SecuraTrac News

SecuraTrac Shares Important Back-to-School Child Safety Tips

admin — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 16:00:10 +0000

Lessons to teach your kids and what to do yourself should your child ever go missing

HERMOSA BEACH, CA – Every 40 seconds someone’s son or daughter is reported missing, totaling over 800,000 missing children in the United States each year. Whether you are in a crowded shopping mall, amusement park or even a neighborhood park, as a parent, turning around and not seeing your child induces instant panic and a sinking feeling in your stomach.

There are a few steps parents can take to help shorten the time it takes to locate their child should he or she ever go missing. The first step is to remain as calm as possible and other tips that can help include:

Teach your children to look for other moms or dads to ask for help if they ever get separated from you.
Practice memorizing last name, address, home phone and cell phone numbers with your children by turning them into a rhyme or pneumonic device so the child can recall it when they are scared.
Check around your home in places that would be easy to hide or places where young children might get trapped.
Keep a current photograph on hand.
Notify local law enforcement and the media and report where they were last seen, what they were wearing and other key pieces of identifying information.
Contact the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) on their toll-free telephone number: 1-800-THE-LOST (1-800-843-5678).
Consider renting or purchasing a GPS locator for your child that can notify you if you child leaves home and allows them to send you an SOS message if they are in danger.

For more information on protecting your children and securing your own peace of mind please visit www.securatrac.com.

About SecuraTrac

SecuraTrac, LLC focuses on improving the lives of families through the use of a small, light- weight GPS device and a state-of-the-art, easy-to-use website. The company secures the peace of mind of parents, elder caretakers and pet owners by helping them locate what’s most important to them anytime, anywhere and providing a proactive emergency notification system. The company is headquartered in Hermosa Beach, CA. Visit www.securatrac.com for more information.

Jason Squires, host of Valley Speaks on KFRR Radio, Interviewed SecuraTrac CEO

admin — Sun, 01 Aug 2010 16:00:14 +0000

Jason Squires, host of Valley Speaks on KFRR Radio in Fresno, California interviewed SecuraTrac CEO, Chris Holbert. The eight minute interview discussed both traditional and technology based ways to protect children and some tips on how to educate children in order to promote child safety.

ParentSphere.net – SecuraTrac & Disney World

admin — Sun, 01 Aug 2010 16:00:05 +0000

By ParentSphere, Amy Mueller

In May, I wrote about SecuraTrac, a company that specializes in GPS tracking. In June, I had the opportunity to put the SecuraPAL to test – at Walt Disney World.

Before leaving for our trip, I signed into my account on the SecuraTrac website and created “fences” for the areas my family and I would be visiting while in Florida. SecuraFences are safety zones that you configure within your account. You can create an unlimited number of fences; for instance, I created a separate fence for each of the Disney World parks we visited. When you activate a fence, your SecuraPAL will send you text and/or email alerts when the person carrying it goes outside of the area you created.

The SecuraPAL (Personal Automated Locator) a GPS tracking device, is small and comes with a case. It was easy to attach the device to my preschooler either by stringing her belt through it, hanging it from a belt loop with a hook or sticking it in one of her pockets. There were many occasions where I lost sight of her in the parks. Have you been to Disney World? It’s quite easy to lose sight of people. She wanted to be right next to her cousin the entire time, not her parents.

(From your account dashboard, you can see the SecuraPAL’s exact location in 5, 15, 30 or 60 minute increments)

Honestly, it eased my mind a little knowing that if something should happen to separate us, she could press a button to alert us (triggering an alert via text message and/or email to one or multiple assigned contacts). We would also be alerted if she was “outside of the fence” we previously created and activated online. We could check our SecuraTrac account from the iPhone and pinpoint her location. Knowing that we were being proactive in finding her, helped me to not worry so much. We were fortunate that no one in our group got lost, though, the peace of mind that this little device gave me was priceless.

There are many ways you can put this kind of technology to use. Chris Holbert, SecuraTrac’s founder, suggested giving it to your teenager before he or she leaves the house. Who’s the cool kid that doesn’t have to check in with mom and dad? Attach it to your dog’s collar before he goes out to “do business”. Does he bolt, like our family dog? You can find him easy enough now.

Stick it in the stroller when Grandma or the nanny takes the kids for a walk to the park. I know right where they are and when they’re coming back. Have a tween that likes to go to the movies with friends? Stick it in her purse before she leaves the house.

If it’s not already obvious, I think this is an awesome product and service and completely endorse it.

Is Your Teen Ready for More Independence?

admin — Sat, 31 Jul 2010 16:00:46 +0000

San Diego Family Magazine – Preparing Your Teen for Parent-free Outings with Friends

Is Your Teen Ready for More Independence?

