[LINK] gps on kids

[Jan Whitaker]

"freedom of mind" or loss of mind? "Honey, don't mind Charlie. He has 
his wrist bracelet on. If he wanders, I can find him easily enough." 
Yeah, and when the kid falls down the storm drain, well, they did 
find him, didn't they? Doncha just love parents giving up their 
responsibilities to technology?



Wrist GPS keeps tabs on straying children

http://www.theage.com.au/news/digital-life/articles/keeping-tabs-on-kids/2009/01/12/1231608576996.html
January 12, 2009 - 11:51AM

Children may not like it but a British technology firm has invented 
an electronic babysitter - a wristwatch-like device that lets parents 
know where their children are at all times.

The GPS Child Locator, or num8, attaches securely to a child's wrist 
and contains a Global Positioning System (GPS), said Matthew Salmon, 
a spokesman for the manufacturer, lok8u.

"It uses GPS and GSM (Global System for Mobiles) technology with an 
accuracy of 10 feet (three meters)," he said. "It tracks your child."

"It only starts working when the device is connected to the child's 
wrist," Salmon said, and is "very difficult to get off."

"Even if the child managed to get it off it would send an emergency 
text message through to your mobile phone," he said. "It would give 
you a Google Maps image with their exact location, the street name 
and the zip code."

When a child is wearing the device, a parent sends the text message 
"wru" and the child's current location is sent back to a mobile phone 
or computer.

Parents can also log on to the company website to discover their 
child's present location.

"You can also set up a perimeter, an invisible fence, and if they 
wander out of this invisible fence which you put on the Internet it 
will warn you," Salmon said. "It will text you immediately."

Salmon said the device is waterproof and shockproof and lasts for 
three days with a full charge.

It will be available in both Britain and the United States this year 
and retails for $200 with a $10 dollar a month subscription fee.

He said the company had received thousands of inquiries about the 
device since launching it this week.

"Fifty percent are positive, 50 percent are negative, that it's a bit 
Big Brotherish," he said. "But it's really just about letting you 
have freedom of mind."



Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
jwhit at janwhitaker.com
business: http://www.janwhitaker.com
personal: http://www.janwhitaker.com/personal/
blog: http://janwhitaker.com/jansblog/

Our truest response to the irrationality of the world is to paint or 
sing or write, for only in such response do we find truth.
~Madeline L'Engle, writer

Writing Lesson #54:
Learn to love revision. Think of it as polishing the silver for 
guests. - JW, May, 2007
_ __________________ _


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