locate your goods with a smartphone (hands-on video)
By Zach Honig posted Jan 2nd, 2013 at 4:20 PM
We've all misplaced keys, gadgets and occasionally even children.
Well, no more. StickNFind is a nifty, inexpensive solution for tagging
and locating electronics, keys and pets. For roughly $25 a pop
(estimated retail), you get a small adhesive disk that can be affixed
to any flat surface or attached to a keychain. Inside, there's a
replaceable CR2016 watch battery that's said to last more than a
year, a Bluetooth module and antenna, an LED-lit ring and a
iezoelectric speaker. A free Android or iOS app then lets you hone
in on any stickers within a roughly 100-foot (line of sight) range.
The current version can only display distance, but an update, set to
hit before StickNFind ships, will add direction, leading you directly
o your target. You can also activate a (fairly faint) beeper, and an
LED ring around the perimeter of the sticker, further helping you to
ind the device, even in a dark room. The app will offer several other
eatures, including a "Virtual Leash" that alerts you when the sticker
goes out of range -- a "Reverse Virtual Leash" will make the device
(perhaps attached to your keys) beep, letting you know you've left
your smartphone behind.
even create their own apps for StickNFind. For example, you could
write an app that uses the stickers as triggers -- apparently one museum
plans to affix the device to art, so as visitors approach, a text notification
will pop up describing the piece. Another company is considering using
stickers at an upcoming conference, and with Bluetooth transmitters
laced around a venue, they can track the precise location of attendee
badges (and the individuals wearing them), and even send "pages" by
riggering the beeper and light. During our hands-on, StickNFind worked
quite well, though as we mentioned, the current alpha version of the
app only displays distance, not direction. The device is currently
available for "pre-order" on Indiegogo, with an estimated March s
hip date. You can snag a sneak peek of it in action though, in our h
No comments:
Post a Comment