There is a trend in high-tech that recommends adding location-based services to anything and

There is a trend in high-tech that recommends adding location-based services to anything and everything. But it has me pulled between wanting to see really cool gadgets and avoiding a Big Brother-like society. The latest is a new high-tech tennis shoe coming to the market that lets parents and guardians track the movements of their family using Global Positioning Systems or GPS technology. Called the "Smart Shoe,” the miniature device is inserted in the sole of the low-top sneaker. An antenna that runs up the back of the footwear communicates with satellites and relays a location back to a subscription Web site service for easy viewing. Los Angeles-based GTXC, which makes the devices and the service, said it is hoping to put Smart Shoes in stores by the end of the year. Shoes with the technology could cost between $100 and $200. The tracking service is expected to cost about $20 a month. Follow That Kid Today's technology makes it easier for parents to know where their kids are and what they're doing. By Joe Burris | Baltimore Sun | July 1, 2007 Michelle Smith had been reluctant to buy a cell phone for her 7-year-old daughter, Daysha. Then one day in April, a substitute teacher placed the Radford, Va., girl on the wrong school bus. Instead of being dropped off at her older sister's after-school program as planned, Daysha was sent home - only to find the doors locked. As she sat on her front porch crying, her mother drove around town, searching frantically for the girl. No one at the school could tell her which bus the girl had been put on. "Then my next-door neighbor called," said Smith, "and said, 'I have your baby.' " The scary moment had a happy ending, but Smith didn't want to take a chance on losing her daughter again. So she did what many other parents are doing - she bought her child a cell phone equipped with an electronic device that could keep track of her whereabouts. Download the full article Tracking technology hits the ground running. Wherever you go, there you are. And we know where you are. HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_018184