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GPS Showing Up in the Darndest Places

by Lee Bains on May 27, 2009 at 08:02 PM



As we've noted before, tracking devices powered by GPS are becoming increasingly ubiquitous these days. GPS-equipped phones have recently made headlines for such disparate reasons as aiding police and enabling stalkers. While many of us are a little weirded out by the increasing prevalence of these devices, a recent story in the Telegraph demonstrates that some folks are quite comfortable with the gadgets.

Preparing for her son Harry's backpacking trip to Australia and Thailand, Rachel Wilder made sure that the 19-year-old left their Oxfordshire, England home carrying a tiny GPS tracker. Called Traakit, the device is small enough to fit in Harry's wallet, from whence it will transmit his location to a Web site that his mother, in turn, can access. Even more remarkable than the device's tiny size is the fact that young Harry seems to be just fine with the situation, explaining to the Telegraph, "[If] you were to get kidnapped or driven off into the jungle, people would be able to find you from the signal."

While this whole tracking thing still strikes us as a little creepy, we can certainly appreciate the value of such a device in unfamiliar, potentially dangerous areas. Plus, either way, Harry and his mum seem to have come to an understanding (whether we understand it, or not).

Our primary concern, though, springs from a comment made by the Traakit's inventor (and Harry's uncle) David Clayton at the end of the article: "We have also had several women want to buy one because they think their husband might be cheating and they want to put it in the back of their car and keep tabs on where they are going." Now that's creepy. [From: Telegraph]

GPS Shows Up in the Darndest Places

    Sometimes technology treads into such intimate territory that it freaks us out. Such is the case with GPS technology, which is increasingly finding itself implanted in everything from tennis shoes to USB drives these days, potentially tracking our every move. The eight non-traditional-GPS-gadgets we've compiled range from the useful to the downright creepy -- take a look!

    --Lee Bains

    1. GPS Shoes
    Offered by Quantum Satellite Technology, these tech-rich and style-poor kicks will allow your friends to track your every literal step. If you can justify the $350 price tag, you'll also enjoy the onboard panic button, which can call upon emergency services.

    2. Garmin Astro GPS Dog Tracking System
    Geared towards hunters, this canine-tracking system promises to let "sportsmen spend their time looking for game, rather than ... their dog." Considering this camera-, alarm-, compass- and barometer-equipped device's $440 price tag, maybe avid hunters would just rather get their hands on better trained dogs?

    3. GPS USB Drive
    This sneaky gadget is begging for a lawsuit. You can deposit this innocuous-looking device in the trunk, glove compartment, or even jacket lining of a loved (and distrusted) one, and then retrieve it later on. Just plug it into your computer to find out exactly where that good-for-nothing partner of yours snuck off to. Several companies offer such devices on Amazon.

    4. GPS Shopping Buggy
    Designed, we can only imagine, for senile seniors and munchy-stricken potheads, these buggies, designed by British developers, aim to help the easily distracted navigate the aisles of the grocery store.

    5. Speed Demon
    Designed by a 20-year-old college student, the Speed Demon plugs into a car's cigarette lighter, monitoring a car's speed the whole time. Differentiating between speed limit zones, the device emits a squeal when a driver is speeding, and can send e-mail notifications of such violations (to a watchful parent, for instance). It can be had for $250.

    6. Trutex School Uniform
    The British uniform company Trutex offers this maximum-security scholastic wear as a way to keep tabs on those mischievous kids. Sewing tracking devices into school uniforms, Trutex is well on its way to being the de facto clothier of the impending One World Government.

    7. GPS-Equipped Nativity Scene
    We all knew those kids in high school that took great delight in amassing "baby Jesus" collections around Christmastime. Unfortunately for them, and fortunately for those of us who find that kind of thing dumb at best and sacrilegious at worst, Lightning GPS offers free GPS units to non-profits and churches that wish to safeguard their nativity scenes.

    8. GPS Golf Balls
    It seems that the British have gone GPS-wild. Developers at Geostate have come up with a GPS-enabled microchip that can be planted in golf balls, allowing golfers to figure out exactly where that awful slice wound up. Truth be told, though, we'd probably just rather forget those balls that wind up in the lake.

Tags: gps, gps tracking, GpsTracking, location-based, privacy, top, travel

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