April 14, 2009 While Orwell’s 1984 suggested that human surveillance and tracking would be an integral part of a dystopian future, the reality looks to be quite different, with people quickly embracing GPS technology and the myriad of uses such technology provides. The last few years has seen a range of tracking devices that use GPS to keep track of everything from products and pets to loved ones. The latest player to enter the field is South Korea electronics company Cuman with its range of tracking devices, which picked up the Editor’s List Award recently at CeBIT 2009.
The model drawing the most attention from Cuman's small range of personal trackers is the CP-100G. Cuman describes the white patch-type tracker as a P2P solution – no, it can’t be used to download pirated movies over Peer to Peer networks. In this case, P2P stands for a person-to-person application. This means it does not require an operation center to report the location of whatever it is being tracked to the user. Using SMS or TCP-IP, the tracker's location can be reported directly to a PDA, PC or mobile phone. Since the software is free and the P2P solution enables the unit to link to a freeware Google map, there is no service charge for using the tracking service. Cuman’s range of devices also includes the CW-100G, which manages to cram a tracking device into a wristwatch – just the sneaky thing to keep track of little Jimmy without him knowing.
The devices run for up to 72 hours on a single charge of their Li-ion battery and include an SOS button that can be programmed to send a location and emergency message to pre-assigned agencies or parents. Additionally, through the use of a customizable "Geo Fence", the devices will send out an alert when the unit goes beyond a pre-set safety zone. The patch-type CP-100G includes USB port and SIMM slot, measures 40 x 30 x 17mm and weighs 26g, while the wristwatch CW-100G measures just 39.5mm in diameter and 17.5mm in height.
Cuman was at CeBIT to attract distributors for their products and judging by the numbers their booth attracted it won’t be long before we see Cuman’s range of tracking devices on store shelves and parents will never have to rely on trust to know where their offspring are again.
Darren Quick
Source: Korea IT Times
