I wonder how long before they can do the same with cameras? A bit of computer vision and you have more complete data... Not sure if there is still need for better completeness though.
JFK Displays Actual Wait Times Using Beacons That Monitor Mobile Phones
21–30 of 102 posts
Re: JFK Displays Actual Wait Times Using Beacons That Monitor Mobile Phones
#22Serious question: if there is a 16 minute queue for "security", why wouldn't a potential terrorist just wheel up a carry on sized bomb and detonate it in the middle of the "security" line? Is this something that the TSA addresses (I assume not), or do they just ignore the possibility? All they've done is move the soft target further out.
I think they're concern is not foremost for the safety of the passengers. The main concern is airplanes going into buildings. Of course, this is definitely an example of fighting the last war. On a separate note, the TSA really pisses me off. Consider that UPS saves millions by not taking left turns. Removing or adding very small inefficiencies at a very large scale has tremendous cost implications. I don't think the…
I agree that planes going into buildings is the major security concern, but we fixed it. We've reinforced the cockpit doors and we've taught passengers not to cooperate with hijackers (the latter we managed within hours of the first attack)
Re: JFK Displays Actual Wait Times Using Beacons That Monitor Mobile Phones
#23Of what use is this information to the people standing in line? "Oh, it's 30 minutes. I guess I'll hurry."
What gets measured gets fixed.
Presumably the TSA managers will be rated based on their wait times, and therefore accountable when they're too lazy to staff the right number of people.
Last week I almost missed my flight at Oakland because they had everyone funneled through a single scanner. Two scanners were idle because they were "short staffed". That's not an accident or bad luck. That just means the manager was too lazy to do their job correctly.
Re: JFK Displays Actual Wait Times Using Beacons That Monitor Mobile Phones
#24Earlier quoted context omitted.
Even if spoofed, a MAC has to be (locally) unique or else you run into all kinds of network issues. As for spoofed on phones, maybe if you have root. But i doubt it comes spoofed out of the box (at least i have never heard of such a thing).
As of last year iOS devices do randomize their MAC address when polling for nearby WiFi, specifically to foil this kind of tracking. Here's an interesting breakdown of what is actually happening: http://blog.airtightnetworks.com/ios8-mac-randomization-anal...
Huh, i guess they got a fire lit under their ass. After having their products found shouting to anyone nearby what previous networks the product had been in contact with, that is.
Re: JFK Displays Actual Wait Times Using Beacons That Monitor Mobile Phones
#25I hope it didn't cost more than hiring extra people to get the mega-lines through faster.
That definitely goes against my hacker instincts where if I can automate a daily task with the amount of time that it would take me to do it in a few days, I go ahead and automate it.
Re: JFK Displays Actual Wait Times Using Beacons That Monitor Mobile Phones
#26Based on the headline, I thought they were displaying the queue time on monitors held by life-sized mannikins of the former President.
Read the article, was disappointed. It's still interesting tech though.
Re: JFK Displays Actual Wait Times Using Beacons That Monitor Mobile Phones
#27Awesome, this kind of technology should be used in ALL waiting lines. I read that the average person spends months of their lives just waiting in lines. This is ridiculous and should be fixed. Every store should have an average waiting time and they should try to minimize it.
Re: JFK Displays Actual Wait Times Using Beacons That Monitor Mobile Phones
#28I wonder how long before they can do the same with cameras? A bit of computer vision and you have more complete data... Not sure if there is still need for better completeness though.
Should be quite easy to implement, actually. Some stores have this kind of technology to track traffic. I think the problem is installing the cameras and the software, but that's trivial for an airport.
Re: JFK Displays Actual Wait Times Using Beacons That Monitor Mobile Phones
#29Of what use is this information to the people standing in line? "Oh, it's 30 minutes. I guess I'll hurry."
Useful for applied game theory.
Re: JFK Displays Actual Wait Times Using Beacons That Monitor Mobile Phones
#30From http://www.blipsystems.com/indoor-sensor/ : > When a device passes the sensors, its non-personal unique ID, called a MAC address, is recorded, encrypted and time-stamped. By re-identifying the device from multiple sensors, travel times, average speeds, dwell times and movement patterns become available. Aren't MAC addresses spoofed on most phones now?! I didn't expect a system like that to still be usable.
> "non-personal unique ID" Isn't that quite contradictionary?
Personal to the device, not personal to its owner. Then again, most of us consider our devices extensions of ourselves nowadays anyway.