ABC15 TV in Phoenix, AZ Talks with Local SecuraTrac Customer

chris — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 16:00:23 +0000

Click to View Video: http://www.abc15.com/dpp/news/state/high-tech-device–protecting-kids-from-abductions

PHOENIX – A California company has some high tech equipment that might help save a child from being kidnapped.

It is called “ SecuraTrac” and is small enough to fit in a child’s pocket. The GPS device was invented by businessman Chris Holbert who does business in Arizona and around the world.

The device has an “S.O.S.” button. When a child pushes that button, it sends an e-mail and text alert to a parent or guardian that they are in trouble. The message includes a detailed description for where the child is located and directions to them.

“Even if it is ditched, it lets us know within minutes where the child was when the button was pushed,” said Holbert.

Parents can also set up “virtual fences” for their children that would alert them if their child left or was taken from their preset boundaries.

Holbert said many parents are using that function with their older children as well.

“As children become driving age, then it has a speed alerts,” Holbert said. “Parents can also expand the fence to say even the county to allow their teens more freedom.”

He said teens and parents have been positive about it because it allows the kids to be out without having to call in constantly.

The device starts at $129.99 plus a $19.99 monthly service charge.

St. Louis Post Gazette – Gear: SecuraPAL GPS Locator

chris — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 16:00:54 +0000

By Harry Jackson, Jr. of the St. Louis Post Gazette

What • A security device that automatically text-messages [or emails] your pre-selected rescuers in case you need help.

How much • $200 for the device plus $25 a month for a subscription to the GPS signal provider. [Prices have since dropped to $129.99 for the device and $19.99 a month for wirelees service and unlimited portal access from any computer or mobile phone.]

Where • securatrac.com.

Why buy it • If you’re lost, hurt or otherwise distressed, trigger the device and it sends an emergency text message to people on a list you program into the device. The subscription to the SecuraTrac service may be a little pricey if you have GPS on your cell phone.

Security World News – Tracking Your Kids Anytime & Anywhere

chris — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 16:00:12 +0000

Published by Security World News – Annie Blanco

There is an old-school way of parenting and there’s also a new-school way. I’m not saying which way is better, but what I am saying is technology offers parents more choices than ever before. Sure, nothing beats personally walking your child to and from school daily. After all, it’s a parent’s job to protect their kids. But what about the times when you can’t be with your child 24/7? This is where technology steps in. With that being said, there are dozens of devices that can help track children from a local alarm that can be heard from a couple of hundred feet away to very sophisticated dedicated GPS tracking devices.

Home Security Store technician Matt Apperson tests security products on a daily basis. He says SecuraTrac’s SecuraPAL GPS Tracking Device is a great way to keep track of your kids whether they’re at school, sports practice, a friend’s house, or any other location.

“I cannot imagine seeing my kid on the news or being part of an AmberAlert. With the SecuraPAL, I have a reliable way to know my kids will be safe,” said Apperson, who has 2 kids ages 1 and 6.

The SecuraPAL uses GPS and mobile phone networks to pinpoint your child’s location and report it back to the SecuraTrac network. The SecuraPAL reports its location to you automatically (via texts and email), or on-demand, and it comes ready-to-use.

In addition, you can create SecuraFences and set alerts. This is a key feature which sets it apart from other GPS devices.

“This fence is very easy to set-up and can be done with just a few clicks of the mouse,” said Apperson.

A SecuraFence is a virtual boundary which can be set to automatically notify you when the device leaves a pre-defined zone. When that happens you are sent a text message to your cell phone and email, along with the nearest address and a link with directions to that location.

The SecuraPAL device is also equipped with an SOS button.

“If an emergency situation arises and your child or elderly parent needs assistance, he or she can hold down the SOS button for two seconds to send an SOS text message to the SecuraTrac account holder,” said Apperson.

Ultimately, the SecuraPAL is a user friendly interface for locating your loved one in real time. It can be used in the United States or abroad.

Apperson adds, “Even if you teach your kids not to talk to strangers, as I have, there are other factors to consider. For example, what if they get into an accident or could be lost?”

The SecuraPAL is a great device to use at an amusement park or on family vacations and can work with any cell phone which is capable of receiving text messages. Remember, a parent cannot always be with their own children at all times, but with a sophisticated GPS tracking device you can know where your child is at anytime and anywhere. This is not only safer for the children, but reassuring for the parents.

MSNBC.com – Ready, Set, Road Trip – Top 10 Accessories Needed

chris — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 16:00:14 +0000

The Fourth of July fireworks are over and Labor Day will be here before you know it. And since no one knows what the economy’s going to do, you might as well pack up the gang and hit the road.

The 10 accessories below can help keep you on track and, perhaps, provide a little fun along the way.

