GPS Trackers Find Novel Applications

Pickens writes "Inexpensive GPS devices like the Zoombak (which costs just $200 plus $10 a month) have becomes so prevalent that some people are using them routinely to keep tabs on their most precious possessions. Kathy Besa has a Zoombak attached to the collar of her 5-year-old beagle, Buddy. If Buddy wanders more than 20 feet from the house, she gets a text message on her phone that says, 'Buddy has left the premises.' The small size made possible by chip advances over the last two or three years is enabling many novel uses of GPS tracking. An art collector in New York uses one when he transports million-dollar pieces, a home builder is putting them on expensive appliances to track them if they disappear from construction sites, a drug company is using them after millions of dollars in inventory turned up missing, and a mobile phone company is hiding them in some cellphone boxes to catch thieves."

This has absolutely...

[suparjerk]

... no potential for abuse whatsoever!

Microsoft does the same thing

[katterjohn]

to their employees. If any of them get to close to things like OSCON, Ballmer comes after them with a chair.

Re:Keys?

[Xandar01]

Need one for my mind, I feel like I am loosing that all the time.

What's Wrong?

[Anonymous Coward]

How come there is no first post? I'm confused.

Millions of dollars in inventory turned up missing

[MBGMorden]

Mahalik: She told me that she heard a zombie going through her trash the other day. The next morning, she turned up missing.

C. J.: What? Okay, back up. How in the hell do you "turn up missing"?

Mahalik: 'Cause nobody knows where you are when they realize you ain't there!

C. J.: So you telling me that you can appear and disappear at the same time.

Mahalik: No, man. You can't appear and disappear at the same time. The bitch ain't David Copperfield!

C. J.: Mmm. No, no. But you can't be gone from one place and show up somewhere else entirely. So when you turn up, you're never missing. And when you're missing, you never turn up.

Mahalik: Unless... you a zombie.

C. J.: Damn! Hey, that's some plausible shit right there. You should blog about that.

Mahalik: I'm gonna put that on MySpace.

C. J.: You do that!

Re:Inexpensive?

[TRS80NT]

Yeah, and that's dog dollars. So that's like what, over $800 a year?

Dear Ms. Besa

[Sensi]

For $200 I will sell you a really nice leash. That will stop that pesky beagle from getting away.

W.T.F. ?

[Kartoffel]

It's funny how the Times' editors felt it necessary to punctuate each letter in "G.P.S.". What is this, the Man from U.N.C.L.E.? Maybe some year they'll realize that GPS is regular everyday stuff. You know, like A.T.M. machines and D.V.D. players.

So it works under cars?

[Kupfernigk]

According to the article. I am a little surprised by this, because steel is quite good at blocking RF, and those satellites are up there, not down in the gutter. I am sufficiently nerdish sometimes to check the accuracy of my own GPS, and it can degrade very badly in cities. It's also a fact that the kind of places that get the best GPS reception are often the least good for cell phone reception, and vice versa. The benefits of using it for long distance tracking like stolen paintings are obvious - except that they probably travel in a windowless van - but tracking a beagle to a few metres seems a little unreliable.

Anyway, I read the article to our beagle and asked her opinion. She points out that beagles do not run away, they are called away on urgent tracking business. She feels that any human that hangs out with beagles and wants to attach tracking boxes to them is a distrustful person who possibly lacks the right spiritual qualities. She also reminds me that she can detect a beagle treat coming out of the bag across three fields, and that in any case anyone who has trouble with beagles taking off is simply not taking them for sufficiently long walks. She thinks I should notify the ASPCA before relations completely break down between this unfortunate beagle and its lazy, distrustful owner.

Re:Inexpensive?

[That's Unpossible!]

I feel really terrible about your lost cat, and have a card that may help you.

http://www.someecards.com/upload/flirting/owning_a_cat_lowers.html [someecards.com]

Re:W.T.F. ?

[tomtomtom777]

You know, like A.T.M. machines and D.V.D. players.

A.T.M. machines? What are they? Machines that make Automated Teller Machines or something? Not so regular where I come from...

Re:Inexpensive?

[Blimey85]

Dog has left the premisses.

Dog is traveling north bound on Cedar Street.

Dog crossing st##$#$@@$$%

Dog no longer moving.

Re:GPS bug detector?

[BForrester]

I'm going to take a stab in the dark and say "what is a global positioning satellite?"

I'll take "ridiculously easy questions" for 400, Alex.

Re:Inexpensive?

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm not sure that using GPS to locate the ruined corpse of your beloved pet would really be that satisfying.

Re:Inexpensive?

[bladesjester]

Beagles, incidentally, are notorious (bred, actually) for running off to hunt something down they find interesting, and then expecting you to catch up.

It's even better when you have a dog like the one I grew up with. He was half beagle and half border collie. He'd run off, track and chase down whatever it was he was after and then herd the damn thing(s) until you got there.

It didn't even seem to matter what it was - cows, chickens, my little cousin...

Re:Inexpensive?

[arb phd slp]

I'd bet 90% of the troubles dogs can get into can be prevented by owners paying attention to whats going on.

90% of the troubles that dogs get into can be avoided by the owner having chosen something other than a beagle.

Poor Buddy... bad cell phone messages...

[tjstork]

My GPS Tracker sent me this, about Buddy:

"Buddy has left the preferences"
"Buddy is in the neighbor's trash"
"Buddy is running into the street"
"Buddy is in the same position as a Chevy Suburban"
"Buddy is stopped on the street"
"A google satellite photo is attached with a picture of Buddy"
"Google Adwords has selected "Shovel" as something that you might need with Buddy."

Better yet, MS should attach them to chairs

[kalpol]

"Chair has moved 20 feet outside conference room window"