8 Weird GPS Devices
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!
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.
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.
_thumbnail.jpg "Vintage Keyboards")
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Barb said 8:08AM on 6-02-2009
ENOUGH ALREADY!
Reply
militarycases said 10:58AM on 6-02-2009
Shoes great for grand daddy with alzheimers. never know when they just take off for a walk and not return, but I do not think I could get grandma to where these!!!!!!
Reply
Nazonee said 3:14PM on 6-02-2009
I was just thinking that thoses shoes IF they were in children's and yung adult styles would be fantastic! If you had a youngster that was on the brink of being allowed to venture on their own, or a toddler at a public place. You could find them without hysterics if you could track them.
Reply
LonesomeKyPoet said 4:16PM on 6-02-2009
1984 is "HERE!" George Orwell, thank you for planting this lovely idea into people's minds. Now we get to enjoy the modern form of Communism, being controlled, watched, our every move, every purchase, every choice "scrutinized" to the fullest. This makes me want to buy a load of camping gear and live in the woods, live like a hermit! It is sad what the world is turning into, but there surely is a stopping point in all of this, surely "The People" will say, "Enough is enough!"
Reply
Ski said 4:28PM on 6-02-2009
Great for dogs, golf balls, and senile seniors. Everything else is over the top.
The New World Order is beginning to show it's ugly side.
Reply
Norma said 9:11PM on 6-02-2009
Sure wish those shoes were around a few yr.s ago my poor old grandma use to wander off so much we were in fear of her life. Oh well I think the rest of that stuff is JUST way to much.
Reply
IPlatotle said 12:09AM on 6-03-2009
Good time to watch that old Gene Hackman film, 'The Conversation.' I'm a liberal but I see there are conservatives in agreement with me on this one. All of these potential hidden tracking devices are something to beware of. And yet I can see some potential good, too. We all worry, for example, about child abductions. And against them, a hidden GPS device that would emit a tracking signal would be great. I could see hiding one in a car so it could be located, too, if stolen. Even so, the thought that I could have an unknown tracking device in my car or person is discomforting. At that point, all privacy could be lost. But what am I saying? I've got a cellular phone. They always know where I am, anyway. Even my car has a computer onboard that could convict me of murder if I was at fault in a fatal crash. There is no getting away from it. The Brave New World is here.
Reply