Mobile Tech Key To Defeating Darkness

It's almost Halloween! Sunday morning, I missed the morning run. The sun, you know? Nope, not a vampire here. It's just that after a week of cloudy skies and rain, it just feels really bright outside.

So instead, I am at home watching 30 Days of Night, webisodes on Hulu and I got to thinking about how mobile tech is g used in scifi shows by protagonists to defeat the forces of evil, of the supernatural and alien types.

I am going to start off with a spoiler. Apparently, vampires have been using the Internet to coordinate an attack on an Alaskan town there when during winter, sun doesn't rise for thirty days. Hence, the movie is called 30 Days of Night.

So the good guys in the show uses the Internet and webcams to communicate and try to stop the coming slaughter.

I didn't see any Blackberries, iPhones, or even laptops but maybe it was a production budget issue. Still I can't help but think that maybe things might have turned out differently had the good guys been able to communicate wirelessly and not have to run around New Orleans.

Since Halloween is a week away, I am going to take the liberty and call it "Halloween Week: Using Mobile Tech Create/Prevent Mayhem".

So let's start with the good guys. In trying to stop a vampire takeover, how can mobile tech help?

First, there's the usual tools readily available. Emails, SMS, and instant messages.

But I think the best way is within apps. Maybe a virtual world where the good guys can meet and speak in code. There are plenty of games that offer in-world communication. Think of it as the Matrix without the glasses and leather coats.

Of course, you'll want to be careful and make sure that you don't leave a trail to be tracked. These vampires can be pretty the savvy themselves. If not, I am sure the vast financial network they've cultivated and enormous fortune they amassed will buy them whatever services they needed. Everyone has a price. So I'd be very careful about what I share and he manner in which I'd do it.

The next step is geo-tagging. I am sure clandestine groups all over the world is on this. Tracking agents, operatives, and finding routes is something our human heroes will need to be able do to. This is needed from finding safe houses and hideouts to something as simple as making drop-offs. All mobile devices in this respect must have great GPS apps.

Ultimately, standalone apps are more effective and potentially more secured than webapps which is why I think everyone will hit the books for some Objective-C and/or Java know-hows to write apps for the iPhone and Android devices respectively.

So if you're out and about an you see some suspicious characters in a dark corner hacking away at his or her mobile device, imagine the role they are playing in maintaining the delicate balance in the never ending battle between light and darkness.


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