Best GPS trackers for kids
What are the best GPS trackers for kids?
It can be difficult to keep track of your children, and it can also be hard to gauge when it’s appropriate to get them a cell phone or something a bit more mature in order to keep in contact with them.
GPS trackers are fantastic, potentially life-saving tools that help keep track of your little ones, so you won’t have to worry about where they are. Just have them wear their GPS tracker like a watch, and the rest is up to your watchful eyes.
Here are a few great options to check out if you’re looking for the best GPS trackers for your kids!
- KOREX Waterproof Babysitter Smart Watch
- Tinitell
- GBD-GPS Tracker Kids Smartwatch
- LG GizmoPal
- dokiWatch
KOREX Waterproof Babysitter Smartwatch
Waterproof, reliable, and programmed with real-time GPS tracking, the KOREX Waterproof Babysitter Smartwatch is a cost-efficient tracker to consider if you’re looking for a wearable GPS device for your kids.
The KOREX comes with a plethora of features, including smooth two way talking, waterproofing, immediate SOS emergency alert, and a Smart Alarm for homework reminders, waking up in the morning, and more. The smart watch even comes with an Electric Fence feature in which parents will be notified if their children leave a specifically indicated secure area.
By using two tracking methods – GPS+LBS – parents are able to get a more accurate reading on precisely where their child may be. Parents can even use a remote listening option to simply hear where their child is to check up on them without being too intrusive.
The KOREX can be set up with up to 16 contacts, so your child will be able to get in touch with numerous people if something goes wrong, and if you’re worried about a stranger reaching out to your child via the watch, the KOREX can only dial and receive calls from numbers already programmed into the device.
The GPS tracker comes in two different colors: baby pink and powder blue, and will only work with a SIM card that supports 2G Gaud-band.
See at Amazon
Tinitell
Stylish looking with a simple, modern design, the Tinitell GPS tracker is an innovative new smartband that worked effortlessly with an app from your smartphone.
Tinitell isn’t only an interesting-looking, modern device, it’s also an incredibly durable and resilient GPS tracker. Tinitell is designed to take some abuse, including splashing water and dirt (although the device itself isn’t 100% waterproof by any means).
With your smartphone, you can connect and monitor your child with a precise GPS tracker, and you can even call your child using the Tinitell app. The smartband can have up to 12 contacts listed, so they never have to worry about being stranded without anyone to reach out to if they’re in trouble. To make a call, all they have to do is press the front of the band, say the name of the person they’d like to contact, and that’s it!
The Tinitell comes in four different, vibrant colors, including aqua, coral, charcoal, and indigo. You can use a Ting SIM card with your Tinitell for around $12 a month.
See at Tinitell
GBD-GPS Tracker Kids Smartwatch
With all-day tracking, three-way positioning, and even an additional fitness tracker element, the GBD-GPS Tracker Kids Smartwatch aims to make monitoring your children as effortless (and as accurate!) as possible.
Using a micro-SIM card, the GBD-GPS tracker is not only able to make two-way calls, but also immediate SOS emergency calls if your child comes in contact with unexpected danger. While some GPS tracking devices use one or two ways of triangulating your child’s location, the GBD-GPS uses GPS, AGPS, and LBS positioning to paint a more accurate picture of where your child may be.
The GBD tracker allows parents to erect an Electric Fence, giving your child boundaries that will set off an alarm on your smartphone if crossed. If need be, parents can also call their child on their smartwatch for easy two-way talking, and can even use the app to set remote alarms and reminders for their children.
The GBD-GPS comes in three neon colors, including blue, green, and bright pink, so there’s a color option to match almost every child’s favorites.
See at Amazon
LG GizmoPal
Reliable, well-priced, and easy to setup and use, the LG GizmoPal is a popular GPS tracker for kids that won’t break the bank.
The LG GizmoPal is a simple GPS tracker that works in tandem with your smartphone and uses a voice clock that calls out the time rather than have it displayed on a watch face. The device communicates through beeps and sounds and doesn’t have a screen, meaning it’s more of a simple accessory than a traditional watch.
Parents are able to call their children, set reminders, and monitor where their child is throughout the day using the GizmoPal’s compatible app. Parents are even able to set up their own Electric Fences which will set off an alarm if its boundaries are broken at any time.
