NBC LA on SecuraFone – App Helps Parents Monitor Teen Drivers

admin — Mon, 07 May 2012 16:00:40 +0000

SecuraTrac’s CEO Chris Holbert explains how his company’s smartphone app can help cut down on distracted driving among teenagers, 11 of which die every day from texting while driving. Stephanie Elam reports from Gardena for the NBC4 News at 5 p.m

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New Tech Provides Secure Freedom to Autistic Children, Adults

admin — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 16:00:06 +0000

Cellular device and smart phone app uses GPS location alerts to increase personal safety. SecuraFone®, a new mobile application debuting from SecuraTrac®, and the LifeTrac® MobileProtector™ can ease difficulties faced by people with Autism, empowering them to carryout daily activities safely and independently.

Hermosa Beach, CA, April 18, 2012 –(PR.com)– While April is National Autism Awareness Month, for children and adults affected by the disorder, every day of the year is a challenge. SecuraFone®, a new mobile application debuting from SecuraTrac®, and the LifeTrac® MobileProtector™ can ease difficulties faced by people with Autism, empowering them to carryout daily activities safely and independently.

A powerful family safety solution, SecuraFone can be downloaded to any iPhone or Droid transforming the smartphone into a GPS locator with an emergency SOS button. Parents and caregivers can use SecuraFone to monitor the location of children or patients via text message or email alerts and their secure online account. If a patient or child encounters a dangerous situation and needs help, SecuraFone can be used to send an instantaneous text message including location details and a call for help to priority contacts with the press of one button. Simultaneously, a phone call is automatically placed to the primary emergency contact.

In addition, SecuraFone can be used to receive proactive location alerts through the use of SecuraFences or virtual borders that are created by the account holder. SecuraFences can be drawn around a home or school, even an entire neighborhood or town. Every time a SecuraFence is crossed, the SecuraFone app sends a text and/or email alert to the account holder providing peace of mind and reassurance. The SecuraFone app makes it easier for parents to keep watch over young children and provides adults affected by the disorder to safely experience more independence.

Chris Holbert, CEO of SecuraTrac stated, “As children with Autism age and many of them become a bit more independent, the power of SecuraFone or our other mobile safety solutions increases. Essentially, it allows families of high-functioning Autistic adolescents and children to give them a bit more freedom in the community – buy groceries, go to a movie, and learn through experience – much as their children’s peers do that may not have Autism.”

Similar in features to the SecuraFone app, the LifeTrac MobileProtector functions as a limited cellular phone for young children and people who do not need a smart phone. The MobileProtector has programmable speed-dial buttons and an SOS button that can be pressed in emergencies. An unlimited number of contacts can be programmed into the MobileProtector to receive calls or text message and email notifications for SecuraFence or other alerts.

SecuraFone is currently available for iPhone® and Android® phones and is available in a free basic version with the option to upgrade for additional features with an $8.99 monthly fee. SecuraFone can be downloaded by visiting the SecuraFone website or through the app store on a mobile device. A SecuraFone application is also being developed for Blackberry and Windows Mobile devices. The LifeTrac MobileProtector can be purchased by visiting www.lifetrac.com and a variety of usage programs are available for the device.

About SecuraTrac

SecuraTrac® develops, markets, and sells a suite of mobile health and safety solutions. SecuraTrac is dedicated to bringing families closer together and improving employee safety through GPS location based technology and state-of-the-art, easy-to-use websites. SecuraTrac’s SecuraPAL® Guardian solution for children is the recipient of The National Parenting Center Seal of Approval, and their LifeTrac® MobileProtector™ solution for seniors was nominated for Frost & Sullivan’s Best Practices Awards for Excellence in Mobile & Wireless Communication Technology. SecuraTrac® has also developed an award-winning GPS safety app, SecuraFone®, for Android® and iPhone® platforms as well as a free, life-saving service called SecuraChild™ that leverages crowd sourcing and social media to broadcast and accelerate the location of missing children. The company is headquartered in Hermosa Beach, CA. For more information please visit www.securatrac.com.

