Bluetooth Buses in Bucharest Will Guide the Blind

iBeacon BusFive hundred buses in Romania’s capital, Bucharest, will soon receive Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) beacons. The beacons will serve to guide blind passengers on and off buses, without the need for any assistance. So far, forty of the BLE beacons have been installed already, with the rest expected to be in place by the end of August.

How does the system work?

A visually impaired user would set up the app on his or her phone before leaving home. The phone application would then allow the user to follow whichever bus lines he or she needs to complete the trip. Each bus in this system has a unique ID in the form of an iBeacon, which alerts the phone of the visually impaired person as to the fact that the bus is arriving. The alert is sent when the iBeacon-equipped bus is 50-60 meters away from the station. Once the bus actually arrives, it will also be informed by iBeacon of the fact that there’s a blind passenger in the station. The bus will begin to beep repeatedly so as to inform the app user of its location even if there’s multiple buses in the station at the time. The beeping stops once the passenger has boarded.

BLE system will simplify travel for tens of thousands of blind in Romania.

Now, thanks to the system, tens of thousands of blind people will be able to easily access any area of Bucharest. They will be able to board, leave, and also transfer buses with ease, since the mobile app will help users find connecting buses easily. By the start of September, the whole Bluetooth system will be up and running, and available for free to anyone in Bucharest.

Who came up with and funded this program?

The program is the result of a project known as Smart Public Transport (SPT). It was organized by Onyx Beacon, provider of the bluetooth beacon technology, RATB (Bucharest’s public transportation agency), and visually impaired project coordinator Tandem Association. The SPT is one of eight projects that received funding by aVodafone Romania Foundation called “Mobile for Good.” The Mobile for Good program is meant to promote the use of mobile technology for social causes.

Read more at Clapway: http://clapway.com/2015/06/08/bluetooth-buses-in-bucharest-will-guide-the-blind-890/#ixzz3cbDTeLV1

UriBeacon: More Disruptive than iBeacon?

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In October 2014 Google created UriBeacon, an open specification to connect Bluetooth Low power beacons to the web, an experiment they called the Physical Web.

UriBeacon could well be bigger than iBeacon in its disruptive role, providing a bridge between the physical and digital worlds.

For enterprises that can afford a web site but can’t afford a mobile app, UriBeacon brings the benefit of digital to physical convergence.

We should expect tools like WordPress and Adobe Creative Suite to extend the web publishing system to cater for UriBeacon. These offerings are in a position to tie Physical Web into the digital web publishing tools with which millions of content producers are already familiar.

GPS Business News’ Steve Statler explores why that is, how UriBeacons work and what to expect when you start browsing the Physical Web. via Google’s UriBeacon: More Disruptive than iBeacon?.

Use Bluetooth 4.0 to keep track of your Devices and Your Business Assets

bluetooth trackersOne of the challenges that business owners face is tracking inventory or assets. But with the advent of Bluetooth 4.0 you can track inventory or assets with ease and at a reasonably low cost.

These Bluetooth tracking devices can attach to almost anything such as Smartphones, tablets, laptops, briefcases and even storage keys.

Once you’ve paired the tracker with your iPhone or Android phone, these devices work by sounding an alarm when the tracker and your Laptop get separated from each other. This can be helpful if someone tries to walk off with your briefcase. But you can also set up ‘safe’ zones, such as your home or office, so your phone doesn’t start beeping every time you wandered away from your wallet. However if you did lose your wallet in the office you can open the app and press a button to make the tracker start beeping so you can then locate it.

There are several companies that provide inexpensive options to help you find your smartphone or laptop just by using a smartphone app. The cloud is more than just digital assets storage or the moving or corporate data – it can be a tool for protecting, securing and monitoring physical assets too. The Internet of  Things (IoT) is connecting people to the cloud in unique and powerful ways. Enterprise versions of some of these devices will empower businesses and help them to keep track of all their assets.

Hipkey (www.hippih.com/hipkey) For those with no inventory, but a few assets to monitor, HipKey is a good Bluetooth tracking device – keeping your tracked item connected to your iPhone. The device is aimed at consumers, but if you have a small number of devices or people and are also iPhone users, this one is fast and easy and will locate assets up to 50m. At $89.99 it is a little expensive if you have multiple items to secure. It’s currently only available with IOS app.

Sticknfind (http://www.stick-n-find.co.uk) If your business needs to go beyond tracking a couple of items, you will probably want to invest in the StickNFind sticker. These are quarter-sized stickers that come in several colours, which you can attach to anything you want to track. StickNFind also has inventory managing “Enterprise Beacons” that will help you track larger numbers of items. These keep track of inventory in real-time, increasing security and decreasing inventory time. Turn your iOS or Android devices into radar so that you can find up to 20 StickNFind marked devices in a 30-meter radius. A pack of 2 costs £49.99.

