Wherify Wireless, Inc. today announced that Toys “R” Us has included the Wherifone GPS locator phone on its “Hot Toy” list for the 2006 holiday season. The Toys “R” Us list features new toys and kids products destined to be on children’s wish lists this year. The Wherifone is a two-way cell phone with built-in Aided-GPS location and “managed dial” features that give on-the-go parents the peace of mind of being able to quickly locate and communicate with their young children, while also controlling who they can call and how much it will cost. The Wherifone is available at all Toys “R” Us stores nationwide and at www.toysrus.com.
“Toys “R” Us is in the toy business 365 days a year, and our team worked hard to identify products for the “Hot Toy” list that will leave kids speechless when they open their gifts,” said Ron Boire, President, Toys “R” Us, U.S. “The Wherifone is a great addition to our “Hot Toy” line-up given its unique value as a communications and safety tool for families with young children that packages kid-safe technology into a stylish, functional mobile phone that appeals both to parents and children.”
Designed with pre-teens in mind, the Wherifone comes in a variety of trendy colors and features five pre-programmable buttons that let kids stay in touch with close family and friends or summon help with one-touch dialing. Additionally, the Wherifone’s Aided GPS location technology lets parents, caregivers and safety officials quickly locate a child in need of help, bringing peace-of-mind and added safety to the mobile family.
(more…)
Technorati Tags: Wherify Wireless, Wherifone GPS locator, Toys “R” Us
Written by GPS Tracking Guy on October 12th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on GPS Child Tracking and GPS Cell Phone News.
Research into the financial impact of laptop computer theft has suggested that the loss of just one laptop computer can cost as much as $90,000, or even more. Robert Siciliano, a personal security and identity theft expert, said the findings, available since 2002, further illustrated the gravity of last week’s theft of a major corporation’s laptop computer, and the utility of the alternative: GPS tracking technology.
“Organizations faced with lost data often incur financial costs related to fines, credit monitoring for victims, public relations damage control, and class action litigation,” said Siciliano, president of IDTheftSecurity.com. “Companies are only hurting themselves when they ignore the logical alternative to these costs: safeguarding laptops by equipping them with affordable GPS tracking technology.”
(more…)
Technorati Tags: personal security, identity theft, GPS tracking
Written by GPS Tracking Guy on October 12th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on GPS Security Tags.
Teradata Data Warehouse to Support Full Commercial Launch of “Pay As You Drive” Motoring Insurance Offering based on GPS.
Teradata announced that its active data warehouse will support the full launch of Norwich Union’s “Pay As You Drive” insurance service into the United Kingdom market later this year.
The only insurer in the United Kingdom to offer a usage-based auto insurance policy, Norwich Union has been testing “Pay As You Drive” insurance since 2004, when a pilot of 5,000 motorists was launched.
Using driving data from the pilot, the United Kingdom’s largest insurer has developed “Pay As You Drive” insurance, the first policy to help motorists control the cost of their insurance by making informed choices about when, where and how often they use their car. Pricing for “Pay As You Drive” insurance begins from as little as a penny per mile.
In-car GPS devices allow Norwich Union to build the insurance policy around each individual motorist. Customers will receive monthly bills based on car usage, including time of day, type of road, and mileage - another first in motor insurance. Bills will look similar to mobile phone bills, with the premiums for each trip calculated and totaled. This transparent approach to auto insurance will help customers control their insurance costs in a way that’s not been possible before now.
The Teradata warehouse will provide a scalable, high-performance and highly available data warehouse for collecting, correlating and analyzing this data. The analytical power and scalability of the Teradata data warehouse will enable Norwich Union to continue rating and managing a much larger set of customer trips on a daily basis, while better managing the associated risk. It will also be able to take advantage of this increase in information by combining with other data, such as traffic information, to customize the product to meet the needs of different customer segments.
In just two years, the 5,000 drivers in the pilot have recorded data on nearly 100 million miles from over 10 million trips. With the full launch, Norwich Union expects data collection rates will increase more than fifteenfold in the first year, with the Teradata system capable of scaling to significant levels. Each day, every trip made by each customer will be analyzed in the Teradata warehouse and the intelligence passed on to the billing system to produce individualized customer premiums.