Unfortunately, the GizmoPal only comes in one design and can only store up to four contacts. It comes in a powdered and royal blue design with a cartoon car and truck pattern all over the front of the GPS tracker.
See at Amazon
dokiWatch
Though the dokiWatch is designed for children 6 to 12, its sleek and modern looking design, high-quality, reliability, and wide range of color options make it a stylish (and incredibly practical) GPS tracker for people of all ages.
The dokiWatch claims that it’s the world’s most advanced 3G smartwatch for kids, and there’s a lot to support that statement. The dokiWatch combines precise GPS, GSM, and Wi-Fi tracking technology with video call capabilities, voice calling, one-way text messages, fitness tracking, and so much more.
The smartwatch automatically uploads location data directly to your smartphone, meaning you’ll never have to guess where your child is. Video and voice calling is almost instantaneous, while parents can remotely schedule their child’s appointments and reminders from the dokiWatch’s compatible app.
With the dokiWatch, children can send out SOS alerts if they’re in immediate danger to their preset contacts, including their location and a recording of their surroundings. Parents can even enable Class Mode which will remove the distraction of the device while their child is in class by deactivating it at specific times.
See at Doki
What’s your favorite?
Is there a GPS tracker you’ve been using that you’re extremely happy with? Please let us know which model is your favorite in the comments and we’ll be sure to check it out!
Sonos opens its platform to Spotify Connect and Amazon’s Alexa
Your Sonos hardware is about to become a lot more useful.
Sonos has announced that the company will be opening up to Spotify Connect beginning in October, allowing you to control your music from within the Spotify app. This is a huge change from the way that Sonos has operated to date by pushing all music management through its own controller app. Using the Spotify app on both mobile and desktop, you’ll soon be able to select the songs you want to play, the speakers you want to play them through, without having to bounce between various apps.
You and your guests will now be able to open the Spotify app and change the music instead of having to download the Sonos controller.
Sonos says that more than 50% of its users are also using Spotify with Sonos hardware. With people having friends over and entertaining using their Sonos speakers, guests will now be able to open their Spotify app and change the music instead of having to download the Sonos controller and set it up. As part of these changes, a future update will allow you to no longer need to be on the same wireless network as your speakers to control it. You’ll be able to control what is playing, and how loud it plays, from a cellular connection as well.
In addition to opening Spotify Connect, Sonos has announced that its speakers will work with Amazon’s Alexa in 2017, allowing you to complete various tasks using just your voice. Alexa will be able to play the songs you want to hear on specific Sonos speakers in your setup, and if you hear something you aren’t familiar with you can ask Alexa what the song is. The integration is set to arrive in private beta later this year, and hit all users sometime in the new year. You will need to have an Amazon Echo, Tap or Dot in order to gain the Alexa functionality.
More: Sonos speakers buyers guide
With Sonos moving from a closed platform that required you to use its app to control your music, it makes it even more appealing to the masses. Competition to the platform and hardware has been moving in over the past few years, and with options like Google Cast (Chromecast) giving you the ease of managing your music from existing apps with a cheap hardware addition, Sonos needed to make some changes. Sonos will also join the Open Music Initiative, which could indicate that the company has plans to open the platform even further.
If you haven’t already started your Sonos system, now may be the time. Sonos offers small speakers, larger speakers, sound bars and subwoofers for all of your household musical needs.
Do these announcements excite you? Let us know what you think in the comments!
The end of Nexus: This year’s Google phones to forge new path
The ‘Nexus’ brand is going away, but the biggest deal here is the large change in software experience that will accompany the new branding.
This year’s Google-branded Android phones will not use the “Nexus” name, Android Central understands, indicating a hard break from the past six years of flagship devices for the company. The widely expected HTC-built handsets — referred to as “Nexus” phones in recent online leaks — will instead come to market under a different brand name, according to several people familiar with Google’s plans.
The move would seem to draw a line under the long-running Nexus series, which began with the HTC-made Nexus One back in December 2009 and continued to the Nexus 6P and 5X in 2015. Throughout the life of the Nexus program, Google has partnered with the likes of Samsung, LG, HTC and Huawei to sell both phones and tablets showcasing its latest software. By contrast, these new phones are expected to put the “Google” brand front and center, eschewing the HTC name altogether. We have no specific info on which name will be used instead of Nexus, however.
