If anyone else with a MagnetU has a profile that matches yours sufficiently, the device will alert both of you via text and/or an app. It also links to Facebook, Linkedin, Twitter and other online social networks.
Comments (10)
by Giulio Prisco
@Spikosauropod – OK, you have persuaded me. I will get a MagnetU as soon as it gets on the market.
by Spikosauropod
@ Giulio Prisco
A handful of adolescents will make impromptu visits to secluded areas to meet with attractive and socially compatible new encounters. What they will find waiting for them are large hairy pedophiles. Soon this device will be restricted to consenting adults.
While adolescents may be able to hack these devices, the market can not thrive on illegal usage. Adults won’t have time or patience for these impromptu encounters. The market will dry up and the devices will disappear.
RIP a reprehensible misapplication of technology.
by Giulio Prisco
@Spikosauropod re “it should be restricted to adults (18 or older)”
Come on, teens are smarter than adults and always find hacks and creative ways to do things restricted to adults.
When I was a teen, we found ways to do all the things we were not supposed to do. I am sure today’s kids do the same, and tomorrow’s. And I hope so — if not, I would fear that people are becoming sheeple. Disobedience is good in adults, but is a must in kids.
by Spikosauropod
@Giulio Prisco
As a free-market capitalist, I am forced to agree with you. Nevertheless, I think someone could make a good argument that it should be restricted to adults (18 or older). That should put a quick end to it.
by Giulio Prisco
@Spikosauropod – I tend to agree with you, but I guess some people will like these gadgets. If they can have fun with them without bothering me, I am happy for them. Perhaps I will get one when everybody has one — but only if it has a big OFF button.
by Spikosauropod
As a free-market capitalist, I am forced to agree with you. Nevertheless, I think someone could make a good argument that it should be restricted to adults (18 or older). That should put a quick end to it.
by Spikosauropod
It should be possible to find people within one’s vicinity who have similar interests simply by going online. Why is there a need to find compatible personalities nearby at every possible moment? Are people really expected to drop whatever they are doing and consent to unplanned rendezvous? Don’t people have places to go and things to do? This device seems to be nothing more than a waste of valuable bandwidth.
by sawatzky
To see how far this could go, read Cory Doctorow’s “Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom”
http://craphound.com/down/
by Cybernettr
I’m sure it’s just a matter of time before something like this catches on. Old fuddle duddies like me won’t want it, but a lot will.
by Tuco
Annoying, indeed.