Volkswagen Lover: ETC: Tomy car seat uses smartphone to keep tabs on your baby [w/video] [feedly]

2013年7月24日星期三

ETC: Tomy car seat uses smartphone to keep tabs on your baby [w/video] [feedly]

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Filed under: Safety, Technology, Videos

Parents have a problem and Tomy knows what it is: Babies are super hard to keep track of. Why, we can't count the number of times that we've secured some feisty ankle-biter in his car seat, only to turn around a minute later and find he's jumped the rig.

Actually, that's never happened to us. But if Tomy's new smartphone-linked child seat is any indication, it's just the sort of disaster that is perplexing moms and dads nationwide.

Linking its new True Fit IAlert car seat to a smartphone app (available for iPhone and Android devices), Tomy hopes to give parents more information than ever about what baby is up to there in the backseat (or front, we guess). Using their phone as a sort of level, parents can use the app to make sure that the seat is aligned to the recommended angle. After installation, the app basically works by sending alerts to a parent or caregiver's phone if certain conditions are triggered: the child moves out of the seat while the car is in motion, a child is left in the seat when the car is stopped, the seat buckle has not been secured, etc. The app will even tell you the temperature of the backseat, so as not to let Jr. get overheated.

Granted, a lot of the functionality of the IAlert seat and app could be replicated by, you know, turning your head... but who are we to criticize. Get a better idea of where the future of in-car baby safety is headed with the video and press release below.