Justin Bieber teams up with PhoneGuard (Stock Symbol: OPMG) to combat texting and driving
May 22, 2011 12:46 PM   Subscribe

Justin Bieber/PhoneGuard (stock symbol: OPMG) Team Up in Effort to Stop Texting While Driving - Bieber to Endorse PhoneGuard's DriveSafe Providing Major Financial Support to Foundations and Charities So Justin Bieber has signed a 3 year deal to endorse PhoneGuard's phone app that stops texting and driving...considering the amount of fans this kid has, and how he freely appears on any television show he wants to, can this be the beginning of a big movement against texting and driving?
posted by skizz (24 comments total)

This post was deleted for the following reason: A single link to a press release really isn't working -- restless_nomad



 
While Drive Safe Software is designed to prevent texting while driving, it also offers parents and employers the ability to monitor the driving habits of mobile phone users in order to prevent speeding.

I like how they just slipped that in there. "Oh by the way, you can also use this for this other really intrusive thing."
posted by hippybear at 12:53 PM on May 22, 2011


It has a feature to "Request Permission from Admin" to unlock it, and I guess the parents or whoever the Admin is can unlock it remotely...if you only ride buses or trains then you really wouldn't install this on your phone lol
posted by skizz at 12:53 PM on May 22, 2011


Can they team up to stop texting while walking down city streets and conversing with live humans as well?
posted by jonmc at 12:56 PM on May 22, 2011


This post reeks of SEO spamming to me. One fawning link to a press release? And why put the company's stock symbol in the title of the post, and in the linked text? It doesn't appear in the title of what you're linking to.
posted by churl at 12:59 PM on May 22, 2011


That's, uh, certainly a press release.
posted by box at 1:00 PM on May 22, 2011


Are there many Justin Bieber fans who are old enough to drive? I don't mean to snark, I think his fanbase is mostly pre-teen. He seems to be filling the same niche that Hanson did in the late 90s. As an anecdote, the only teenager I have any regular contact with, and her friends all think he lame music for little kids.

PhoneGuard is missing the mark is so many ways.
posted by riruro at 1:01 PM on May 22, 2011


No. It is just a sign FHA te kid peaked months ago and his managers are scrambling to grab whatever endorsement cash they can before it all collapses.
posted by humanfont at 1:01 PM on May 22, 2011


I especially like the lengthy "watch out for forward-looking buzzwords which reflect that this product may not actually do everything this press release says it will" disclaimer at the bottom of the article.
posted by hippybear at 1:01 PM on May 22, 2011


Haven't all the people who text and drive been killed in a horrible fiery accident yet? No? Give it time.

And hope they don't take the rest of us with them.
posted by Salvor Hardin at 1:01 PM on May 22, 2011


Uh, how would this thing tell the difference between driving and being transported on a bus or train?

Or, for that matter, riding as a passenger in a car? This seems like a really poorly thought out app.
posted by hattifattener at 1:02 PM on May 22, 2011


This would be fun to install on people's devices as a practical joke. I mean, if they're foolish enough to give you the password required to install things, then why not?
posted by hippybear at 1:05 PM on May 22, 2011


Hey, parents! Install PhoneGuard on your kids' phones, and guarantee that if they're ever kidnapped by a lunatic, forced into a van and driven to some horrible fate, they won't be able to call you for help!
posted by Faint of Butt at 1:05 PM on May 22, 2011


This is a weird first post to make...
posted by codacorolla at 1:05 PM on May 22, 2011


I think that whoever Skizz used to be got his or her account hax0red, and that the current post is by a spammer. SINCE IT IS QUITE CLEARLY A PIECE OF SPAM.
posted by damehex at 1:06 PM on May 22, 2011 [1 favorite]


Not the first post, but the first in over a decade....
posted by hippybear at 1:07 PM on May 22, 2011


lol @ all the spam calls...do you guys think I own Marketwire? lol...I just thought it was cool, and this is most definitely not my first post here, pretty sure I have been around before most of you
posted by skizz at 1:08 PM on May 22, 2011


First activity of any kind in over a decade. That's peculiar.
posted by hippybear at 1:08 PM on May 22, 2011


All of skizz's links are dead. The content of this post aside, that speaks to the ephemeral nature of the web.
posted by codacorolla at 1:09 PM on May 22, 2011


@hippybear Yes, extremely peculiar...I am the 27 year old owner of Marketwire haha...seriously guys, I linked to a news site, not my own non-existent site...I'm not selling anything, nothing to buy here, nada para comprar, etc. Just thought it was cool that some big celebrity signed on to promote texting against driving with a company. Would it have been better if I posted it without a link to the news site and instead copied and pasted the whole news bit? There are no ads on that site to click, nothing. Just news. Tell me what you want me to do. Incredible.
posted by skizz at 1:12 PM on May 22, 2011 [1 favorite]


That's an idea. Modern RFID car key + Bluetooth integration = phone knows if its owner is driving, and disables itself. Of course, what I often do when I get a call or want to text someone while driving is I hand my phone to my passenger. Oops, fail again.

I don't think this is a problem best solved by a technological interlock.
posted by hattifattener at 1:12 PM on May 22, 2011


@codacorolla Not all of them, that one Flash design piece I did like 13 years ago is still up on Born Magazine :)

http://www.bornmagazine.org/projects/skizz/

Haha, all the cliches are there.
posted by skizz at 1:14 PM on May 22, 2011


Well, at least the belligerent defense of his posts seems right in character, based on the comment history of the account....
posted by hippybear at 1:17 PM on May 22, 2011


Given the size of the overlap between metafilter readers, Justin Bieber fans and people old enough to drive: its rather brilliant even if it was spam.
posted by Another Fine Product From The Nonsense Factory at 1:18 PM on May 22, 2011


@hippybear Yes, the MF is still as smug and condescending as always, despite the new crowd. Never change :)
posted by skizz at 1:18 PM on May 22, 2011


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