
TrackR - tfang17
http://www.thetrackr.com/Giveaway
======
CheckHook
I was a backer for this project on Indiegogo, they are awful!

The devices simply don't work and the customer service is awful, they have now
started to delete any negative comments on the project page.

The devices that shipped differed from the ones that we backed and the team
refused to listen to the backers. The devices also shipped late.

Steer clear people.

~~~
rasz_pl
Are you thinking of sticknfind? [http://www.eevblog.com/forum/crowd-funded-
projects/sticknfin...](http://www.eevblog.com/forum/crowd-funded-
projects/sticknfind-bluetooth-low-energy-\(ble\)-tracking-tags/)

or is trackr just as bad as those?

~~~
ronaldx
As the parent describes:

[http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/wallet-trackr-find-your-
wa...](http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/wallet-trackr-find-your-
wallet?c=comments)

~~~
CheckHook
Actually it was a different campaign by the same company, Phone Halo. As you
can see from the link you posted they have let down the backers of that
project too.

Here is the project I backed: [http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/stickr-
trackr-find-lost-it...](http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/stickr-trackr-find-
lost-items)

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samwilliams
Looks interesting!

I assume it is US only for now though? It is probably worth making that clear
on the sign up page :). Good luck!

~~~
stormbrew
Seems that way from the signup form. :/

~~~
egeozcan
I just wrote my German address. It didn't ask for a country and I assumed it
was Germany only (/sarcasm)

It's annoying when companies assume that the world starts and ends within the
US.

~~~
ddoolin
It's equally annoying that they can't only cater to the US without someone who
isn't from the US getting annoyed about it. Why do they have to be
international? What if they only want to serve US customers? It's not a crime
or even bad.

~~~
moeffju
So they should make it clear on the landing page, not just imply it by putting
up a form without country field. It just reeks of US-centrism and ignoring
that there are other countries out there.

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BHSPitMonkey
Looks like a nice way of hunting down other peoples' lost valuables. Thanks!

~~~
theboss
My first thought too. I'm assuming it works like.

1\. I need to find something, I tell trackr the id of my token. 2\. trackr
tells other trackr users the id to look for. 3\. trackr enabled phones search
in vicinity for it.

What happens when trackr enabled phones decide not to report back their
findings...Sounds like a fun treasure hunt competition.

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cbaleanu
I could not find a privacy section anywhere on the site. I think you should
have that, considering you want people to trust you with their locations.

~~~
huhtenberg
Not even that. They have "crowd-sourced" location service of your items,
meaning that each of their users acts like a scanner for _all_ tracker devices
out there. This is ripe for abuse.

~~~
MichaelGG
What abuse? Apart from tagging valuable objects in a way that makes them
easier to find. That let's someone could go through apparently deserted areas
(like after a concert) and find valuables left behind.

But the actual privacy part shouldn't be too bad, right? They could use a
time-based code, so that each beacon transmits a seemingly-random ID every
minute, and only their servers can link that up to something.

If it's static, then yeah, it's like tagging yourself. Or carrying a modern
passport. Or phone or laptop. It's a shame that most people will probably not
really care about this aspect.

~~~
luka-birsa
This is not like carrying a passport, phone or computer at all.

I can be tracked without my knowledge - somebody just needs to plant a
minature tracker in my laptop bag.

Edit: The issue is that everybody tracks everybody, not like with Tile or
Chipolo - where you only track your own tags with your own smartphone (ie: you
need to be near your tagged items to track them, which makes covert location
tracking of persons hard).

~~~
MichaelGG
Eh, if that's the threat you're worried about, it's really just a race against
time. For $15 you can already get a GSM+GPS "mini" (not micro) tracker. That
was just a quick search. I'd be surprised if there are not smaller models
already easily available.

Sure, a BLE beacon is gonna be easier to make small and power than a
completely self-contained unit but it's not like this creates an entirely new
threat.

1: [http://www.ebay.com/itm/Mini-Global-Real-Time-GPS-Tracker-
GS...](http://www.ebay.com/itm/Mini-Global-Real-Time-GPS-Tracker-GSM-GPRS-GPS-
Tracking-Tool-ForChildren-Pet-Car-/390677412403)

~~~
luka-birsa
This is much worse than GSM+GPS as:

1\. Literally works for years compared to days. 2\. Much smaller. 3\. Works
everywhere where people carry their phones (underground substructures
impenetrable by GPS and GSM).

~~~
fnsa
But it's supposedly also very easy to detect whether you're being tracked or
not, right? GSM+GPS seems a lot more stealthy.

~~~
luka-birsa
True, didn't think of that.

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devindotcom
Aren't there like a dozen of this type of device/ecosystem right now? I really
don't see any reason to buy into this type of thing before one really
differentiates itself from the rest. I'm glad there are lots of options... but
honestly, it's like standing in the paper towel aisle at this point.

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danshapiro
If you submit the form, they notify you that you're Nth in line (N=70k right
now) but they'll ship you one now if you... you guessed it... buy it.

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moeffju
And of course, US only by way of not even having a country field on the form,
but without actually stating that somewhere. Sad.

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erikb
Wow, after reading the name I thought I would come here and write a comment
about how a more detailed introduction might have helped the project. But
reading the other comments this team might have a bigger communication
problem. I feel with you, guys. Sometimes even the greatest product can get
destroyed by some communication problems.

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gapchuboy
Sweet, you're in the queue but it looks like there's a few people ahead of
you. Jump ahead by choosing an option below.

81642 PEOPLE AHEAD OF YOU 4 YOUR BOARDING GROUP You're all set to get a
StickRTrackR and soon you won't need to worry about losing items. There's some
people ahead of you and we can only ship so many per day.

Tired of waiting? Upgrade your boarding group by doing one of the easy actions
below!

Buy an Additional TrackR for $19.95 and Receive Free Shipping + Your Free
Device Now!

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mplewis
Looks like it uses exactly the same principle as
[http://www.thetileapp.com](http://www.thetileapp.com).

~~~
dspoka
but this is an actual product and tile is in production =)

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unwind
"Time's running out to get your free TrackR free!" needs some editing, in my
opinion. :) Glad to see more action around trackable objects, each further
step towards
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spime](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spime) is
interesting for sure.

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sensecall
I love the concept, but can't get over the limited lifespan of this type of
device.

We built something a little more basic last year -
[https://loseproof.com/](https://loseproof.com/)

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aashishkoirala
Nice idea, but there are just too many privacy implications here to ignore.

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NKCSS
Too bad companies like this never mention that it's US only :-/

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bayesianhorse
I think this is a hoax... Just doesn't have the right feeling.

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manuletroll
For some reason I read that as TrackIR..

On a more relevant side it definitely looks interesting as I lose stuff _very_
easily.

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francis88
it looks nice but the on-boarding process is a shame. Advertising the "get
yours free" knowing that the cap has already been achieved is not really
honest as for me.

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notthetup
US Only.. :(

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gojomo
Nice try, General Clapper.

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cgherb
Thanks for the post :)

