The technology might be suitable for tracking children, people with Alzheimer's, and even lost pets.
Its aim is to develop and evaluate apps, teachers' guides and tools for tracking children's progress on the path to enjoying and excelling in mathematics.
Still, no example is more emblematic of the state's administrative problems, Mr. Glaser said, than a continuing effort by the State Office of Children and Family Services to develop a new computer system for tracking children in foster care.
The system for tracking children or adults is not available for sale yet, even though Ms. Durst and her partners have a Web site at www.gpstracks.com that offers information about the dog-finding collar.
But this longstanding system for tracking children by academic ability for more effective teaching evolved into an uncomfortable caste system in which students were largely segregated by race and socioeconomic background, both inside and outside classrooms.
Google and other technology companies refer to this as "eating your own dog food". Through such "dog-fooding," Google learned that the early version of its calendar program was fine for parents tracking children's soccer games, but not robust enough to meet a corporate user's need to book rooms, reserve equipment and delegate scheduling.
The company (www.vehicletracking.com) plans to 'miniaturize Boomerang by August 2001 for use in tracking children, pets and small valuables.
The findings of the study, apparently the first to follow low-birthweight children to age 19, are far more dramatic than the academic problems documented in previous studies tracking children for fewer years.
He also created a child locater device for tracking kidnapped children, an alarm worn by a person to alert him that his artificial hip is starting to separate, and a design for a vehicle dubbed the AirScooter, an easy-to-fly, lightweight, inexpensive aircraft that has the ability to hover in one spot while a pilot gets his bearings.
The Netherlands police department is another client, using its software for tracking down child abuse photos.
