Gizmodo
Did you know that when dialing 911 from your cellphone, the police can't pinpoint your location exactly? And that if you're dialing from a rural area, it becomes even worse—up to a five-mile radius? That's why this Freedom GPS text message unit is useful.
By programming in five numbers beforehand, you can activate the Freedom unit to send out your exact GPS location by SMS. This way your family members know exactly where you are when you get lost or stranded, which makes their "officer, I had no idea where to look for them, I swear!" excuse not hold up in court.
Product Page [Globalsources via Slashgear via Crunchgear]
Comments
Apparently it can also be glued to the ceiling.
so what does e911 support on cell phones do? i thought that was the whole point of the gps in cell phones that sometimes can't be used by any software on the phone.
emergeny text messaging?
"OMG BBQ KTHNXBAI"
Oh cool, excellent! Now I can park one of these bad boys in the trunk of the Z06, and not have to worry when the 16 year old borrows it to go boozing and racing with his buddies. 'Cause, you know, I COULD be that rich. And stupid.
Didn't we just hear about the 10 yr old heart transplant patient who's Mother had their cell phone turned off while they were at an outdoor concert?
Sprint tracked their location to the event, temporarily shut down the concert so they could make the emergency anouncement...
"Your new heart is waiting..."
Don't try and tell me they can't track you.
How much for one of these items Ron?
Damn...
I though it said "emergency bacon" :-(
Great now I just have to carry this stupid thing around and buy it batteries for years so that I can be prepaired for an emergency that might never happen. Ofcource I could take this thing if I were going somewhere where an emergency could happen, but then it would be out of cell range and would still be completely useless.
If you think you're the sort who might need to call for help when you're out of cellphone range, then please, please, PLEASE consider getting a Personal Locator Beacon:
http://www.equipped.org/cospas-sarsat_overview.htm
http://www.rei.com/online/Search.do?vcat=REI_SEARCH&vcat=R...
These work via Satellite and activating one triggers a full blown Search and Rescue mission, anywhere in the world. They seem expensive until you consider the question of "How much would you pay for one once you're lost/injured/dying in the wilderness without one?"
I have the ACR MicroFix because its the smallest/lightest available with GPS signalling (transmits your GPS coordinates along with the distress beacon, so it gives more information than just using the 406MHz doppler shift calculation from the Sats).
These things have saved dozens of lives since their introduction a few years ago!
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