A new product geared toward women adds a bit of fashion to the realm of high-tech wearables: WaryBee, created by Malaysia-based programmer Ray Teng, is a free mobile app and a panic button built in to jewelry. Check out the story behind the invention over at Tech in Asia. After hearing of a 15-year-old girl who had gone missing and was later found dead in a suitcase, Teng founded WaryBee as a way to let kidnapping victims discreetly contact their families. The wearable comes as a necklace or bracelet with a hidden panic button in a pendant. Once the victim presses the button, a signal with a pre-determined message and the victim’s location goes out to family or friends of the wearer’s choosing. Teng is currently working on a feature that will notify anyone, guardian or not, within a certain radius in the hopes of immediate assistance.
Yeo Kee Jun, a Malaysian student, recently left his home together with his family in Jalan Klang Lama, Kuala Lumpur after their house was broken into six times over the last 12 years. The last three times had occurred over a period of four months. The family was also victim to six robberies, a mugging, and several car theft attempts. None of these crimes, however, strike as much fear into the hearts of parents as kidnapping and murder cases. Late last year in Petaling Jaya, the body of a 15-year-old girl named Ng Yuk Tim was found dead in a suitcase. The schoolgirl had gone to her friend’s home in the morning, and subsequently went missing for the next two days. Her 23 year old friend later confessed to the murder. One programmer was especially affected by the incident, and vowed to do something about it. Ray Teng, founder of Malaysia-based safety wearable WaryBee, has a daughter and a son, and at that point in time couldn’t help but worry about their safety. “I immediately thought, if this happened to my daughter, what would I do?” he recalls. “The older she gets, the more I worry. As a father, I can’t help but be concerned. As such, I wanted to do something that could help not only myself feel more at ease, but other parents as well.”