Chris J's dashboard

A comment on the idea "Attach Privacy Level to Location" in Brightkite:

Yes, that's true. It's not the most ideal, given that both services support varying degrees of precision and should be able to work out a way to share them more accurately and transparently, but it's not a bad work-around and isn't without its own benefits. I'll definitely try it out (while waiting for a better solution down the road) :-) . – Thom Watson, on August 16, 2008 00:04

A comment on the idea "Attach Privacy Level to Location" in Brightkite:

One thing you can try, which is actually what I do, is to set the accuracy level of your location yourself when you check in. I'm always in public mode, so whenever I need to check in to a sensitive location, I simply don't check into an exact address. I will check in at street level or using an intersection, then I placemark these locations. I am always in control of what information is shared with FE and Twitter and don't have to rely on the privacy controls. I realize that this is not a desirable option for everyone, so it is only a suggestion, but it could help keep the Brightkite/FE combination useful for you. :) – Lesley, on August 15, 2008 23:59

Thom Watson replied on August 15, 2008 23:41 to the idea "Attach Privacy Level to Location" in Brightkite:

Lesley, I'm glad at least that you're going to make what you do clearer, but it actually means that Brightkite and FE together just isn't useful for me. If I need to go into FE and change my privacy setting there each time I check into an always-private location in Brightkite, when otherwise I want my location in FE to be public, then why should I even use Brightkite? The alternative is that I set FE to show everything at an imprecise level, which also is less than desirable.

Lesley replied on August 15, 2008 23:16 to the idea "Attach Privacy Level to Location" in Brightkite:

We apologize for any confusion. If you have FE sharing enabled, we will send your exact location to them and then within FE you can modify your privacy settings for what information gets sent out to any other sites. We realize that this is not made very clear in Brightkite, so we will go in and revise it so people know their exact location will be shared when they update.

cruciformity replied on August 15, 2008 18:44 to the idea "Attach Privacy Level to Location" in Brightkite:

This is back to there simply not being enough options. And maybe its an issue of options on Fire Eagle's end, but the two options it gives when syncing with Fire Eagle are exact location or zipcode (there are more options, but less specific). On the one hand, for Fire Eagle to be useful, they need my exact location, but on the other hand, since I have told BrightKite not to give that information out, they shouldn't give it out. It should look as if I checked in at a zip code or city, not an address. It doesn't seem like that should be to hard.

Chris J marked one of Thom Watson's replies in Brightkite as useful. Thom Watson replied to the idea "Attach Privacy Level to Location".

thomwatson replied on August 15, 2008 17:40 to the idea "Attach Privacy Level to Location" in Brightkite:

I've noticed that when checking into a location that's marked "Always Private," like my home address, Bkite appears to send the exact location to Fire Eagle, not the inexact one that it's providing to other Bkite users. FE then displays information about my exact location, and provides it to other apps that poll FE. When I twittered about this last night:

@brightkite If I have a place set to always be private, what info does it provide to Fire Eagle? Looks like it's sending the full location.

Bkite's response was:

@thomwatson FE does not have the granularity of privacy controls available in Bkite. We share the publicly available location with FE.

Wouldn't the "publicly available location" for a location marked as always private be the inexact version? This seems to be what they say they're sending in response to my inquiry. However, my personal experience suggests the opposite, that they are sending -- at least as recently as last night -- my exact location even for a private location.

A comment on the problem "Verizon support?" in Brightkite:

I swear that it worked this afternoon when I tried it. I don't know what I did differently but it's not working for me either now. Sorry I got everyone's hopes up. I'm just as disappointed. – Chris J, on August 13, 2008 02:41

A comment on the problem "Verizon support?" in Brightkite:

Doesn't work as far as I can see. As others have said, I'm assuming it's because the from address is not stripped. – Matt W., on August 13, 2008 01:37

A comment on the problem "Verizon support?" in Brightkite:

Theoretically this shouldn't work since gmail doesn't strip the original sender when it forwards. It still looks like it is coming from your phone. Either something is going crazy or they've turned verizon texts to private addresses back on. – Basheer Tome, on August 12, 2008 20:21

A comment on the problem "Verizon support?" in Brightkite:

Theoretically this shouldn't work since gmail doesn't strip the original sender when it forwards. It still looks like it is coming from your phone. Either something is going crazy or they've turned verizon texts to private addresses back on. – Basheer Tome, on August 12, 2008 20:21

A comment on the problem "Verizon support?" in Brightkite:

You can get around that problem using another Gmail feature. You can customize a Gmail address by adding a plus sign followed by any string you like to your username, and then set up a filter based on that. For example, if your Gmail address was bodhi@gmail.com, you could set up a filter in Gmail to forward to Brightkite every message addressed to bodhi+brightkite@gmail.com. I know it sounds strange, but this actually does work. That being said, I've been using the vzwpix.com messaging solution too. – nbr, on August 12, 2008 17:17

A comment on the problem "Verizon support?" in Brightkite:

that's a cool workaround Chris J :) But not such a good option if you ever send texts to your own email (which I do). Still, good to know. Maybe the convenience will make it worthwhile for me to stop using my texts to my own email. Do you notice any significant additional lag due to the extra step? I've been using the blank picture message solution since bkite has blocked emails from vtext.com – bodhi, on August 12, 2008 17:12

Chris J replied on August 12, 2008 16:56 to the problem "Verizon support?" in Brightkite:

I figured out a workaround for this verizon text situation. You can setup a rule in gmail to forward emails coming from you cell to your bkite address. For instance: My text msg emails come from 812989xxxx@vtext.com. I setup a filter for emails coming from 812989xxxx@vtext.com to be forwarded to my bkite private address. Then setup another rule to forward all emails from your private bkite address to your cell phone.

A comment on the problem "Verizon support?" in Brightkite:

See here: http://getsatisfaction.com/verizonwireless/topics/why_is_verizon_is_blocking_sms_text_interactivity_with_brightkite – Jo Michele, on August 05, 2008 22:13

A comment on the problem "Verizon support?" in Brightkite:

Where did this "Underdog" come from? – Chris, on August 05, 2008 22:07

Brian Layman replied on August 05, 2008 18:39 to the problem "Verizon support?" in Brightkite:

Yeah and they probably don't drop everything after the @ symbol either... That is what makes twitter txt messages suck on verizon.

Jo Michele replied on August 05, 2008 17:39 to the problem "Verizon support?" in Brightkite:

just saw this reply from Verizon regarding their Brightkite issue:

underdog512, Official Rep, replied 10 days ago
Verizon Wireless does not block ANY sms unless you ask them to. Maybe your Brightkite is broken.

Are you kidding me? Verizon seriously needs to get their act together!

A comment on the problem "Verizon support?" in Brightkite:

Unfortunately not yet, we're still waiting on Verizon. I'll be sure to post here when we have an update. You can also friend us on Brightkite (username Brightkite) where we post updates as well. – Lesley, on July 30, 2008 03:58

Chris J started following the idea "Why not use a Brightkite buddy in GTalk to issue updates and commands" in Brightkite.