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New GPS Shoes Join in Trend to Help Elderly

by Lee Bains on June 16, 2009 at 08:30 AM


GPS-integration, it seems, is the pesto sauce of contemporary gadgetry; don't you remember several years ago when every restaurant with a glossy menu jumped on the pesto-wagon? We wound up with bizarre concoctions like pesto-glazed, blackened chicken fingers, and pesto guacamole served with cinnamon-dusted corn chips. GPS has given birth to just as many weird gadgets as pesto once did foodstuffs (GPS-enabled tennis shoes, anyone?).

According to a Friday report in the AFP, GPS engineering company GTX Corp. and shoe manufacturer Aetrex Worldwide have announced their newest joint venture: GPS-enabled shoes. That's right; there is, or is soon to be, a little bit of competition in the world of satellite-trackable footwear. And we see no problem here. Who's to say whether T.G.I. Friday's or Applebee's pesto-drizzled, ranch-style chicken breast is the better of the two? However, the new Aetrex shoes feature slight innovations here and there. Developers told the AFP that users would be able to program a "geo-fence" around a particular geographical area (the home of a loved one suffering from Alzheimer's or dementia, for instance). Whenever the tennis shoe-wearer crossed that boundary, a Google Maps alert would be sent to a guardian's phone. Whatever the developers' plans may be, the shoes are not due for testing until later in the summer.

While we find a lot of these newly hatched GPS devices to be ridiculous, if not downright creepy (particularly with stories of GPS technology falling into insane hands circulating), we can stand behind such products as GPS shoes. They serve to empower folks that -- for some reason or another -- have lost some sense of autonomy. Soon, thanks to GPS and other micro-technology, slower-moving elderly folks will be able to put on their new clothes, walk to the store in their high-tech shoes, grab hold of a buggy, and do all of their shopping -- their location and health being monitored along the way. With such constant electronic vigilance, older folks might enjoy more independence than they have in years, providing their loved ones with more peace of mind. [From: AFP/News.com.au]


Tags: alzheimers, dementia, elderly, gps, gps shoes, GpsShoes, health, top

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