If you’re the sort who simply has to acknowledge incoming texts while driving, do the rest of us a favor and get yourself Motorola’s new H17txt with Motospeak ($100). Utilizing text-to-speech technology, this Bluetooth-enabled unit turns text messages into audio ones in real time. It can also send back an automated message saying you’ll reply when you’re able to and translate SMS acronyms right down to the last lol or c u l8r.

Despite what Luke Wilson and Paul Marcarelli (better known as “The Verizon Guy”) like to claim, dropped calls remain the bane of long-distance drivers. The Sleek Universal Cell Phone Signal Booster from Wilson Electronics ($91 at Amazon.com) is designed to solve the problem via an adjustable phone cradle/amplifier and external vehicle antenna. Together, the two will extend your phone’s signal range, increase its data rates and keep you in contact in the dead zones that the two spokes-dudes swear don’t exist.

Why get your GPS directions from some boring computer voice when you can get them from the Dark Lord of the Sith himself? Yes, Darth Vader has joined the roster of celebrity voices available for TomTom GPS devices ($13). C3PO’s on board, too, with Han Solo and Yoda set to debut this summer — which, of course, raises the possibility of getting advice like “At the next intersection, turn left you should.”

In a perfect world, lousy parkers would lose their driving privileges. But since that’s not the world we live in, Parking Tickets ($7) from Shinebox Print will have to suffice. Sold in booklets with 20 different quotes, the cards feature pithy suggestions for those that haven’t mastered the seemingly simple art of parking. Among the zingers: “Is your name Katrina? Because this parking job’s a disaster” and “Hope you’re better between the sheets than you are between the lines.”

Remember Gray Powell, the Apple employee who accidentally left that prototype iPhone 4G in a bar a few months ago? Too bad he didn’t have a Zomm ($80). Essentially a wireless leash, the Oreo-sized, Bluetooth-based unit beeps, flashes and vibrates anytime you and your phone get more than 30 feet apart. It also works as a speakerphone and panic button — and will surprise the heck out of the most brazen pickpocket.

Losing track of your phone is a drag. Losing track of your child? The scariest scenario imaginable. To avoid it, consider renting a SecuraPAL or Personal Automated Locator ($10/day, plus $20 set-up fee) for your next trip. Slip one into your little one’s pocket and it’ll provide an exact location and directions if he or she strays out of sight. It can also be customized with pre-set virtual boundaries — just the thing for visits to amusement parks, strange cities and foreign countries.

Quick! You need to jumpstart your car. Which cable goes on which terminal? You won’t have to guess anymore with Michelin’s Smart Jumper Cables, which feature LED indicator lights to confirm your connections are correct, surge protection to prevent electrical system damage and automatic polarity adjustment to minimize the risk of sparking and shorting. Designed to remain tangle-free, the 12-foot, 8-gauge cables are $27 at Amazon.com.

Bugs, blisters, bumps and bruises — the average summer road trip can be a rolling series of minor mishaps, which is why carrying a first-aid kit from Adventure Medical Kits is a good idea. The company offers several road-trip-appropriate kits, ranging from the compact Travel Medic ($10), which includes a variety of bandages, basic medicines and burn/blister products, to specialized kits for women, sportsmen and those concerned about dental emergencies.

Add some culinary complexity to your next car-camping trip with Coleman’s new Signature Series All-In-One Cooking System ($150). Equipped with a griddle, grill and six-quart stock pot, you can fry eggs and bacon in the morning, grill steaks or fish for dinner and slow-cook a pot of soup, stew or chili for tomorrow. It’ll run for four hours on a 16.4-ounce propane cylinder and fits into a handy carrying case for easy transport.

Finally, if you don’t have enough room in your rig for all your gear, consider a retro-sleek tear-drop camper from Silver Tears Campers. Offering an updated version of the 1940s classic camper, the company’s Woodie (around $18,000) features a 47” x 72” bed, custom cabinetry, interior and exterior lighting and a pop-up, open-air galley with sink, fresh-water tank and optional stainless steel gas stove. Pack it with your favorite gear, hitch it up and you can stay on the road ‘til Labor Day.

Time Magazine – The Case for Keeping Out

chris — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 16:00:49 +0000

By Nancy Gibbs

I have two daughters: One an open book, one a locked box. So the question of privacy is a challenging one. How much do kids need? How much should we give? How do we prepare them to live in a world where the very notion of privacy opens a generational chasm? As adults, we hunger for it, shuddering at how our shopping is tracked and our searches searched and horrified that anyone can go online and find a satellite picture of our house. And then there are our children, who happily stand exposed in the public square, posting secrets on their Facebook walls, yet remain eternally elusive to the people who sleep in the next bedroom over.