AC understands that this year’s Google phones will feature additional software and a tweaked interface atop “vanilla” Android. This will notably differentiate the new models in terms of software experience from previous years’ Nexus phones, which featured a relatively barebones Android experience — and this goes hand-in-hand with the decision to not use the “Nexus” name for the phones. And as we look back at the progression of Nexus phones, this was inevitable — Google has kept adding closed-source apps, services and features to the Nexus line, moving away from the initial idea of what “Nexus” really meant starting as early as the Nexus S 4G.
These revelations are broadly in line with what’s been shown in recent leaks from Evan Blass and Android Police, which have published images of a new button layout, color scheme and Settings app that are far removed from what we see on Nougat on the Nexus 6P and 5X today.
The biggest shift in Google Android phones in the past half-decade
While we don’t know for certain that “Nexus” is completely dead, the fact that these phones are expected to release in the fall window traditionally occupied by Nexus devices strongly suggests that Google’s strategy for its own Android handsets has undergone a significant shift — not just in name but in software and experience. And it would also fit with remarks from Google CEO Sundar Pichai at the Code Conference back in June, indicating that the company would become become “more opinionated about the design of the phones.”
As for Google’s plans beyond smartphones, we haven’t heard anything about any Google-branded Android tablet plans, though one source was able to corroborate AP’s report that Google will release two own-branded Android Wear smartwatches later this year.
As we approach fall and the first Android Nougat maintenance release, it’s likely we’ll witness the biggest change in Google Android phones in the past half-decade. How it plays out could change our perception of Google’s entire hardware strategy.
Apple made wireless headphones called ‘AirPods’ for iPhone 7
Something quite unexpected might be announced alongside the next iPhone models on 7 September.
While everyone is focused on built-in hardware features for the so-called iPhone 7, Russian regulatory trademark filings spotted by mobiltelefon.ru seem to confirm that Apple is readying standalone hardware for its upcoming phones. The filings, which were published by the Eurasian Economic Commission on 29 August, refer to wireless headphones called AirPods.
This has been a long-rumored brand name for Apple’s wireless headphones for iPhone 7. The next iPhone is thought to ditch the 3.5mm headphone jack, leaving customers with either the Lightning connector or Bluetooth technology for connecting audio devices like headphones. These AirPod headphones are likely a first-party accessory, as there is no indication they’re a Beats product.
It’s also unclear if Apple will bundle them with the iPhone 7 or sell them optionally. Other reports have claimed Apple made a Lighting version of its existing EarPods, and if that’s true, maybe we’ll see those bundled instead. Either way, we’ll know for sure soon.
Check out Pocket-lint’s round-up to see what else Apple might unveil.
‘Gran Turismo Sport’ delayed to sometime in 2017
Polyphony Digital has a reputation for taking its sweet time to bring Gran Turismo games to Sony consoles, and Gran Turismo Sport won’t be an exception to the rule. The studio has delayed its first PS4 racing game to sometime in 2017 after having previously committed to a November 2016 launch. Why the sudden change of plans? Polyphony chief Kazunori Yamauchi says his team doesn’t want to “compromise the experience in any way” — as is frequently the case, the company would rather be late than sully its obsessive vision. That’s wise given the history of rushed driving game launches (case in point: Driveclub), but it’s unfortunate for PS4 owners who’ve been waiting for what’s likely to be their console’s definitive racing title.
Source: PlayStation Blog
Devs can now publish Windows apps straight to Xbox One
Microsoft is getting its proverbial development ducks in a row, with the addition of new capabilities to its Dev Center that should make multi-platform publishing a whole lot more straightforward, as well as provide more feedback to developers.
Microsoft’s been working towards this point for some time — it announced the plan in January last year and even before that had selectively been porting Windows apps to the console — but this is the first time devs have been able to offer apps built using the Anniversary Update SDK directly to Xbox One owners.
The Dev Center Dashboard has also been overhauled, meaning it should be quicker and easier to edit apps, as well as bringing notifications and personalized suggestions.
Ultimately, there are a whole load of new options aimed at giving developers more control over their apps and games across Windows and Xbox devices. These include the ability to only push an update to a small percentage of users or to make updating mandatory, which would be handy if, for example, a developer discovers a serious bug.
