StickNFind – Bluetooth Powered ultra small Location Stickers (opens in new tab)

(indiegogo.com)

62 pointsMaxGfeller13y ago30 comments

30 comments

I sometimes wonder why a big company that has been doing this for years needs to use something like indiegogo to get customers to pay up front for a product that isn't in manufacturing yet.

Also. I think it's a really cool idea and I want one. I would use one to secure a suitcase on a bus from getting nicked when they stop to let someone off.

bemmu13y ago

You could prototype a variety of product ideas and let the customers guide you on what to work on, instead of committing to an idea right away that might not get any traction once it is released.

pavel_lishin13y ago

Isn't that what focus groups are for?

1 more reply

unwind13y ago

Pretty cool.

I missed details on how the pairing works, for privacy reasons it seems desirable that the tags are locked to (preferably a set of) cell phones.

Some more information about the battery would be nice too, what counts as "usage" for the tag exactly, and do they expose any idea of the battery's state? It would be nice to know that a tag is nearing it's projected end-of-battery, I guess.

Also didn't much enjoy the example with tagging the wife's car. Bleh.

pavel_lishin13y ago

My first thought was, "I'd plant one in my boss's shoe, so I'd always know when he was on his way over," and realize that that's probably just about as weird and distrust-based as the wife example.

intended13y ago

Well at least the wife example quickly shows how this will escalate.

lukeholder13y ago

I have always wanted a 'google' for your house to find things. Search: "ruby on rails book" would return: "Bedroom 1 North Corner." Search: "keys" would return: "Laundry Shelf". Also: "wallet" would return "John's Lounge room, click to see directions"

These are one step closer.

dave1010uk13y ago

Triangulation should be possible with 3 or more Bluetooth sensors. Would be a nice project to re-purpose old Android phones for.

davorak13y ago

Triangulation should be possible by combining the bluetooth with gps or the accelerometer.

krisoft13y ago

I always found the thought, that I can find something more easily on the internet, than in my drawers quite amusing.

54mf13y ago

Love this idea, but as I understand it, their iOS app will be rejected unless they go through the MFi Program licensing process. Apple doesn't allow open access to the Bluetooth stack for anything besides audio hardware. Hope they have someone taking care of that, I don't see any mention of it in their sales pitch.

Also, I really hope some of that money goes towards hiring a designer to polish their apps and branding. They certainly have the tech side covered, but style goes a long way. See: Nest.

frankus13y ago

That's one of the coolest "features" of Bluetooth LE: Apple has decided that the risks to battery life and overall system integrity are low enough with BLE that they've left it quite wide open from an app-developer perspective. There's even an officially-supported background mode.

It remains to be seen exactly how far they are willing to go with unregistered protocols and custom hardware, but this type of "electronic leash" is an officially blessed protocol, so there should be no issues with their app.

54mf13y ago

Oh wow! I stand corrected, very useful to know. Looks like these folks are even smarter than I thought.

Still hope they tune up the design, though. Even beyond aesthetics, the usability leaves a lot to be desired.

AdamTReineke13y ago

FYI, if anybody from IndieGoGo reads comments here, with IE10 on first page load it says I'm using IE6 and the browser is not supported. Refreshing clears this message.

hmexx13y ago

Regarding: 1:25...

They should be able to use the gyro/accelerometer to give their radar 'direction' as well no? You would just need to move around slightly for it to combine the data with the BT signal distance.

Guess it depends on the BT distance resolution.

frankus13y ago

You could do this with multiple devices at known locations. E.g. if you always keep your (latest-generation) Mac mini in the office, and your MacBook Air in the kitchen, and have programmed them as such, they could communicate with the app and give you a rough location for any tag.

Which would actually be a pretty cool project for someone: create a system for triangulating the approximate location of stuff in your house with strategically-placed fixed Bluetooth LE devices ("stuff" in the degenerate case meaning powered-up BLE hardware like an iPhone, or with these sorts of tags, things like keys and pets). Sort of like this project but wit less of the "getting warmer…getting colder" hide-and-seek aspect.

zizzer13y ago

Unfortunately a gyro and accelerometer would only be able to provide the orientation of the device, not its location relative to the phone.

hmexx13y ago

Yeah, but the gyro/accelerometer could provide short movement measurements, no? IF you combine that with the distance measurement you get from the BT device, you should be able to figure out the direction to the BT device?