Tileapp (www.thetileapp.com) The power in the Tile app, is that you can grant access to different phones, so it would allow you to have a team of people locating a lost item. This distributed network is key for Tile: other people can’t see your tiles without permission, but if they have the app running in the background and your tile is nearby, you’ll be able to see where it is. Tiles are cool looking devices, but don’t offer as many features as some of the newer trackers. You can’t set up safe zones and there is no two-way buzzer. Worst of all, you can’t change the battery, when it dies in a year you have to throw away the entire tracker and buy another one. Compatible with both IOS and Android 4.4 Kitkat or higher. Tiles will set you back at around £22.50 each.

Protag (www.theprotag.com), have three products in this market, the G1, Elite and the Duet. Both the G1 and Elite are credit card size cards that have the unique feature of a USB charging port, which prolongs its useage, whereas the Duet runs off a small coin battery. The Duet is more aimed at consumers and comes in multiple colours. Another handy and unique function that all of the Protag products have is two way buzzers, so if you end up losing your phone, you just press the button on the locator to sound an alert on your phone. The Protag G1 is priced at £20.97, the Duet £24.90, and the Elite £66.34.

Lassotag, (www.lassotag.com), is one of the least expensive, available to buy online at only $19.99. It comes in three colours and has a range of up to 50ft with a battery life of three to six months, the larger model called the LassoTag HD, has a rechargeable battery instead. There are some unique features, for example, the app shows you the tracker’s battery life and temperature. And you can personalise the sound your phone makes when you’re too far from the tracker – even record your own voice. But no geofence and no two way communication, plus there is an annual fee for some of the features.  You can connect up to 6 Lassotags to your device. Only available on IOS.

Tintag, (www.thetintag.com), boast of being the first item tracking device with an ever- lasting battery. Whilst all the above devices either use a small coin battery which will need to be replaced every 3 months or so, the Tintag comes with a rechargeable battery. You charge it using the home base charger and after 6 hours charging it’s good for 4 months. TinTag also has an online community, (similar to Tile) so if someone finds your lost item and enters your Tintag unique id, a notification will immediately be sent to you, with the location of your item. Compatible with IOS and Android the Tintag is currently only available to purchase on the Indiegogo crowdfunding website : www.indiegogo.com/projects/tintag-the-first-rechargeable-item-tracker

TrackR, (www.trackR.com), offers ‘Crowd GPS’. None of these Bluetooth trackers have GPS, so you can’t look up their location on a map. But Tile, LassoTag and TrackR, all offer a cloud based service so that anytime someone with one of these devices walks past your lost thin, that person’s phone silently notices it and lets you know. Your phone lights up and sows the passerby’s location on a map. The concept is brilliant, but in practice they’ll need to sell a lot of the devices to make the service work properly. The TrackR has a sharp design that can also be engraved, works up to 100ft, compatible with IOS and Android as is available to pre-order on their website for $29.

Bluetooth 4.0 helps keep Construction Sites on Track

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Tracking Workers using Bluetooth 4.0

Knowing exactly where valuable tools and equipment are in “real time” can be key to a successful construction project, as can protecting employees in an industry where accidents and injury are an ever present danger.

RFID (radio-frequency identification) technology has been widely used for tracking tools, equipment, materials and there are numerous GPS tracking systems available to track the location of vehicles coming in and out of the jobsite.

However, the advent of a new technology, Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) or Bluetooth 4.0, has emerged and has much wider uses to improve the ability of construction businesses to keep track of a much wider variety of assets even down to individual tools and log and monitor activities on site and to improve health and safety.

GPS doesn’t work indoors or underground and RFID offers limited communication, whereas BLE is easily deployable in a wider range of locations, it’s very low power and is a lot more flexible when it comes to converging technology, making it a more ‘Future Proof’ investment.

BLE has the capability to track and monitor workers and assets more accurately, with the added functionality of being able to integrate into legacy back end systems to send audio and content to connected mobile devices (approx. 80% of all recent mobile devices).  Adopted by IOS, Android and Windows operating systems, its low power and cost, as well as its robust and reliable communication means BLE is quickly becoming the technology of choice.

One such company, Iknaia (www.iknaiatracking.com), London, UK, has built a completely robust end to end solution combing BLE and Wi-Fi. Iknaia’s beacons present their location to their detectors in ‘real-time’. In addition the detectors can connect to mobile devices and send content specific to that device based on its proximity.

Julia McNally, Founder explains: “One of the difficult issues facing organisations planning to deploy new technologies is how they can all integrate and become completely interoperable with any existing and future technology. Iknaia’s solution offers a ‘future-proof’ IT environment. Our installation covers a wide range of solutions including full Wi-Fi mesh connectivity, offering public/corporate channels; Beacon scanning and detecting; integration with back end systems to push relevant content to connecting mobile devices.”

McNally continues, “in addition to tracking valuable assets we can control access to site areas, track workers location, check their health, send alerts to them, send content to their mobile devices and enable them to communicate back. BLE also enables us to add on so many extra features, such as payment systems, check-in applications, CCTV cameras and much more.”

Iknaia’s data is pushed into the cloud and presented on an easy to use online management console, optimised for all devices; PC, tablets and Smartphones.

With Apple and Google adopting beacon technology and developing applications using BLE, we’ll see a lot more uses for this technology in years to come.