If you want to start making cross-platform games that’ll end up on the Xbox One, don’t forget that you’ll need concept approval too. We wouldn’t want you wasting all that effort.
Source: Windows Blog
My favorite games to read
I’ve been reading a really great story recently. By which I mean I have been playing a really great video game. Specifically, I’ve been playing adventure game Kentucky Route Zero, now on its fourth episode (of five). Despite being a video game, it is also one of the best magical-realist stories I’ve read in years. Kentucky Route Zero’s existence is a testament to the steadily improving quality of prose writing in video games.
It certainly wasn’t always this way. For decades, with the exception of the text-adventure genre, writing in games was merely functional: It was for labels, instruction or only the faintest of character-building. It was riddled with typos, infamous translation errors and unclear meaning. This was just fine, because the stories that video games were trying to tell — when they were even trying to tell one — were usually very simple. “Text-adventure” games by companies like Infocom told intriguing and clever stories — but these were very much in the Dungeons & Dragons vein, and catered to niche audiences. But as mainstream video games entered more cinematic territory in the ’90s, they embraced storytelling and narrative like never before. To do this, developers generally adopted two techniques: cutscenes (pre-rendered cinematics) and lore-dump text files. These text files — which described character, backstory, settings, props, weapons, etc. — were often found in the margins of the pause menu, in a file called the journal, the codex or something in this vein.
In role-playing games, these “journals” evolved into actual digital books that piled up in your inventory (perhaps you are familiar with playing Skyrim and having a Deathlord about to smash you in the face when you pause the game, freeze time and whip out a book about the reign of Uriel Septim and start reading). Because they were now putting lore in things that looked like books, video-game developers felt compelled to try their hand at writing. The results were, er, hit and miss. Skyrim books are full of purple prose, derivative stories, and tons of telling at the expense of showing. On the other hand, the books in The Witcher 3 inventory are wittier and full of character (perhaps because they were rooted in honest-to-God literature; The Witcher is itself an adaptation of a long-running novel series).
But games like Kentucky Route Zero have taken a different tack, completely embracing story, making it the core subject of the game. The story in these games has sometimes displaced traditional gameplay mechanics (often, there is no way at all to “win”). In doing so, they have created hybrid works of fiction that depend upon the quality of their written word, while most games would rely on the quality of their bullet physics. They have blurred the line between interactive fiction and the kind of respectable novels your English teacher would assign.
The central narrative in Kentucky Route Zero is about deliveryman Conway’s journey down the mythical “Zero” highway to deliver a package. However, it’s not really about him. Like Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s 100 Years of Solitude, the meat of the experience lies much more in the exploration of the ensemble cast that accompanies Conway, and its complex web of relationships, desires, and regrets. The primary gameplay mechanic revolves around selecting people to speak with, and then making dialogue choices to shape a conversation. The writing in these conversations is crisp and compact, bursting with Southern-fried flavor straight out of a Flannery O’Conner short story.
The characters, though they are animated with blank faces, strike vivid, fully realized figures thanks to their dialogue. You can subtly shape who they become through your choices, but the options you don’t choose can also reveal something about these mysterious, troubled people as well. Instead of a descriptive paragraph of prose, the background art in the game paints mysterious images that still allow the player’s imagination to fill in the blanks. Playing Kentucky Route Zero is like interacting with a deconstructed and digitized novel: You have to assemble the setting, the characters, and the story yourself at your own pace, but what you create is a rewardingly intimate and layered narrative about the human experience.
Eighty Days for iOS tilts even further into interactive-fiction territory. The game is a retelling of Jules Verne’s Around the World in 80 Days. The experience consists of actual gameplay mechanics: You plan a route around the world on a map, and you stop in at markets to buy and sell your goods in order to fund your trip. But the game’s real genius lies in the deftly written prose and the subtle relationship development between player-character, Passepartout, and his employer and adventurer, Phileas Fogg. Sure, it’s about the journey around the world, but it’s just as much about crafting the dynamic between these two characters. And though it has startling power as a narrative (it was Time magazine’s “Game of the Year,” while The Telegraph lauded it as one of the best “novels of the year”), 80 Days remains very much a traditional game with a clear objective and win state.