1 more reply

darknoon13y ago

There's a lot of cool stuff going on with bluetooth-le. I can see these having other uses besides just finding your stuff. You could use a bunch of these as a primitive location service inside a building.

They're still a bit expensive, but I'm hoping the price will approach $1 each in a couple years.

dholowiski13y ago

I wonder if they used Indiegogo instead of Kickstarter because of the new rules that you can't tell people they are pre-ordering for something that doesn't exist yet?

brador13y ago

Could this be done with RFID tags?

dhlabs13y ago

they would have to be active rfid tags. i've been using some active tags from http://goo.gl/DkZkB for vehicle home/away detection for the past 5 years. they aren't quarter sized, but they're in the glove box out of sight. they work well.

i'm also using a network of hacked seagate dockstars w/ bluetooth usb dongles hidden around the house to detect which part of the house our cellphones are in.

i'm already plotting what i can use these stickers for :)

lbotos13y ago

I'm sure it could in some form but I think the goal was for cell phone integration.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse

30 comments

hmottestad13y ago

I sometimes wonder why a big company that has been doing this for years needs to use something like indiegogo to get customers to pay up front for a product that isn't in manufacturing yet.

Also. I think it's a really cool idea and I want one. I would use one to secure a suitcase on a bus from getting nicked when they stop to let someone off.

bemmu13y ago

You could prototype a variety of product ideas and let the customers guide you on what to work on, instead of committing to an idea right away that might not get any traction once it is released.

pavel_lishin13y ago

Isn't that what focus groups are for?

1 more reply

unwind13y ago

Pretty cool.

I missed details on how the pairing works, for privacy reasons it seems desirable that the tags are locked to (preferably a set of) cell phones.

Also didn't much enjoy the example with tagging the wife's car. Bleh.

pavel_lishin13y ago

My first thought was, "I'd plant one in my boss's shoe, so I'd always know when he was on his way over," and realize that that's probably just about as weird and distrust-based as the wife example.

intended13y ago

Well at least the wife example quickly shows how this will escalate.

lukeholder13y ago

These are one step closer.

dave1010uk13y ago

Triangulation should be possible with 3 or more Bluetooth sensors. Would be a nice project to re-purpose old Android phones for.

davorak13y ago

Triangulation should be possible by combining the bluetooth with gps or the accelerometer.

krisoft13y ago

I always found the thought, that I can find something more easily on the internet, than in my drawers quite amusing.

54mf13y ago

Also, I really hope some of that money goes towards hiring a designer to polish their apps and branding. They certainly have the tech side covered, but style goes a long way. See: Nest.

frankus13y ago

54mf13y ago

Oh wow! I stand corrected, very useful to know. Looks like these folks are even smarter than I thought.

Still hope they tune up the design, though. Even beyond aesthetics, the usability leaves a lot to be desired.

AdamTReineke13y ago

FYI, if anybody from IndieGoGo reads comments here, with IE10 on first page load it says I'm using IE6 and the browser is not supported. Refreshing clears this message.

hmexx13y ago

Regarding: 1:25...

They should be able to use the gyro/accelerometer to give their radar 'direction' as well no? You would just need to move around slightly for it to combine the data with the BT signal distance.

Guess it depends on the BT distance resolution.

frankus13y ago

zizzer13y ago

Unfortunately a gyro and accelerometer would only be able to provide the orientation of the device, not its location relative to the phone.

hmexx13y ago

1 more reply

darknoon13y ago

They're still a bit expensive, but I'm hoping the price will approach $1 each in a couple years.

dholowiski13y ago

I wonder if they used Indiegogo instead of Kickstarter because of the new rules that you can't tell people they are pre-ordering for something that doesn't exist yet?

brador13y ago

Could this be done with RFID tags?

dhlabs13y ago

i'm also using a network of hacked seagate dockstars w/ bluetooth usb dongles hidden around the house to detect which part of the house our cellphones are in.

i'm already plotting what i can use these stickers for :)

lbotos13y ago

I'm sure it could in some form but I think the goal was for cell phone integration.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse