Isaac Daniel calls the Global Positioning System chip he has embedded into a line of sneakers "peace of mind."
He wishes his eight-year-old son had been wearing them when he got a call from his school in 2002 saying the boy was missing. The worried father hopped a flight to Atlanta from New York, where he had been on business, to find the incident had been a miscommunication and his son was safe.
Days later, the engineer started working on a prototype of Quantum Satellite Technology, a line of US$325 to US$350 adult sneakers that will hit shelves next month. It promises to locate the wearer anywhere in the world with the press of a button. A children's line will be out this summer.
PHOTO: AP
"We call it a second eye watching over you," Daniel said.
It's the latest implementation of satellite-based navigation into everyday life -- technology that can be found in everything from cell phones that help keep kids away from sexual predators to fitness watches that track heart rate and distance. Shoes aren't as easy to lose, unlike phones, watches and bracelets.
The sneakers work when the wearer presses a button on the shoe to activate the GPS. A wireless alert detailing the location is sent to a 24-hour monitoring service that costs an additional US$19.95 a month.
In some emergencies -- such as a lost child or Alzheimer's patient -- a parent, spouse or guardian can call the monitoring service, and operators can activate the GPS remotely and alert authorities if the caller can provide the correct password.
But the shoe is not meant for non-emergencies -- like to find out if a teen is really at the library or a spouse is really on a business trip. If authorities are called and it is not an emergency, the wearer will incur all law enforcement costs, Daniel said.
Once the button is pressed, the shoe will transmit information until the battery runs out.
While other GPS gadgets often yield spotty results, Daniel says his company has spent millions of dollars and nearly two years of research to guarantee the accuracy of the product's chip, which is tucked into the bottom of the shoe.
Experts say GPS accuracy often depends on how many satellites the system can tap into. Daniel's shoe and most GPS devices on the market rely on four.
"The technology is improving regularly. It's to the point where you can get fairly good reflection even in areas with a lot of tree coverage and skyscrapers," said Jessica Myers, a spokeswoman for Garmin International Inc, a leader in GPS technology based in Kansas.
"You still need a pretty clear view of the sky to work effectively," she said.
Daniel, who wears the shoes when he runs every morning, says he tested the shoes on a recent trip to New Jersey.
It tracked him down the Atlantic Coast to the Miami airport and through the city to a specific building.
The company has also put the technology into military boots and is in talks with Colombia and Ecuador, he said.
But retail experts say the shoe might be a tough sale to brand-conscious kids.
"If [parents] can get their kids to wear them, then certainly there is a marketplace. But I think the biggest challenge is overcoming ... the cool marketplace," said Lee Diercks, managing director of New Jersey-based Clear Thinking Group, an advisory firm for retailers.
The GPS sneakers, available in six designs, resemble most other running shoes. The two silver buttons -- one to activate and one to cancel -- are inconspicuous near the shoelaces.
The company is selling 1,000 limited-edition shoes online and already has orders for 750, Daniel said.
Parents who buy the pricey sneakers don't have to worry about their kids outgrowing them fast.
This fall, the company is unveiling a plug-and-wear version that allows wearers to remove the electronics module from their old shoes and plug it into another pair of Daniel's sneakers.
NATIONAL SECURITY THREAT: An official said that Guan Guan’s comments had gone beyond the threshold of free speech, as she advocated for the destruction of the ROC China-born media influencer Guan Guan’s (關關) residency permit has been revoked for repeatedly posting pro-China content that threatens national security, the National Immigration Agency said yesterday. Guan Guan has said many controversial things in her videos posted to Douyin (抖音), including “the red flag will soon be painted all over Taiwan” and “Taiwan is an inseparable part of China,” while expressing hope for expedited “reunification.” The agency received multiple reports alleging that Guan Guan had advocated for armed reunification last year. After investigating, the agency last month issued a notice requiring her to appear and account for her actions. Guan Guan appeared as required,
A strong cold air mass is expected to arrive tonight, bringing a change in weather and a drop in temperature, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The coldest time would be early on Thursday morning, with temperatures in some areas dipping as low as 8°C, it said. Daytime highs yesterday were 22°C to 24°C in northern and eastern Taiwan, and about 25°C to 28°C in the central and southern regions, it said. However, nighttime lows would dip to about 15°C to 16°C in central and northern Taiwan as well as the northeast, and 17°C to 19°C elsewhere, it said. Tropical Storm Nokaen, currently
PAPERS, PLEASE: The gang exploited the high value of the passports, selling them at inflated prices to Chinese buyers, who would treat them as ‘invisibility cloaks’ The Yilan District Court has handed four members of a syndicate prison terms ranging from one year and two months to two years and two months for their involvement in a scheme to purchase Taiwanese passports and resell them abroad at a massive markup. A Chinese human smuggling syndicate purchased Taiwanese passports through local criminal networks, exploiting the passports’ visa-free travel privileges to turn a profit of more than 20 times the original price, the court said. Such criminal organizations enable people to impersonate Taiwanese when entering and exiting Taiwan and other countries, undermining social order and the credibility of the nation’s
‘SALAMI-SLICING’: Beijing’s ‘gray zone’ tactics around the Pratas Islands have been slowly intensifying, with the PLA testing Taiwan’s responses and limits, an expert said The Ministry of National Defense yesterday condemned an intrusion by a Chinese drone into the airspace of the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島) as a serious disruption of regional peace. The ministry said it detected the Chinese surveillance and reconnaissance drone entering the southwestern parts of Taiwan’s air defense identification zone early yesterday, and it approached the Pratas Islands at 5:41am. The ministry said it immediately notified the garrison stationed in the area to enhance aerial surveillance and alert levels, and the drone was detected in the islands’ territorial airspace at 5:44am, maintaining an altitude outside the effective range of air-defense weaponry. Following
RSS