Mine is famously a generation of worrisome and worrying parents, fearful for our children’s futures and so obsessed with safety that we soak them in antibacterial soaps from birth. We seat-belt and helmet them, childproof and V-chip them, buy whole-grain cupcakes and hypoallergenic sheets and instruct them in stranger danger. Except now we know that our obsessions may have made them more vulnerable, that a little dirt is a good thing, that kids may be developing more allergies because we’ve raised them too clean. They get older and smarter and restless and start poking around in the wider world. And now the challenge to us is both technological and philosophical. In how many ways can we continue to watch over them? And should we learn to stop trying and let them stomp or glide or purposefully stride away from us and our anxious hoverings?

Anyone with the right mix of parental paranoia and entrepreneurial moxie can make a fortune by selling parents the equipment we think will keep us one step ahead of our kids. Trust but verify, we said when we negotiated arms-control treaties; a teenager can be a resourceful adversary as well. So there is a kit that lets you sneak a few strands of hair from their brush and test them for OxyContin. And the gadget you attach to the car that monitors their speed or won’t let the ignition start until they’ve passed a Breathalyzer test. And the cybersitters and Web watchers that log every message and keystroke. A new device called SecuraPAL (Personal Automated Locator) lets parents create SecuraFences online by clicking and dragging a box on a Google map around their home, their school, the Little League field, their friends’ homes: if a child enters or leaves a SecuraFence area, you get an e-mail or text-message alert. (See the 25 best back-to-school gadgets.)

As a parent, I totally understand this impulse. But increasingly, I think it creates false confidence more than actual control. Our children will outwit us if they want; for when it comes to technology, they hold the higher ground. Unlike other tools passed carefully and ceremonially from one generation to the next — the sharp scissors, the car keys — this is one they understand better than we do. What’s more, they know it: Why else would we rely on them to set up our cell phones and reboot the computer? I keep telling myself that we either have taught them judgment or haven’t, have instilled values or haven’t. We can’t indefinitely rely on enforcement. Isn’t it better to let them test the rules and take the consequences?

Most parents, if we’re honest, can spot our own fingerprints at our children’s crime scenes. When Ethan lies about handing in his homework, when Emma sneaks her phone for late-night texting, they’re often rebelling against pressures that come at least partly from us. This is not to defend their actions, only to remind us that if we act as if we don’t trust our kids, it may invite them to be less trustworthy. Most of us were probably less than immaculately honest as teenagers; it’s practically encoded into adolescence that you savor your secrets, dress in disguise, carve out some space for experiments and accidents and all the combustible lab work of becoming who you are.

So let us pause and praise dirt. And sneakiness. And normal youthful messmaking. Let us even praise the very tools and technologies that make us crazy. Thanks to Facebook and its nutty quizzes, I know that my mysterious older daughter, if asked, What kind of candy are you?, is a Hershey bar; she is also the goddess Artemis, Elmo, a poppy (”childlike and carefree”), a double-neck guitar and a chocolate Lab; her eyes say she’s happy even when she’s not; she should be living in the Middle Ages and has a shy, melon-colored personality. These are not things I would ever have thought to ask, or that she would ever tell me. But she and the laptop have a very trusting relationship.

SecuraTrac Now Certified for Droid Browser

admin — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 16:00:42 +0000

Users now able to monitor SecuraPAL® GPS location device on their phones

HERMOSA BEACH, CA – SecuraTrac, a dynamic provider of personal location services focused on protecting children and the elderly, announced today that their SecuraTrac web portal has been certified to work on the Droid Internet browser. By logging into their SecuraTrac account on their Droid phones, parents and caretakers are able to access real-time location information for their SecuraPAL (Personal Automated Locator) device.

The SecuraPAL is a two-ounce device that can be used to locate children, senior citizens, pets, vehicles, luggage and other valuables. Harnessing the power of GPS satellites, SecuraPAL can report its location to users automatically at specified intervals or on-demand.

A key feature of the SecuraPAL is its ability to report when it leaves pre-defined boundaries users set called SecuraFences. These virtual boundaries can be created on the user’s secure web portal by simply clicking on a map and dragging a box an area to create a fence. When the SecuraPAL device enters or exits a SecuraFence area, the user is proactively sent a text message and email alert notifying him or her that the SecuraPAL is on the move, along with the nearest address and a link with directions to that location.

The SecuraPAL device is also equipped with an SOS button. If an emergency situation arises and the person carrying the device needs assistance, he or she can hold down the SOS button for two seconds to send an SOS text message to the SecuraTrac account holder with turn-by-turn directions to his or her location. Additional parents or caretakers can be setup in seconds to receive SOS and other location alerts.

For more information please visit www.securatrac.com. SecuraPAL’s are available for purchase as well as daily rentals. Renting is a great option for family vacations in and out of the country as well as trips to theme parks and other crowded places.

About SecuraTrac