App offers way to keep track of items
My daughter, Isabel, is 9-years-old now and began her fourth-grade year a few weeks ago. Every first day of school as I walk her inside to meet her new teacher and see her new classroom, I am reminded of one of my not-so-stellar mommy moments.
On Isabel’s first day of kindergarten, my husband and I took her to school. She was so excited, and my husband was enjoying this milestone in her life. I was not doing so well. Holding it together by a thread, I was just one sniffle away from a floodgate of tears pouring forth on the steps of the school.
I asked my husband to take a picture of Isabel and me before we went inside, and I set my keys down at the base of the mascot’s statue at the school entrance. As soon as the camera flashed, my tears started to flow. With my emotions in overdrive, I left my keys at the statue.
We met Isabel’s wonderful kindergarten teacher, looked around her cute classroom, got her settled in at her desk and said goodbye. By the time my husband and I exited the school, I was sniffling again and reminiscing about how time flies and children grow up too fast. My husband walked me to my car, and then I realized it: I did not have my keys. I could not remember where I had left them, and we spent the next half-hour retracing my steps inside the school.
Now, not only was I one of those sentimental, crying moms, but I was also a scatter-brained mom, too. I made quite a first impression with the office staff that day and got much more of a school tour than I would have preferred. Someone eventually turned in my keys at the office, and I left the school embarrassed and exhausted. I vowed to never lose my keys again. Unfortunately, I have lost them several times since that day, but thankfully, I have not misplaced them again at Isabel’s school. But now there is a new gadget and smartphone app that can find our lost things for us, saving us time, frustration and embarrassment.
Tile is a revolutionary gadget for finding your lost keys, wallet, laptop or book … any of your stuff that cannot be found ... always at the worst possible time. Tile is a tiny plastic tag with a companion smartphone app that finds lost things. The tile is a small, waterproof square that is slightly larger than a postage stamp, and you attach it to the things you do not want to lose.
Simply affix the tile to an object with the double-sided adhesive that is included, drop it inside your purse or backpack, or use the built-in loop to fasten the tile to your key chain. Download the free Tile app to your smartphone, and the Tile activates when it is held in front of the phone. Using the app, you can pinpoint the location of the Tile and the lost item. The app will find a Tile object that is within 150 feet of your smartphone. It guides you to the object’s exact spot, indicating you are getting “warmer” as you get closer and closer. Tiles come with a builtin speaker that can emit a beep to help you locate your item using sound, too. And the Tile app saves the last GPS location where it saw the Tile, helping you find your item quickly and easily.
There are no batteries to change with Tiles, and there is nothing to recharge. Tiles last one year, and a reminder is sent for you to order new Tiles as the expiration date approaches. The Tile developers also send you an envelope to recycle your old Tiles. You can track up to 10 Tiles on one account. And Tiles can be shared between more than one person’s smartphone app, such as a family Tile for the television remote control.
Tile will be available this winter, and you can get more information and pricing at www.thetileapp.com. So put Tile on your Christmas list now and never lose your keys or other important items again. And if you ever see a kindergartner mom crying and walking around in search of her lost keys, be nice to her and tell her about Tile, too.
Holly Lawrence is a certified public accountant with James, Hardy, and Haley, CPAs in Shreveport. Her blog can be found at http://hollyklawrence.wordpress.com, and she can be reached at holly@jameshardy.com.
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