Contact:
Laura Baumgartner
630-299-9616
www.securatrac.com

CW33 in Dallas – 911 Dispatch Struggles to Locate Cell Phone Callers

admin — Sun, 01 Apr 2012 16:00:22 +0000

By Doug Magditch

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ARLINGTON, Texas —

If you’re calling 911, you’re probably not having the best day. There’s a good chance you won’t be thinking clearly.

So, help yourself now, before you need help.

“Most of our calls, we have no idea where they are calling from,” said Sha Curtis, Arlington Interim Communications Manager.

Our vision’s been clouded by television dramas. Once upon a time, dispatchers knew where you were calling from. That was back in the days of the landline. Now, the line’s been cut.

“They believe, just based on television, that their address is just automatically populated when they deal 911. That’s not the case,” said Curtis.

In Arlington, 78% of calls to dispactch come from cell phones. When a cell phone call comes in, the system estimates the caller’s location. That estimation could be within a few meters or a few miles.

“What we get is an estimated number of meters that we use to convert. It’s never an address. So, we have to work to get the address,” said Curtis.

If you hang up without giving a location, dispatch has to track you down. First the dispatcher will call you back. If there’s no response, he/she will call you cellular provider. That could result in an address, but not necessarily where you called from.

A new smartphone app, Securafone, may help. You can program in phone numbers and email addresses for emergency contacts, like friends and family members. You can also program in 911 as a emergency call number. So, if you’re stranded, you can call all of your emergency contacts at once.

Whoever you put in as a contact will get an alert, along with a GPS location of where the alert came from. They’ll know exactly where you are and where you’re going.

Only problem is, dispatch won’t get the GPS location, but whoever does can call in to assist the dispatcher.

“It goes to a Google map and it shows exactly where it was. Now, he has an option whether he should call her directly and ask her to verify if she’s having an emergency or he can go right to Arlington PD and say, ‘my sister just sent me an alert and she’s on main and first,’” explained Robert Tomlinson, Director of Sales for Securatrac.

While the system isn’t fool-proof, in an emergency, every little bit can help.

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App Helps Parents Keep Watchful Eye on Students During Spring Break

admin — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 16:00:25 +0000

By S. Brady Calhoun

PANAMA CITY BEACH — The first app a group University of Alabama college students created, called Red Cup, helped people find the cheapest drink specials at local bars.

Then Matt Staples, Nick Neveu and Ben Gordon thought they should create something else to balance out their first creation.

“We realized our app was probably getting people drunk, so we thought we should release something to get them home,” Staples said.

That thinking and a trip to New Orleans for the National Championship game between Alabama and LSU led to the creation of their second app, “Get Me Home.”

The app helps the user call a cab and, if you don’t know where you are, it has a location tool, Staples said. It’s not just for people who are too drunk to drive and so drunk they don’t know where they are, he added. It’s also for people visiting or moving to new cities who may not be familiar with their surroundings.

Staples said it was useful last week when he visited the Panhandle.

“We’ve been using it in Destin because we don’t know where we really are,” he said.

There are more than 500,000 apps in Apple’s app store, including dozens of choices for spring breakers and other tourists in Panama City Beach. Spring breakers with iPhones and iPads can get news and concert updates from Club La Vela and PanamaCity.com. The News Herald has apps for both the iPhone and the iPad. Google’s Android devices have similar options.

But while spring breakers are looking for things to help them have the most fun, or perhaps have the most fun while avoiding trouble, there also is an option for worried parents.

Securafone gives parents a chance to see where their kids are at all times and a “fence” around their location. If the phone leaves the area, which can be as big as a city or as small as a building depending on how the parent sets it up, the parent is alerted. The user of the phone also can send an alert if they are in danger. The alert can be set to call the right police agency for each person — say campus security for a college student — thereby avoiding extra time spent on 911.

“You have a device that is a defense mechanism. Something (that helps users) be able to reach out to the right people at the right time for the right reasons,” said Robert Tomlinson, the director of sales for Securatrac, the company that released the Securafone app.

The app has several other features, including a way to prevent users from texting while driving, Tomlinson said.

