Very cool, and Wired Danger Room pumped out a little deal about this as well. I don’t think us security contractors will ever have access to this PDA, but really, we don’t need to. We have access to a multitude of PDA’s or smart phones. I currently deploy with a iPhone 3GS wrapped in an Otterbox Defender Case, and love it. For secure communications, I just use Hushmail. For navigation purposes, I use Google Maps with the GPS interface. For information collection, I just use Google Search, and can find what I need on a normal browser. For communications, I can use the phone, text message, or email using 3G or Wifi. Lots of options. The iPhone is amazing, and it is one of my best investments as far as technology is concerned. The battery life is not too bad either, but that could always be better. And it will.
I am also seeing a lot of contractors with smart phones now. It’s either a Blackberry or iPhone, and I think most go with the Blackberry. With that said, companies need to get on board with getting mobile friendly, and explore the numerous ways that they can tap into this technology that all of us are using now. And believe me, there will come a point where everyone will get a PDA with their mobile plans, and basic cellphones will just kind of fade away. Better to start thinking about this stuff now in my opinion. –Matt
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iPhone 3GS in Otterbox Defender Case.
Soldiers Track Each Other With Smart PDAs
December 2009
By Grace V. Jean
Many of the military’s ground vehicles are equipped with blue force tracking systems that help troops monitor the locations of friendly units and enemy forces. But when soldiers dismount to patrol an area on foot, they lose that digital awareness of their surroundings.
The Army’s troubled Land Warrior program — a wearable computer, GPS, radio and monocle display technology ensemble — was designed to give dismounted troops that battlefield information. The program is still alive and showing progress, according to Army officials.
A team at Lockheed Martin Corp.’s Advanced Technology Laboratories in Cherry Hill, N.J., meanwhile, has developed a Land Warrior-like handheld computer for small infantry units to track and communicate with each other on the ground.
The “distributed operations,” or “DisOps,” system consists of a group of PDAs and a software package that can be installed on a laptop.