But some works blur the line between game and story even further; for example, The Silent History. This iOS app is actually classified as an “e-book,” despite several highly gamified elements. The story is set in a world where new children have been born without the ability to comprehend language, and the main narrative is a serialized, thought-provoking story of parenting that delivers on a high-minded literary pursuit: the exploration of how language shapes our world. And yet it’s also iPhone app for which, like Pokemon Go, you need to physically hunt down and download geolocated side stories that flesh out the world. This design choice makes the fiction feel more realized, but it also makes the book feel a lot like a video game.
There has also been a resurgence of text-adventure games of late in the classic Infocom style. Plenty of young writers and developers in the Interactive Fiction Database and on other small indie-game platforms like itch.io, are creating compelling, heartfelt and funny stories using Twine, open-source writing software tailored for interactive fiction.
It’s clear that great prose is no longer confined to the page — it has found a welcoming new home in the medium of games, and this should come as no surprise. It’s always been the mission of great literature to transport the reader to a fantastic new land. So too has it been for great video games. It was only a matter of time till the twain did meet.
SpaceX to launch SES satellite on a reused Falcon 9 rocket
Satellite operator SES will be the first company to launch a spacecraft on a ‘second-hand’ SpaceX rocket. The Falcon 9 which travelled to the ISS in April, before landing on a drone ship in open water, will be called upon for the new flight later this year. Blast-off is scheduled for the fourth quarter of 2016 and will be used to send an SES-10 satellite into a geostationary orbit over Latin America. Here, it’ll deliver “direct-to-home broadcasting, enterprise and mobility services” to people back on the surface.
“Having been the first commercial satellite operator to launch with SpaceX back in 2013, we are excited to once again be the first customer to launch on SpaceX’s first ever mission using a flight-proven rocket,” Martin Halliwell, chief technology officer for SES said. “We believe space rockets will open up a new era of spaceflight.” The job is hugely significant for SpaceX. The company, run by Tesla founder and CEO Elon Musk, is driven by the idea that spaceflight can be done better, and for less. Part of its master plan is a reliably reusable rocket — one that can land safely and protect its internals, minimizing repairs and delivering cost savings.
SpaceX has landed six rockets successfully — others, well, not so much. Back in April, Musk suggested that a Falcon 9 rocket could be ready for a second launch by May or June. Obviously, that didn’t happen (to be fair, it was an ambitious timeline). However, in the future the company hopes to turn around each rocket in a few weeks. For now, it’s presumably focused on ensuring the rocket will go back up with zero problems. “Relaunching a rocket that has already delivered spacecraft to orbit is an important milestone on the path to complete and rapid reusability,” Gwynne Shotwell, president and chief operating officer for SpaceX stressed.
Source: SES, BBC
PlayStation Now is available on your PC
Sony was vague about when PlayStation Now would reach PCs, but apparently you didn’t have to wait long at all — it’s available today. If you have a sufficiently beefy Windows PC (a 3.5GHz Core i3 or better), you can stream PS3 games to your computer that include recent additions like Tomb Raider: GOTY Edition or Heavy Rain. You’ll still need a fairly pricey subscription. You’ll ideally want a DualShock 4 controller (either wired or through the $25 wireless adapter due in September) to play as well, although it’s not strictly necessary — an Xbox 360 gamepad is fine if you don’t need Sixaxis support, for instance. As it is, Sony is sweetening the pot through a promo that gives you a year of PS Now for $100. That’s inexpensive enough that it could be worth a shot, especially if you’ve never owned a PlayStation and want to see what the fuss is about.
Source: PlayStation Blog
The new Google+ is coming for all users soon
The new Google+ is slowly being rolled out to additional users over the next few days, according to Danielle Buckley, Project Manager at Google. Finally, anyone who wasn’t able to take a look at the new features back when the preview was introduced last November will get a chance to sift through the changes.
Additional features are coming to the network, like the ability to add photos or links to comments, a new notification center where you can check out your recent activity on Google+ and approved posting options for Community owners and moderators.
In the coming days, regular Google+ pages will be upgraded with the new additions upon sign-in with the ability to swap back to the old version for right now. The changes will be available across PC, Android and iOS.
Google will also be making Collections and Communities available to more organizations in the future, with Google Apps users who utilize Google+ seeing the changes today.
Source: Danielle Buckley
