Can you see me now? Good.

NEWS.COM -- This is cool... companies and state DOT's are starting to explore the idea of using cell phones to show traffic patterns. The idea is that with hundreds of thousands of cars on the road, often each with at least one cell phone powered on in each car, they can gather the information in large clusters and quickly be able to see if traffic is moving at the right speed, or where congestion is. Right now, it costs $1k-$20k to put sensors into a road, so this is possibly a cheaper way of gathering data on a lot more roads at once, which could lead to faster responses by emergency vehicles as well as communication to drivers about potential problems ahead and recommendations to alternate routes. As usual, critics suggest that it's the first step towards tracking individual people or finding people congregating to riot or protest. More...