Ralph: Robert, tell me more this co-worker you left wandering around.
Robert: Well, we basically played hide-and-seek. I sent my guy out, and while he was out going to mysterious locations, I got online to the Zoombak site and tried to find him.
Gabz: Robert started the continuous tracking feature as soon as our buddy hit the door. We could tell he stayed within the safety zone for about 20 minutes after he left, and even with the map showing a big blank space where Crutchfield's campus is, we were familiar enough with the area to figure out whether he was inside or out, and sometimes, what part of the building he might be in.
Robert: [laughing] It really was cool. I'd ask the site, "Ok, where is he now?", it would do its search, and after 30 seconds or so, give me his current location. After he left the zone, he called in and said, "Ok, I'm somewhere, can you find me?." I pinged the site, and when I got a response I asked "are you on Timberwood Blvd?" and he said "Well, yes, I am." Once I knew what street he was on I could guess "Oh, you must be at the grocery store" and as a matter of fact, he was sitting right in front of it.
Ralph: Ok! So now that you've done the experiment, what's your impression of the Zoombak GPS Locator?
Gabz: I like the fact that it does interact with your cell phone. Again, to go back to the dog example, if I was out walking, and my dog got away from me, I could use my cell phone's texting feature to ping the Zoomback site, and it would come back and tell me, "Ok, the transmitter's at the 500 block of Water Street." So I could figure out whether the dog's a few houses down, or she's gone down a side street. And that gives me a better chance of finding her.
Ralph: Nice! So you enjoyed using it?
Gabz: Oh I thought it was cool — this is technology I can really get enthusiastic about. It's just fun to play with, and I can see so many uses for it. Not just now, but down the road.
Robert: I agree completely. It was a lot of fun to play with and just use for a couple of days. As soon as I didn't have it any more, I thought of dozens of different uses for it. The thing I like most about it is it'll monitor whatever it's attached to (which could be your car, or your kid, or your dog) without having to call up your kid or your spouse all the time and say "where are you? Are you there yet? When are you coming home?" You can get that peace of mind without having to call them all the time.
Ralph: And it sounds like they've struck that fine balance between privacy of the individual, and the parent's "need to know."
Robert: When we started this, the privacy issue was a real concern — this device really does seem to do a good job of giving you just enough information for peace of mind, and allowing you to find what you've lost, without giving you the super-high level of information the police or a search and rescue team might need.
Ralph: You guys also documented your experiment on video right?
Gabz: Robert did a video review of the Zoombak and I've blogged about my experience with the Zoombak, so if you want to find out more, it's all here at crutchfield.com.
Ralph: In other words, you don't need a Zoombak to find out the information we have on the Zoombak Locator —
Robert: — But you do need a Zoombak.
