Imagine being able to hide a tiny little sleuth in your bike frame, invisible to the naked eye but springing into action should the villains of London town (or any other metropolis) have it away. Meet Sherlock.
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It’s claimed to be the smallest invisible GPS-based antitheft device that can track your bike in real time then help you recover it from the crooks. While it’s not in production yet, the makers have just won a place at the UK’s largest innovation show, and if all goes well they hope to bring it to market in spring 2016.
With more than 3m bikes getting pinched in Europe alone every year, there should be plenty of demand for it. Sherlock’s developers promise long battery life as it only activates when the bike is in motion. It can also allow users to track their performances (distance, average speed, routes, etc), and communicates with the smartphone app via Bluetooth LE.
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It allows constant and precise monitoring of a bike’s position using a combination of GPS and an Internet connection, and the inventors say they’ve got the error margin down to just 5 metres. Plus there’s a sound alarm that can be triggered by movement, then deactivated by the user via the smartphone app.
Just the job when the Baker Street irregulars are out on a case.