 

Bluetooth Low Energy is better for your health!

Wearables like Google Glass, Samsung Gear Live and the Apple Watch are a growing tech category. But do they pose serious health risks?

These gadgets put wireless technology right on your body, increasing exposure to radio waves when we’re all already carrying wireless smartphones, laptops and tablets.

The good news is that most wearables use Bluetooth technology, which emits much lower levels of radiofrequency, or RF, than cellular-based smartphones and other devices that use Wi-Fi.

Bluetooth Low Energy, is a lower power technology than classic Bluetooth typically used in headsets, and operates at powers a lot lower than mobile phones.

The output power of some Bluetooth Low Energy trackers is so low, the FCC does not require them to be tested for Specific Absorption Rate (SAR), a measure of the rate at which energy is absorbed by the human body when exposed to RF radiation, including microwave radiation). Cellphones and laptops, on the other hand, must pass strict SAR testing requirements, since they operate at higher power levels.

But many wearables don’t limit their radiation to Bluetooth. Products like Google Glass, Recon Instruments’ Recon Jet and Optinvent’s ORA use Wi-Fi, too. And that is sounding the alarm for some health professionals.

“Wi-Fi is very similar to cellphone radiation. You definitely don’t want to put these devices near your head or near your reproductive organs” for extended periods of time, said Joel M. Moskowitz, Ph.D., director of the Center for Family and Community Health at the UC Berkeley Prevention Research Center School of Public Health.

Source : Fox News

Retail Embraces iBeacon Technology

footfallAs more retailers embrace Beacon technology, could it be that this new technology is the future for these bricks and mortar retailers.

Back in August Macy’s announced it would roll out over 4,000 iBeacons to its 786 stores across the USA and a whole host of other retailers and  brands have now joined them.

Crown Estates, who own a good chunk of London’s West End shops have developed a Beacon app and installed Beacons into many of its Regent Street Stores. Real estate developer Simon is deploying Beacons across its 240 malls and shopping centres across the USA, and Apple and Disney both announced it was deploying beacon technology at all its stores to help connect with their customers based on real-time data regarding each shopper’s location at those sites.

Whilst retailers are all racing to implement Beacon technology to engage with their customers – here are just a few of our  thoughts before you consider using Beacons in Retail:

1) The customer has to download an application in order to interact with any Beacon placed in store. Is this one app? Or will they have to have one per store? There are some applications that will work with multiple stores, but in order to be able to push relevant content and promotion messages the application needs to be connected to some the in-store loyalty scheme. The big question here is, as a customer how many individual store apps would I want on my phone? Make yours stand out!

2) How do I get the app? Like with all traditional marketing, you have to make your customers aware that you have an application that could benefit them, you need to promote this to them in the same way you market all your other products. What are the benefits? There will be an education process to make your customers aware they can get discounts and incentives on their device.

3) I’ve downloaded the store’s application,  I walk into the store – will my device automatically connect with a stores Beacons? No – you have to have your Bluetooth turned on and only then will your phone pick up the Beacons. A significant amount of in-store marketing will have to also be done to promote this.

4) My Bluetooth is on, I have the app, when I walk past the beacon what am I likely to receive? This very much depends on the retailer and how integrated their application is. At a basic level you may get a notification alerting you to a sale or discount on items in the store. However retailers with their own loyalty schemes and fully integrated customer databases, could actually send you out notifications about products that it knows you’ve bought in the past, offering you specific discounts on these items. This retailer will use your previous buying profile to maximise the chances of you spending more whilst in their store.

5) How many alerts will I receive? Now this is the question! A recent study by inMarket found that customer engagement decreases when platforms oversaturate. The study found that if a customer received more than one push notification from a Beacon platform in the same store, app usage among exiting users declines by 313 percent. The same goes if the notifications customers received were irrelevant; the app gets deleted.

6) Can a store track me as I walk around their store. Yes – if you have your Bluetooth turned on and you have the app on your phone. This is a great way for retailers to get a better understanding of their customers habits in store; what aisles they visit, how long they dwell, repeat visits etc. Using this information it can provide intelligence that will help with future store layouts. Of course if you turn your Bluetooth off – you can no longer be tracked. The incentive for the customer here is to provide them with store maps to help them locate items within your store a lot quicker.

7) Does it work on other devices other than Apple? Yes! Apple has definitely stolen the march here and even cornered the phrase ‘iBeacon’. But Beacon technology will also work across Android and Windows, depending on which Beacon vendor you decide to go with. (see also Android devices more optimised for Beacon Technology)

There are some great benefits why as a retailer you should invest in Beacon technology, some consumers will completely embrace it, others will turn off. But like any other retail marketing, try it, test it, learn from it. If its done right you’ll get a much better understanding of your consumer buying habits and see an increase in your sales.

Retailers trialling iBeacons right now:

Crown Estate, UK 

Macy’s, USA

Apple, USA

Disney, USA

Trinity Shopping Centre – Leeds, UK

House of Frazer, UK

Target, USA

American Eagle, USA