Do you know where your kids are right now? That question addresses one of the biggest fears a parent might have to face someday. But you can't be with your kids every moment of the day. They have to go to school, socialize with their friends, go to the local arcade, the mall and maybe even work. Sure there's supervision and safety in most of these places but there will always be times when they are on their own and given the world in which we live, there will always be some risks. And while nothing will ever guarantee total safety, technology continues to offer new and exciting products that help parents to more closely monitor where their children are at any given moment and even how fast they're getting there.

Most of us know about those GPS navigation systems that help prevent you from getting lost when driving. Well the same GPS system can also be used to track the location of a locator device. Plant one of these units in a backpack or in the glove compartment of a car and you'll find yourself with the ability to track that person anywhere and at anytime. The wireless Locate 1 from MicroTRAKgps is the latest consumer electronic tracker/locater designed to be used by anyone with Internet access. Here's how it works.

Looking much like and around the size of a small clamshell-styled cell phone, the Locate 1 is a rechargeable unit that can easily fit into a backpack, notebook computer case or automobile. Using a combination of GPS tracking and the cell phone network, the Locate 1 keeps transmitting its location to the MicroTRAKgps website. To locate where the unit is at any given moment, you simply log onto the company's website, enter your name and password and the location of the Locate 1 is displayed on a map and can be pinpointed to within 3 meters.

If the Locate 1 is secured inside a car, you can generate a report that displays a grid that displays the date and time, the exact address, the compass direction it was traveling as well as the speed. Depending on the monthly or yearly plan you select, report updates can be tracked every hour, half hour, 15 or every 5 minutes.

Additional features allow you to set limits. For example, if you want to know when your teenager is driving faster than 70 miles per hour, you can set the Locate 1 website to detect the faster speed and when it does, it will send an instant message to your computer or a cell phone text message alerting you to the infraction. Who needs trust anymore? Now you can nail your speeding teenager with the latest in parental technology! Another limit you can set is a kind of electronic fence. If your child wanders beyond the perimeter you define which can be as small as one block or miles wide, the system will also send out the appropriate alert message to you.

The battery charge of the Locate 1 lasts around 5 days of tracking power before its lithium-ion battery needs a recharge. Additional buttons on the Locate 1 allow the user to send an immediate alert to any of two pre-defined contacts as well as activating a motion detector that's ideal if you want to keep tabs on something that isn't supposed to move at all.

I recently bought a new puppy and the first thing he had done was the insertion of a tiny subcutaneous chip that lets him be identified if he's lost. Granted it's not a tracking device but rather an identification unit.

Still, I'm sure that GPS tracking devices like the Locate 1 will eventually become so small that they may also one day be surgically implanted. Of course, that opens up a whole other can of worms. Do you want your family to know where its members are all the time or are we encroaching on their right to privacy? That's a question that can't be answered here. Still it's something to think about even with the Locate 1. How much privacy are we willing to give up in the name of safety? I would think a good part of the answer lies in the hands of the parents who use this technology.

The Locator 1 sells for $499.95 and is available at The Sharper Image. The tracking service begins at $19.95 a month and is available at www.microtrakgps.com