AT&T announced the availability of an RFID and GPS based resource management system for K-12 education institutions. This system will allow schools to track assets, both alive and inanimate. The idea is that every object that the school wants to track will have an RFID tag, be it book, computer, school bus, or child. The RFID tags would most likely be on an ID card that the child carries with them at all times. The school will be able to determine if they are in class, off the property, or riding the bus, as long as they are with their ID card. It definitely makes sense for a school to track all their equipment, like computers and tvs, but keeping tabs on children in this method seems way too “big brother”-ish. Shouldn’t the teachers, bus drivers, and school employees be keeping a watchful eye instead?

Some of the capabilities of the AT&T tracking system include:

— Asset tracking. Minimize theft of high-value equipment and assets, including computers, projectors, laptop carts and lab equipment. Also, because many of these assets are mobile, locating them can be difficult in a large school building. Active RFID allows the teachers and staff to easily locate these assets, saving time and optimizing inventory.
– Daily attendance tracking. Automate the tracking of average daily attendance, as well as notify administrators when students are not in school by importing information in the student-information databases.
– School-visitor tracking. Monitor the location of visitors and even alert school administrators when visitors enter unauthorized areas.
– Disaster response. Provide the location of school staff in the event of a man-made or natural emergency or disaster situation.

Source: CNN
Image: Flickr

A Seattle based startup named Pelago is has filed a patent for ‘Pay-For-Visit Advertising’. What is it? The system would use Bluetooth, GPS, Bluetooth, and/or RFID on mobile devices to track people’s visits to shops, restaurants, etc., which appeared in ads shown to you on your device. Phone calls could also be tracked to see if you dial an advertiser’s number, and bank tracking to see if you made a purchase. I have a feeling this just isn’t going to sit to well with some people. Pelago has just raised $7.4M from Jeff Bezos and other investors.

The Discovery Channel has launched a pretty cool new web-based game called Sharkrunners. The game lets you interact with real-life sharks being tracked with GPS so you can get a feel of what it’s like to be a shark-tracking marine biologist. The game is constant and continues even when you are logged out of the system. But you can also choose to be alerted of a shark encounter via SMS or email. The point of the game is to collect as much shark data as possible, along with getting funding upgrading your boat, and gaining crew members.

A Korean has unveiled the Black Eagle a.k.a. MD3000, a GPS unit with integrated “black box” for cars, similar to the ones used in aircraft. This isn’t the first black box for cars (see Eclipse), but it’s the first to be integrated with a GPS unit.
The unit’s camera records video of an accident for 18 seconds - 12 seconds before the accident and 6 seconds after. How does it know to record 12 second before an accident? Well, it’s not psychic (sorry), but it starts recording each time you reach a negative 1.1G acceleration in the vehicle. More pics [Navigadget]

HumanWare has created a GPS device designed specially for the visually impaired. The Trekker can be retrofitted in different way, like on the Dall Axim in the photo shown above. It allows users to record both vocal and written notes while giving information in the “most natural way possible”. Also, you can enter text in Grade 2 Braille, or use an external Bluetooth QWERTY or Braille keyboard. While this seems to be a great idea, HumanWare says “It complements existing aids (white canes and guide dogs). It does not replace them.”

More [Navigadget]

Swansea and Glasgow universities have received funding to create a GPS device that steers users using audio hints. The system could convey messages using alterations in the audio, lowering to volume of the left or right channel to steer the user in a certain direction. The prototype was developed by Dr Matt Jones, senior lecturer at Swansea University’s computer science department.

Normally, when we listen to music through headphones, we do so to shut the world out. This system allows the world to seep in when users let it. We are particularly interested in redefining how people interact with computers, and how we can make computers more actively responsive to their needs. So we’re looking at how we can use the music people are listening to in order to prompt them to take notice of things that might be of interest to them. For instance, if your handheld device knows that the user likes art galleries, it can give a ‘nudge’ when they’re in the vicinity of a gallery.

This kind of technology is clearly the way forward, to remove as much of the interaction between man and machine as possible. Technology will become increasingly sophisticated, but also increasingly transparent to the user. Devices should aim to be ubiquitous, and to provide information whilst invading the users attention as little as possible. Link

This is one of the slickest PMPs I’ve seen lately, and especially cool since it incorporates GPS. It’s only 1-inch thick and features a 7-inch 480 x 234 LCD, great for watching DMB TV and all the supported formats like MPEG-4, DivX, WMV video and listening to MP3, WMA, and WAV audio. According to Engadget, “It’ll cost you â‚©440,000 (about $483) for the pleasure starting next month.”
Read [Aving.net/kr]

Paroos of Korea has unveiled a new device, the G-100 GPS system targeted at athletes for training. A neat gadget, it alerts you when you start moving under your usual minimum speed. With 512MB of flash memory onboard, it keeps your performance statistics and doubles as an MP3 player and FM radio.

More info on this PDF, Paroos via NaviGadget

This is South Korea’s Celrun FDN-2700 featuring a DMB receiver, TPEG traffic info receiver, video/audio player, and GPS. It runs on a Samsung S3 C2440 400MHz processor, takes SD, and does USB. NO word on availability in North America or pricing.

Aving (more images0 via NaviGadget

Say hello to the P-Trac 200 tracking device, supporting GPS and Assisted GPS (A-GPS). This little guy’s battery can last up to 7 days without charging. Pay an extra $100 and get the extended battery that goes for 21 days without needing a charge.”

According to NaviGadget, “You can have multi user access to one tracking device and set multiple geo fences set by street address or lat-long and radius. You can have automatic alerts sent to you either by e-mail or SMS. Or you can have “locations on demand” from your PC. Google Earth compatibility is also built-in so you can overlay satellite images and your tracking route.” Pricing is a bit steep, hardware will cost you $800, $70 for activation, and service charges from $30 to $80 per month.