Hate to play devil's advocate, but it sounds somewhat similar to what Israel does with their airports, but leveraging technology to identify all details (and more than a human could reasonably do), rather than training individuals to do the same.
Methods, deployment (in terms of location) and data retention are obviously the distinguishing factors here.
What I want to see is how the app market will pan out. I can only assume (and didn't previously consider) that this will not carry Google branding at all - that means the Android Market, Gmail, Maps, etc, apps will all be missing.
The Android Market would be the big loss here. Amazon seems to take more control over the selling of your product than you do once you submit to their Appstore, but if you want to show up on their tablets, you won't have a choice.
What matters is that the NEA now officially considers video games worthy of artistic merit, which is pretty damn cool.
Since the first I heard of this (apparent) debate, I wondered why artwork, music, and story were all works of art separately, but the three of them together with a form of interaction by a person was not. The consideration of video games as a form of art doesn't seem like a judgement to me, it seems more like a rationalization.
Although Gruber is summing it up based on a developer's words, they do state this ridiculous data collection in their privacy policy (which is an implied agreement, based on your downloading of the app).
We also collect pictures, videos, comments, and actions you take through the App (“Content”), and information on your location. When our App is active, your Device provides periodic updates to our server of your location, which allows us to show you fresh Content based upon where you are at that moment. We share your Content with others. Sharing Content publicly with others from different locations is what this App is about. If you find this objectionable, please consider not using our App or Site.
Harmonix (creators of Guitar Hero, which they sold, and Rock Band) has a similar story. They created a handful of games over a decade or so, all music based, that never really caught on. When they released Guitar Hero and a few karaoke games, they did a little better than breaking even, and with the release of Guitar Hero 2 sales exploded.
I moved to the Chicago area around a little over a year ago and this feature has been around at least that long.
It's also available by enabling the "Transit" layer under the "More..." button, and also the transit layer in the Maps application on Android (and presumably the iPhone).
It's an incredibly handy feature when you don't know the area and/or combined with the "Arrive By" option under Public Transit when getting directions.
I want to agree with you so badly (and to some extent, I suppose I do), but any time I consider the margin of users you could "safely" exclude, I consider the competitor who does not.
I didn't down vote, but here's a shot in the dark:
The post concerns Deal Score, something that was added to SeatGeek which aggregates sale prices of seats over time into a general price range and ranks the current sale price against that combined with it's location. The result is a system that may rank higher priced tickets closer to the action as a better deal than a cheaper price from the last row.
You addressed nothing about the topic, but expressed your distaste for SeatGeek (which I believe you meant when you wrote Deal Score, since that is just a number). SeatGeek has been around for a little while, and it's fine if you don't like them, but you are certainly not evaluating their idea with your comment.
I recall creating my password for Verified by Visa, but never successfully entering it again. It's never stopped me from getting the goods and getting charged, though.
I would argue that if there is a way to get a comment on the board at all, those who want to continue arguing will post those comments.
Also, if you can edit your comments, you're opening the door for twisted threads where replies are in one block per person with "@person timestamp," although that's easily fixed by only allowing editing for a short while.
Neopets was bashed for some time with claims that the games they produced were similar to gambling games. I think it proves prior art in and of itself.
Microsoft put a shot up of it's store with an Angry Birds icon. The developer(s?) of Angry Birds never said they were making a version for Windows Phone 7.
The developers weren't committed to making the game, Microsoft jumped the gun by implicitly saying they were with that icon.
Methods, deployment (in terms of location) and data retention are obviously the distinguishing factors here.
http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1024850 for an article on it, from around two years ago.