31–36 of 36 posts
Surely just installing an app voluntarily would get enough tracing to be effective? As a kiwi who has spent half my life living in different countries, I can say trust in the government here, while not universal, is higher than anywhere else I've been. I think most people would do it
Kiwi here, I belive this is either snake oil or a conceptual idea rather than a product. The media are touting it as credit card sized device, but with a battery it would need to be much thicker. Here in lockdown we are allowed to go for a walk or cycle. Potentially this card could register thousands of contacts.
Based on what we know about the proposal, the hardware platform doesn't yet exist. Even if the full design was already complete, how long would it take to tool up a factory to produce 5,000,000 units and the distribution infrastructure to ensure everyone had a unit? It just doesn't make any sense.
There's been a disturbing trend where businesses are approaching government agencies (without even an RFP being issued) trying to get them to endorse/fund their app or device or technology. It just stinks of an attempt to profit from the disaster as opposed to a genuine desire to help enhance our contact tracing infrastructure.
The big problem with all radio based contact tracing solutions is the receiver. Receivers use at a minimum several mW of power. A typical Bluetooth low energy receiver will use about 50mW so will drain a coin cell battery in a day. Bluetooth low energy saves energy by transmitting for very short periods of time so transmit power is low but receiver power can be high. Even asking most consumers to leave their phone's…
Your phone's Bluetooth scanning IS always on if it's an iPhone or Android. Always. By default.
A card with a proposed 6 month battery life with receiver PLLs that are always spun up probably needs more battery than you can fit in a tiny thin card
Hello? fundamentals go much further than tech magic bullets.
For instance, the chinese took people's temperatures.
The big problem with all radio based contact tracing solutions is the receiver. Receivers use at a minimum several mW of power. A typical Bluetooth low energy receiver will use about 50mW so will drain a coin cell battery in a day. Bluetooth low energy saves energy by transmitting for very short periods of time so transmit power is low but receiver power can be high. Even asking most consumers to leave their phone's…
Your phone's Bluetooth scanning IS always on if it's an iPhone or Android. Always. By default.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Your phone's Bluetooth scanning IS always on if it's an iPhone or Android. Always. By default.
That may be true when the screen is on, but from my experience scanning is not switched on in sleep modes on iPhones and most Android phones. I don't have definitive proof of this but I have never seen a modern phone be able to reliably scan whilst in sleep mode for any long period of time.
source: worked on this for a few years at googl, both chromeos and android