After an in-depth analysis and evaluation, Norwich Union selected the Teradata active data warehouse as the foundation for its ongoing needs. The data warehouse will be a critical, operational component of the service, and the insurer needed to move its operations to a data warehouse that could support continued increases in data volumes, without comprising performance or increasing total cost of ownership.
“By using new developments in GPS and data warehousing to charge customers for actual usage and risk, ‘Pay As You Drive’ insurance is a great example of how technology can bring unexpected benefits to customers. The data warehouse is a critical component in the smooth running of the service.
“Teradata convinced us that they had both the experience and capability to deliver a front-line data warehouse to underpin the service. Given that ‘Pay As You Drive’ is likely to be extremely popular, we were looking for a supplier who could offer scalability as ‘Pay As You Drive’ insurance gained in momentum,” said Alex Robinson, chief information officer, Norwich Union.
Working in tandem with Norwich Union, Teradata Professional Services provided the design and helped to implement the data warehouse and the disaster recovery solution. The data warehouse will be supported by a duplicate disaster recovery system that completely mirrors the main system. Teradata Customer Services will support the provision of the backup, archive and recovery services, and business critical support. In total, the data warehouse will be capable of utilizing nearly 100 terabytes of data storage.
“The Norwich Union project is a great example of how data warehouses are increasingly being used to deliver operational applications as well as decision support. With this approach, Norwich Union has been able to bring a revolutionary new product to market,” said Herman Wimmer, area vice president for Teradata in Europe, Middle East and Africa. “We are proud that Norwich Union has recognized the unique capabilities of the Teradata warehouse to support the type of workloads driven by this innovative project. This agreement underscores the value of Teradata as a world-class provider of data warehousing solutions.”
From ABI Research
Written by GPS Tracking Guy on October 12th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on GPS Vehicle Tracking and General News.
MicroTRAKgps, a subsidiary of The Tracking Corporation today disclosed that its auto recovery system has successfully completed qualification testing in preparation for orders from an international automotive manufacturer. MicroTRAKgps has undergone a two month process of testing that required a battery of rigorous conditions. These extensive tests of the MicroTRAKgps’ auto theft recovery device were conducted by independent laboratories and included Functional Testing of the GPS capabilities, inside and outside Visual Inspection, Mechanical Requirements, Resistance to Temperature Cycling, Resistance to Vibration, Resistance to Mechanical Shock, Damp Heat Tests and High Temperature Operations to name a few.
Because of the complexity of these tests required by this elite automotive manufacturer, MicroTRAKgps encountered a longer than expected timeframe for completion. Based on the results from these tests, MicroTRAKgps’ vehicle recovery system was Certified by the automotive manufacturer and will be included in the Parts Submission Warrant (PSW) this week for full product and vendor approval and addition to the manufacturer’s accessory product line.
(more…)
Technorati Tags: MicroTRAKgps, GPS
Written by GPS Tracking Guy on October 12th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on GPS Vehicle Tracking.
Recoveries Help Police Discover 9 Theft Rings; Recover 82 Bikes; Arrest 15. Trend Emerges of Chop Shops Selling Stolen Motorcycle Parts Online
LoJack Corporation today announced that in the course of only one month (September), its LoJack For Motorcycles stolen motorcycle recovery system helped law enforcement recover more than $1 million in stolen bikes and accessories. The LoJack system has enabled police to uncover a wide variety of motorcycle-focused, organized crime rings, including several that involved chop shops selling stolen bike parts online. In total, the system has led police to discover nine organized theft rings, recover 82 stolen bikes, as well as stolen vehicles, bike parts, wheels, tools and electronics, and arrest 15 suspects during the month of September.
“Now that LoJack For Motorcycles is available in 25 states nationwide, we’re seeing a tremendous increase in the number of recovered motorcycles and related theft rings the system is helping police uncover across the country,” said Richard T. Riley, LoJack’s President and COO. “With theft rates rising at alarming levels and motorcycle riding experiencing a surge in popularity, we’re pleased to provide owners with such a powerful solution that is proving to be an integral part of helping police crack down on bike theft.”
(more…)
Technorati Tags: LoJack
Written by GPS Tracking Guy on October 12th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on GPS Vehicle Tracking.
WordPress database error: [You have an error in your SQL syntax; check the manual that corresponds to your MySQL server version for the right syntax to use near '' at line 1]
SELECT COUNT(DISTINCT ID) FROM
MicroTRAKgps