In what is best described as a slow-motion bank robbery or train wreck (or both combined), it appears that a Kickstarter scam is about to walk away with over $500,000. The iFind, developed by WeTag, purports to be a battery-free Bluetooth location tracking tag, which can be stuck to any and all of your valuables (your wallet, your phone, your cat). WeTag says it has developed some magical, patent-pending technology that allows the iFind to harvest enough power from the air to operate the Bluetooth beacon forever, without a backup battery. Furthermore, along with the iFind iOS and Android tracker apps, each tag also has an integrated “loud alarm” to help you track it down. Sadly, a bit like the Solar Roadways project, iFind sounds too good to be true, and 10,000 unfortunate backers are probably about to be conned out of $500,000.
On paper, the iFind sounds absolutely amazing. I mean, come on, it’s the size of a quarter, harvests free energy from the air, and it has a detection range of 200 feet (60m). If you leave the 200-foot range, the “UHelp” feature extends the catchment area to all of your friends’ phones, too. Instead of a battery that you need to replace (like last year’s StickNFind location tags), the iFind has a “unique power bank” that allows it to be powered purely via harvested electromagnetic radiation (radio waves). Each iFind even has a built-in accelerometer, allowing you to trigger an alarm on your phone by shaking one of the tags (in case you misplace your phone). Is your mind blown yet?
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