FOR those who are forever misplacing stuff like their keys, TV remote, wallet, cats and children, help is at hand in the form of a new invention that could make sure you can always locate these essential items – as long as you can find your phone.
A U.S. tech firm has come up with Bluetooth stickers that can be stuck to your valuables and then detected by a smartphone app to help you find them.
The app doesn’t merely set off a buzzer to help you locate them by ear but includes a radar-like function to help you find your way your valuable possessions.
About the size of a 10p piece, the Stick-N-Find stickers can attach via adhesive to valued possessions, pets or youngsters and send a low-energy Bluetooth signal with a range of about 100ft.
So far the team behind it have developed apps compatible with both iOS and Android devices with a range of features to help users track down their stickered-up possessions when they go missing.
The first function the app offers is a simple radar screen that approximates the distance – but not yet the location – of all the paired Stick-N-Find stickers in range.
Unfortunately the technology does not yet allow the app to determine which direction the lost items are in, so users have to start walking while watching the screen to see whether the device they are hunting for gets closer.
A second feature, which the designers call the Virtual Leash, allows users to set an alarm to sound whenever a sticker moves a predetermined distance from your phone.
This feature could be used to keep track of your children at the playground, for example, or to remind you if you’re getting ready to leave the house for work and forget to pick up your keys.
The feature can even be reversed to help you to remember your phone by, for example, getting the sticker on your keys to buzz should you carry them too far from the gadget.
A third feature called ‘Find It’ helps to locate any items that are out of range by setting an alarm to sound as soon as they appear on the app’s radar, allowing you to begin using it to track down the lost item as soon as you are nearby.
They include buzzers and flashing lights that can be activated remotely to help users track them down and one smartphone can be paired with as many as 20.
The Stick-N-Find location stickers are the brainchild of John Mitts, an engineer at SSI America which is a product development company specialising in small electronics.
“Just like everyone we lose stuff all the time so, we thought, why not design an ultra-small Bluetooth connected sticker you can stick on any device, person or animal so you can easily find them?” the Daily Mail quoted Mitts as saying.
“So we came up with Stick-N-Find. Stick-N-Find is an ultra-small sticker with built in Bluetooth low energy with a range of 100ft, about the size of a U.S. quarter and with a battery life that lasts about a year.
“The Stick-N-Find can be paged producing both sound and light, helping you find things easily, even in the dark.
“You can stick it anywhere, like your TV remote control for instance, so you can always find it when it gets lost.
“You can stick it on your keys, your dog or cat’s collar, and you can even stick it to your kids’ shoes or backpacks so you can easily monitor where they are in a store or on a playground,” he added.
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