As far as I know, this is a new product that could be useful for denizens or visitors of AAC.

WUSF, January 8, 2014, 10 pm, Ask This Old House. A show titled as something about routers, the kind that cut wood.
Featured product was a Bluetooth cat finder with mobile app.
The sensor is about the size of a thick 25 cent piece (American quarter dollar).

For those not in the know, a cat finder is a locater that you attach to something that might get lost, a cat, a tool box, or whatever. In this case, a mobile app (might be on an Ipad) finds the locater. For those in the know, Hey, it's new to me.

This has been a public service announcement.

 

How difficult is it to find a cat within 30 feet of your bluetooth connection(phone)? I'm not a cat person but is this really needed?

 

I don't know. I'm not a cat person
How did you get the information that the range is 30 feet?

 

Did a quick Google and turned up
http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/sticknfind-bluetooth-powered-ultra-small-location-stickers which seems to fit your description.

I particularly like their idea of fitting one to the Wife's car so you can be notified to get busy when she pulls into the drive.

 

That website says the range is 100 feet (30 meters), and I believe that is exactly what I saw on TV. Seems like it would only be good for indoor cats.

NOT good enough to track down a stolen tool box.

 

But you can have it notify you when things go out of range so you could track your tool box that way. Also could be handy on expensive tools so you don't leave them behind.

I'm guessing it works but using bluethooth RSSI, can anyone confirm that?

 

I see. Good enough to tell when your tool box has walked 100 feet away.

I'd like to have a stick-on with a hole in the middle so I could attach it to my thermometer. I must have left 50 thermometers stuck in air ducts in the last 40 years.

 

Hmm, looking at that device that would mean a battery with a hole in it, also might not work so well in a metal air duct...

 

anyone seen my Ipad?, I have to find my cat.

 

Just reminded me, in the days before the internet could answer any question the Guardian (UK news paper) used to run a weekly "Notes and Queries" column, people would write in with questions which the paper published and then others would write in with answers.

It was often fairly light hearted, one week someone wrote in with the question "has anyone seen my keys?"

The next week they published the response "No, but if I could find my glasses I would help you look"

 

A 100' cat finder would actually be very useful. My cats can come and go thru their door during the day but we close it at night to limit the raccoon traffic. So every night there is the question; are the cats in or out? It's usually easy to tell.

But when the stakes are high (-20°F outside, certain death for the cat if we get it wrong), we have to get it right.

The trouble is, cats have an ability to find a sleeping spot that you cannot. I've searched the house time and again with a flashlight, looking for a "lost" cat. Then I've lost sleep thinking about our beloved pet shivering in the cold. Of course they show up safe and warm in the morning and we have no idea where they were at night.

Being able to zero in on them would be nice. Now, whether it's worth putting that disk on them - and inevitably losing a couple disks a year - is another question.

 

I don't know. I'm not a cat person
How did you get the information that the range is 30 feet?

Bluetooth specs. Lots of people like to say longer ranges but 30 feet is common for consumer products (especially mobile products). From the bluetooth org website...

Range
Range is application specific and although a minimum range is mandated by the Core Specification, there is not a limit and manufacturers can tune their implementation to support the use case they are enabling.

Range may vary depending on class of radio used in an implementation:

Class 3 radios – have a range of up to 1 meter or 3 feet
Class 2 radios – most commonly found in mobile devices – have a range of 10 meters or 33 feet
Class 1 radios – used primarily in industrial use cases – have a range of 100 meters or 300 feet​

http://www.bluetooth.com/Pages/Basics.aspx

 

I use a couple of low - tech, cheap yet highly effective cat-finders:

1) Tie a string to a belt loop and walk around the house. This keeps both of my hands free to grab any possibly recalcitrant feline if necessary, but usually just playing the part of The Pied Piper works.

2) The thermonuclear option; open a can of cat food. While a single - use item, it's generally loud enough to attract any feline within a quarter mile, easily besting Bluetooth for distance.

However, we are now fostering kitties, and I'm considering options for tracking their general locations around here. I'm probably going to use passive rfid @ 125kHz; as that's what they use for cat & dog microchips. I'm going to be constructing overhead catwalks, and the system will not only be able to track them, but be able to respond to them uniquely - however, I'm getting way off topic here. Anyway, I don't want active devices on the critters for various reasons, but mostly because I don't want to have to periodically replace a boatload of batteries!