Stick N Find Bluetooth Location device

I just found this product through a post on, of all places, the I Can Has Cheezburger (LOL cats) site.
If my dad was still alive and at home, I'd be Fry from Futurama: shut up and take my money.

Basically, the StickNFind is a tiny round sticker that you can place anywhere.  You use your i-phone or Android phone to track the location of the sticker.  If you lose your keys, for instance.  Or you can put it on your pet's collar, stuck to a tag.   Or your wandering dementia-ridden dad.  When you are within 100 feet your phone can find it.  If your phone can't find it, you can set up an alert that goes off when the tag comes within range, say, if you are driving around looking for said pet, or dad. 
The battery lasts for a YEAR and it's just a simple watch battery.  They are 2 for $50 and come in many colors.  And it's a one-time fee (except for the batteries), no monthly upkeep charges.
I've talked about GPS shoes and watches and things before, but this is very versatile.  It just doesn't have a great range.  For what it is, the price isn't outrageous.  The biggest hurdle may be the smart phone.  I only got an Android phone a few weeks ago, and there is no app for any other operating system except Android and i-phone.
You can use the app to make the sticker flash or buzz (if your keys are lost in the dark).
You can create a "virtual leash" which tells you if the sticker gets too far away from your phone.  This is for pets.  Of course if you aren't at home and your pet gets out of your house, that isn't very useful. 
The same company puts out a slightly bigger device called a BluTracker that has a range of half a mile and a battery life of 2 months (rechargeable).  The pictures it looks to be about the size of a package of dental floss.  It has the same features as the sticker, plus a little more. It can be pre-ordered for $70.

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Note:  This is NOT a paid advertisement, just a product I found that I think would be useful to the Alzheimer's community. 

Alzheimer's Association's new Comfort Zone program for finding the lost

The Alzheimer's Association has a new GPS-based program to help find dementia patients who wander.  It seems like an upgrade to the Safe Return program, which I purchased for my dad.  (I still have his bracelet--I don't know why I wanted it.)
Rather than try to explain it, here's what they sent me:

The Alzheimer's Association Comfort Zone™, powered by Omnilink, is the first comprehensive location management system designed specifically for Alzheimer’s, giving people with the disease more freedom and independence in their community while providing their family some peace of mind.  Comfort Zone is a Web-based application that works with various location devices throughout the progression of the disease to proactively communicate the location of the person with Alzheimer’s within two to 30 minutes.  Comfort Zone also offers families assistance with 24/7 monitoring center services and access to emergency health records from the MedicAlert Foundation.

The price of the Comfort Zone service packages varies, beginning at $42.99 a month with a $45.00 activation fee, similar to most cell phone services.  For more information about Comfort Zone please see the attached press release and fact sheets.  You can also visit the Alzheimer’s Association at www.alz.org/comfortzone. 

At first I was like, $42 a month!  The bracelet I bought my dad was a 1-time $45 fee!  (I think that's changed now, to a per year fee, but I could be wrong.)  Then I reread the most important phrase:

communicate the location of the person with Alzheimer’s within two to 30 minutes

No driving around aimlessly.  No having squadrons of police offices searching.   It doesn't matter if it's dark or cold, GPS will find your loved one.  If that's not worth $42 a month, I don't know what is.  I only had to search for my dad twice--and yes, it was dark and cold one of those time--and while I was driving around, my cell phone illegally in hand, I would have paid any amount of money to just find my dad safe.

(Image from the Comfort Zone web site.)

new GPS watch debuts at Consumer Electronic Show

A new product, aimed at children, will debut at the Consumer Electronics show in Vegas. This watch will track its location with 10 feet via a GPS chip. The device is called Nu.M8 and I really don't understand why they aren't making an adult-sized version for adults that are impaired (not just AD and dementia, but mentally challenged in other ways).
Right now, it appears that the device only works in the UK, although it is debuting in the USA this week. It seems to require some sort of access fee if you use the service, and it is accessed through the web or a cell phone.

I have written to the company asking them to come out with an adult version. Please, even if your parent or loved one has moved onto the Elsewhere Bar like my dad has, and you think this device could help someone else's loved one, take a moment.
(original URL; screenprint on Flickr)

118 GPS shoes find the lost

I believe I've already said that my dad a month or so ago peed in the hallway on the wall. Last week my mom caught him peeing on a different wall. She yelled at him and he went right into the bathroom and used the toilet.
The dog, for the first time since she's had him, peed in the house too. I lose my pee-everywhere cat and my mom gets a pee-everywhere husband.
This item was in the news a few days ago and is now getting more wide-spread coverage. A man has invented sneakers with built-in GPS circuitry. Unlike some of the other GPS things I've looked at, where you download the information which isn't "live", this is live GPS enabling you to locate people. The sneakers cost $325 plus $20/month to monitor them. You can activate the GPS by pushing a button on the shoe itself if you get lost (say, while hiking) or call in with a code word if you've lost your loved one (child, AD patient, etc). The web site is horrible, all Flash animation, very slow, hard to navigate (which is why I detest Flash).
Unfortunately, my dad, who was once obsessed with his green sneakers, has now abandoned them and will only wear his shoes. Everywhere. Even to bed. Plus he takes a triple wide which the GPS sneakers don't offer. My mom said he wouldn't wear them. I wouldn't give him the choice; I'd take away all his other footwear.
The next logical step, of course, is to be able to add the circuitry to ANY shoe, not just their brand. (They are coming out with a way to swap the GPS unit between various shoes of THEIR brand.) Actually, it's a bracelet, like my dad already has, with such a chip in it. Somewhere someone's got to be working on it.