CES 2013: Kensington offers a tracking solution with the Proximo Tag Kit
Kensington is in attendance at the International CES here in Las Vegas this week, and the company kindly sat down with TUAW this afternoon to show off some of its latest products. The most interesting of their recent offerings is something called the "Proximo Fob and Tag Kit," which is a relatively cheap tracking solution designed to work over Bluetooth 4 with your iPhone 4S or iPhone 5.
We've seen tagging kits like this before, but Kensington's, now available, offered a nice set of features at a very reasonable price. The idea is that you can use an included key fob or a tag (just the tag is available for US$24.99, while a full fob and tag kit is $59.99) by attaching it to whatever object you'd like to keep safe, whether that's your keys, a purse or even a kid or a dog. Then you can use Kensington's free app to get alerts whenever that item/person moves out of range of your phone, so if you ever walk away and leave your keys at your desk, or if the dog wanders out of the yard, you'll know right away.
The app offers a nice bit of customization -- you can attach five different tags to it, and each one gets its own alert sound and an icon (or a custom picture), so there are plenty of different options for tracking various objects. The app also lets you set the sensitivity for each tag, so you can set your keys to stay very close, or set your car for a wider range. You can also track your phone directly from the fob (though the tag doesn't have any extra buttons on it, so that's a no-go there). If you ever lose your phone, you can just hit the button on the key fob, and then your phone will light up with an alert.
Finally, Kensington's kit also tracks your GPS, and while it can't actually find items via Bluetooth (because that service isn't positional at all), it can let you know where you last saw them. Whenever you lose track of a tag, the app will mark that point on a map, so you can be aware of where you last were when the tag went out of range. It's not quite as nice as geolocating right to the tag, but it works for helping you find lost items.
Aside from the Proximo tags, Kensington also showed off new charging kits, including a 4.2 Amp dual-USB charger for the car (enough to charge two different iPads up at the same time) for $34.99, a "Fast Charge" Lightning adapter to charge any iOS device for $29.99 or an iPhone-only charger for $24.99. Kensington is also offering another line of iPad cases, including some more stylish "Folio cases" for the iPad, and even a line for the iPad mini.
Finally, while not iOS-specific, the company was showing off a Contour Overnight backpack, with a special laptop-sized pocket and easy liquid access for going through airport security checkpoints. The backpack is a very impressive addition to the company's luggage lineup, and should also be available later on this year.
