Detailed on the official Bringrr site, this tech gadget plugs into a car’s cigarette lighter and links up to mobile devices like your smartphone or tablet. When you start the car, power flows to the Bringrr and the gadget searches for your mobile devices over Bluetooth. If you happen to have forgotten your smartphone, a LED light will flash on the outside of the Bringrr and an audible tone will alert the user to a missing device. The creators of Bringrr have also included a standard USB port on the front of the gadget to allow users to charge their mobile devices during a drive.
In addition to Bluetooth pairing with mobile devices, the Bringrr is also compatible with a small tag called the BringTag. The BringTag is small enough to be used on a keyring as well as a bookbag, laptop bag or purse, again useful when leaving the house. Utilizing an interchangeable battery that will last approximately one year, the BringTag can also communicate with mobile devices through an application. Combined with the GPS function within most smartphones, the mobile app tracks the last location of all BringTags. In other words, you would only have to check the app to see where you accidentally left something important.
The app ties into the core scheduling application on both iOS and Android smartphones. Conceptually, it allows the user to set a specific grouping of objects that should be in the car before leaving. For instance, someone heading out on vacation on a specific day may want to tag all of their luggage to make sure everything is in the car before leaving home.
Interestingly, the developers of Bringrr have also made the device compatible with Google Glass. Rather than simply relying on the Bringrr’s audio and visual alert, Google Glass will display specific names of objects that are missing from the car. In addition, users can assign specific BringTags to an object by simply taking a picture of the item with Glass. You can also ask Glass where an item is located and the display will use arrows to indicate the location of the missing object.
The creators are also attempting to develop a Bringrr community that acts as a security system of sorts. If a specific object with a BringTag is stolen, the owner should mark that item as missing. If the object passes within range of another user of the Bringrr mobile application, the owner of the object will be alerted of the location. However, personal information or location data of the person that “spotted” the stolen item will not be revealed to the original user. It’s possible that this alert system could work for pets as well, but it’s only as good as the number of people that installed the application. Competing products like Tagg are probably more useful for pets.
Since the team that’s building Bringrr already completed a successful crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter, the target window for the launch of the device is currently July 2014. After the initial batch of devices ship to early backers, the retail price of the Bringrr will be around $30 while the BringTag will be in the $20 range. Users will be able to track up to 10 different BringTags at any given time.
