Despite
my misgivings about smartphones and their propensity to track you, I do like
GPS Technology in general.
The
main reason why I dislike GPS in smartphone is the possibility that thieves can
use LBS built into Apps to track your whereabouts with harmful consequences as
noted in my blog
article entitled “The
Reason why I don't like Smartphones - Location Privacy and How to disable
Location Services on Android and iOS”.
Especially
when used by Law Enforcement to catch people or just stopping Feral Cats and
Dogs from killing off all the wildlife as noted in my blog article
entitled “Your
Wild Life Cat Tracker Project - How the Jamaica Cat and Dog Migration Project
would reduce impact on Birds and other Fauna”.
But
finding most items is my favorite usage of GPS and the upcoming TrackR
Bravo Tag fits the bill as described in the article “TrackR
bravo is a coin-sized tracking device that makes you look forward to losing
things”, published June 15, 2014 By Jason Hahn, DigitalTrends.
Phone Halo – Serial
Crowd funding company that Got off the Beach and jumpstarted Personal Tracking
The
US$29 TrackR
Bravo is the latest in a line of GPS Tracking products similar to the Nokia
Treasure Tag that make finding small lost items you've tagged a snap as
described in my blog
article entitled “Nokia
Treasure Tag to launch in April 2014 - Pirates on the Caribbean on Stranger
Tides will find locating lost keys that much easier”.
Measuring
some 3.5 mm thick and 34 mm in diameter, it's about the size of a British Pence
and just as thin, the US$29 TrackR
Bravo comes in the following four (4) colours:
1.
Black
2.
Rose Gold
3.
Steel
4.
Sky
It's
the result of an Indiegogo crowd funding campaign by the company Phone Halo for
the TrackR
Bravo started on Monday, June 9th 2014 to raise some US$20,000
by Thursday July 24th 2014. The campaign surpassed that goal and as
of Wednesday November 12th 2014 stands at US$1,401,325.
Apparently
their Indiegogo campaign may still collecting funds for people interested in
getting in on the action as production is on the horizon in December 2014 with
delivery slated for Wednesday January 7th, 2015 for those intrepid
Indiegogo Backers.
This
isn't by any means their first product.
Launched
back in 2009, Santa Barbara, California based Phone Halo, led by founders Chris Herbert
and Christian Smith, graduate (finally!) of the University of Santa Barbara
after Chris Herbert’s Car Keys got swallowed by the beach sand. After shaking
the sand off their feet and brainstorming a bit, they’ve managed to
successfully crowdfund a total of five (5) tracking product namely:
1. Cobra
Tag
2. inSite
3. StickR
TrackR
4. Wallet
TrackR
Their
most memorable being the 3 Credit Card thin Wallet TrackR that was crowdfunded
in 2012 as reported in “Hands-On
With The WalletTrackR, The Gadget That Keeps Tabs On Your Most Valuable Stuff
For You”, published Nov 14, 2012 by Colleen Taylor, TechCrunch and “Ultrathin
Wallet Trackr monitors your billfold without the bulge”, published November
15, 2012 5:55 PM PST by Antuan Goodwin, CNET News.
TrackR Bravo - Phone
Halo best Crowdfunding with Trackr Crowd GPS Network to find really Lost Items
Despite
the diminutive size of their latest device, the TrackR
Bravo, the battery inside of this little tracker lasts for a full year of
operation using a CR1616 coin cell. Working with Apple iPhones as well as
Google Android smartphones, not only can you use the TrackR
Bravo to locate your items, but the TrackR
Bravo itself can also be used to locate your smartphone.
Press
the button on the TrackR
Bravo if your smartphone gets lost in your room and it'll sound a
Notification tone to help you find it that much easier. Unlike the Nokia
Treasure Tag, not only does it work with any smartphone to keep track of your
tagged items, it also tracks items even when they're not within the 100m range
of your smartphone's Bluetooth Sensors.
Once
someone else who has the TrackR
Bravo app installed on their smartphone comes within 100m of the lost item,
its location is noted and sent via the Internet to a Central TrackR Server then
relayed to your smartphone, effectively Trackr's Crowd GPS Network. To build up
the reach of their Crowd GPS Network
TrackR
is currently giving away US$200,000 worth of their TrackR StickR as explained
in the article “TrackR,
The Coin-Shaped Dongles That Help You Locate Lost Items, Now Talk To Each Other”
published Mar 10, 2014 by Sarah Perez, Techcrunch
, in order to encourage more people to install the TrackR App.
Trackr's Crowd GPS
Network - US$200,000 Free StickR TrackR to get the ball rolling right
The
US$25 StickR TrackR was another previous product that was launched earlier in
January 2014 at CES (Computer Electronics Show) that tracks anything that it
can be attached or stuck to as explained in the article “Easily
attachable StickR TrackR locates and tracks devices”, published January 5,
2014 10:27 PM PST by Xiomara Blanco, CNET News.
It's
also the smallest when compared to other Personal GPS Trackers such as Protag's
Duet and
Tile's
Tile as explained in the article “Finding
the Best Lost-Item Trackers: Tile, TrackR and Duet Reviewed” published June
17, 2014 7:16 p.m. ET by JOANNA STERN, The
Wall Street Journal.
By
their reckoning, the US$20 Tile, another product that also has a
well-established GPS Tracking Network of smartphones, was the best, with low
marks being given to the StickR TrackR for its low cost and sporadic Bluetooth
connectivity. But it's early days yet and TrackR has decided to put a Bravo
product forward and grow their Trackr's Crowd GPS Network, as their fans love
the product enough to Track it to life.
Personally
I’m still waiting on a Personal GPS Tracker that works independently of the
smartphone and STILL has 1 year batter life. Something which I think
smartwatches may eventually achieve being as Fitness Trackers such as the
US$199 Microsoft Band has its own GPS built in as noted in my blog article
entitled “US$199
Microsoft Band - Fitness Tracker with Microsoft Health Apps and Windows Phone
Executive Perks with Cortana Voice Commands”.
When
that product gets made, you can bet it's be the most crowdfunded Personal
Tracker on the Planet Earth, as even NSA and CIA spies will pitch in to fund
its development.
Here’s
the link:
@TheTrackR
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