I think I read about this in a book once...<p>"The iPhone received and transmitted simultaneously. Any sound that Winston made, above the level of a very low whisper, would be picked up by it, moreover, so long as he remained within the field of vision which the helpful sign suggested, he could be seen as well as heard. There was of course no way of knowing whether you were being checked-in on social media any given moment. How often, or on what system, the service provider plugged in on any individual wire was guesswork. It was even conceivable that they included everybody all the time. But at any rate they could connect you whenever they wanted to. You had to live -- did live, from habit that became instinct -- in the assumption that every sound you made was overheard, and, except in darkness, every movement scrutinized."
Oh, you mean scrobbling? That thing last.fm has done forever? And it only activates when you go into the status update UI?<p>Sad that there's not a single, not even <i>one</i> positive mention of this feature here. I'm starting to think this whole privacy thing has turned a lot of you into luddites. I'm serious. The highest rated fucking comment is a post that takes a line from 1984 and replaces "telescreen" with "iphone". Yes, very clever and completely relevant.<p>I remember a time when this would have generated discussion on how cool it is or what technology they're using to accomplish it, but instead, it's PRIVACY PRIVACY PRIVACY (even when it's an irrelevant concern, such as this) - the same reaction I'd expect had this been posted to 4chan /g/.
It amazes me that people are so willing to give these "services" so much access to their lives. It creeped me out when facebook used to ask me what I thought about a place I had been to. This is a whole new level of creepy, why don't people care?
Situational awareness and semi-passive alternative inputs is being added to more and more devices. The always waiting your command "Ok Google" thing that Android phones and "Ok Glass" that Google Glass do comes to mind. Same for the XBOX One, only in that case it's also got a camera aimed at your livingroom. The Nest knows when there are people present. And now Facebook can listen to your surroundings while you post a status update. Any others I'm not thinking of?<p>Edit: Chrome now lets you use "Ok Google" as well.<p><a href="http://www.theverge.com/2014/5/22/5740946/chrome-ok-google-voice-search" rel="nofollow">http://www.theverge.com/2014/5/22/5740946/chrome-ok-google-v...</a>
Beside the privacy concerns, it's sad that most people feel the need to share every little detail of their life with everyone, 24/7. What's the point?
Seems like this thread is full of people typing while wearing tinfoil hats.<p>They have added a feature which works the same way Shazam et al do. You want to share what you're listening to? Press a button, the mic gets activated, and Facebook ID's the song for you to save you typing it out and searching yourself.<p>They are not listening to you all the time, even when you're in the Facebook app.
Remember those scripts that changed your instant messenger status when you started listening to a song? Or posted in IRC about it?<p>Automated narcissism doesn't exactly make for good conversation. People will get bored of it after a day or two.