“The idea behind it is to protect children,” he added.

Spring Break Safety is Common Sense

admin — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 16:00:02 +0000

By Stacie Spring

During Spring break, it’s easy to let your guard down. You’re with your friends, you’re having fun (and some of the time, you’re drinking). But that also means you’re often in an unfamiliar place surrounded by people you don’t know. Below is a list of safety tips from the Arizona State University Police Department, Marcia Peot, StreetSafe chief safety officer, and yours truly, who managed to survive four spring breaks without losing life, limb or property.

1. Use common sense.

Stay in well-lit, well-travelled areas, especially if you’re in an unfamiliar place. “Being on vacation is not an excuse to throw caution to the wind and do something you wouldn’t normally do or to put yourself in an unsafe situation,” Peot said. Nearly every piece of advice falls under this category.

2. There is safety in numbers.

Stay with your friends and don’t go off alone or with people you don’t know, ASU PD warns. If there is anything we can learn from Natalie Holloway, it’s to stick with your friends.

3. Have a designated meeting place and time.

This can be the hotel room at the end of the day, lunch at a restaurant at 1 p.m. or even the fountains outside the Bellagio in an hour. Phones can die, ringtones go unheard and texts unanswered, so have a plan — and stick to it.

4. Bring your identification and/or passport.

Whether you travel to Mexico for the beaches or to Canada for the skiing, you’ll need your passport to get back into the country.

5. Speaking of Mexico — don’t go there.

The U.S. State Department has issued travel warnings for much of Mexico, including Sonora and Baja California, the two states neighboring Arizona and California. If you decide to go anyway, check the travel warnings online at www.travel.state.gov and stay in the tourist hot spots.

6. Spring break doesn’t mean you have to go crazy.

Half of all ASU students say they won’t be drinking at all during the break, according to ASU Health and Wellness. Another third reported they won’t be drinking for most of spring break. If you do drink, do it responsibly and follow the normal rules: Have a designated driver; if you put your drink down, it’s no longer your drink; don’t accept drinks from people you don’t know. If you believe someone has slipped something in your drink, go to the emergency room.

7. Make sure your hotel room is always locked and don’t leave your belongings unattended.

“Do not advertise your room number, open the door for anyone you are not expecting, or bring strangers back to your room,” Peot said.

8. Don’t forget your prescriptions.

In the hustle and bustle of packing, it might be easy to forget them. Also, make sure that all of your medications are in their original containers, ASU PD warns.

9. Be able to communicate.

Both ASU PD and Peot suggest keeping your cell phone on you at all times in case of emergencies, but if you’re anything like my friends, you do that anyway.

10. There’s an app for that.

OK, I understand if you don’t want your parents to always know (and potentially track) where you are. But during spring break, it might be a good idea to have a back-up plan.

The SecuraFone free mobile app has a simple SOS button. When you slide it, the app sends a text message, shoots an email and starts a phone call to preset phone numbers and email addresses. This can mean your friend or parent will know your location and can either find you or alert the authorities. It took me all of five minutes to download the app and set up the contact information online. Additional security options can be purchased on the website.

Another app (this one requires a monthly fee), StreetSafe is a personal security system that uses your phone’s GPS technology to instantly connect to help before a situation turns into an emergency. “The app’s ‘Walk with Me’ service offers a live connection to a professional safety advisor to keep you safe when walking in unfamiliar or threatening surroundings and instant access to 911 if needed,” Peot said.

For more information, head online to www.securafone.com or www.streetsafe.com. Additionally, you should be able to find other apps that work for you and your circumstances.

11. Drink plenty of water and use sunscreen.

Sunburn and dehydration would really suck when you’re trying to have fun. Plus, dehydration and alcohol are an awful combination.

CBS Philadephia – SecuraFone is “App-tastic”

admin — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 16:00:30 +0000

By Chris Morris

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - On today’s APP-tastic and outta SITE – SecuraFone.

Need to know where someone is in a hurry? The SecuraFone app uses the GPS technology that’s embedded in most smart phones to locate them instantly. You’re able to find kids either on an as-needed basis or through regular text alerts. The app can also block text messages in a moving car and send alerts if someone’s in a vehicle that’s moving too fast.

The Ski Channel – SecuraFone Uses GPS to Keep Skiers Safe

admin — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 16:00:21 +0000

By Jaclyn Schottenstein

Mountain sports are both a great source of fun and inherently dangerous. Modern technology has enabled athletes the freedom to roam farther then ever before, and now, at least one company is utilizing technology to help keep them safe. SecuraFone®, a new mobile application from SecuraTrac®, turns any phone into an instant GPS locator that can text or email ski patrol with the press of a button in the event of an emergency. SecuraFone can also be used by resorts to track skiers if they venture into areas of the mountain that can be dangerous.

Whether on or off the mountain, SecuraFone can help mitigate an emergency situation…even before it happens. Here is how it works: using GPS technology, the SecuraFone app automatically tracks and reports locations with more than six alert types. Feature highlights include a “distracted driver” function, which disables email and text functions when driving, “SecuraFences,” which alerts an account holder if a pre-set virtual border is crossed (by entry or exit) and “speed alerts,” which notify designated contacts via email and/or text message if a pre-determined speed threshold is exceeded.

SecuraFone is currently available for iPhone and Android phones and is free to download with an $8.99 monthly fee. SecuraFone can be downloaded by visiting the SecuraFone website or through your mobile device’s app store. A SecuraFone application is also being developed for Blackberry and Windows Mobile devices. For more information, visit www.securafone.com.

KRON San Francisco – New App Turns Your Smartphone Into Emergency Beacon

admin — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 16:00:24 +0000

By Gabe Slate

Gabe Slate of KRON San Francisco reviews SecuraFone and how easy it can be to get help when you need it most.

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WLTX – An App Every Parent Should Have

admin — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 16:00:10 +0000

By Derry London

Columbia, SC (WLTX) — It’s the fear of every parent of a teenager: they hit the road, cell phone in hand. Those two together never mix well.

There’s a free application for Android phones called SecuraFone®.

This app, designed for teenagers, allows parents to set up SecuraFences and receive a text alert any time their child crosses a virtual boundary.

With one press of a button, an SOS feature also automatically places a call to a predetermined emergency contact and alerts other emergency contacts via text or email.

For teens with wheels, SecuraFone can temporarily lock down the email and text messaging functions on a smartphone when the device is traveling at a high speed.

The app can also send an alert if a preset speed threshold is passed.

All settings can be tweaked through a password-protected online account.

SecuraChild Offers a Free Online Service to Report Missing Children

admin — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 10:00:32 +0000

By Dachell McSween of Yahoo Voices!

It can be a nightmare for a parent to find out that their child is missing. According to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, an estimated 800,000 children are reported missing in the United States every year. Unfortunately, all missing children cases reported to the police are not eligible to have a traditional Amber Alert issued for them especially if police officials do not believe that an abduction has taken place and the child is not in a life-threatening situation.

A technology company called SecuraTrac, LLC located in Hermosa Beach, California, created a child safety service called SecuraChild. Through this free service, parents enter pertinent information about their missing child including name, age, height and weight on the SecuraChild site. Parents also have the option of providing additional personal information relating to their child including medical conditions, photos and videos. In the event that a child registered on the site is missing, parents can quickly log into their account to alert SecuraChild and also provide descriptive information including where the child was last seen and what the child was wearing. Then, a community response alert goes out to thousands of SecuraChild members through both email and text and social media networks such as Facebook and Twitter. Parents also receive a document via email with all of the stored information about their child to provide as key information for police and help ease the process of registering their missing child with law enforcement.

“We are using social media and word-of-mouth efforts to help find missing children,” explains Chris Holbert, CEO of SecuraTrac.

SecuraChild is a fully encrypted site and each account and information submitted is secure for users. According to Holbert, 90 percent of their users are based in the United States. They also have users from other countries including Mexico, Canada and in the Philippines. Through the site, parents have the opportunity to reach so many people to assist with find missing children in seconds.