BabyMinder is latest Israeli baby safety app
Using location-based service that detects where you parked, a new app reminds you to check the backseat for babies
After a horrific few weeks in which three children died after they were forgotten inside cars while their minders went about their business, Israeli entrepreneurs set their minds to finding high-tech solutions to remind drivers to remove the children under their care from the backseat.
The latest of these solutions may be the most sophisticated yet. Created by veteran mapping company Telmap, makers of the map and navigation program M8 (and owned by Intel), together with start-up Anagog, the BabyMinder app uses GPS, mapping, alerts, and other tricks to ensure drivers keep the babies on board at the forefront of their minds.
BabyMinder automatically detects when drivers park and walk away from their vehicles. As they move away, the app sounds an alarm and a reminder to check the backseat. Users can set the app for a reminder at certain times of the day or at the end of every trip, thus ensuring that there is a backup reminder in case they miss the first one.
What Waze is to traffic, Anagog hopes to be for parking. The company’s OTO app (for Android devices), among other things, automatically detects where you parked and remembers the location. When you want to return to your vehicle, the app directs you to its location. Building on that capability, BabyMinder detects when a car is parked, and when the driver walks away from the location of the parked car, the app broadcasts its reminder.
Anagog founders Gil Levi and Yaron Eizenbuch said that BabyMinder was a good example of the location-based services used by Anagog’s apps. The company recently developed an SDK (development kit) that allows developers to add location-based services to apps. In the case of BabyMinder, the app detects when a smartphone has exited a vehicle and sends out the appropriate reminder.
“Anagog has been attracting a lot of attention recently and is in the midst of raising funds for its expansion,” the founders said, which will include developing apps, including BabyMinder, for the iPhone.
