Once you have started the app, connected and can view the settings, click on the key icon at the top right to change the password. Remember the new password otherwise you will be locked out forever.
BeaconZone Mentioned in SD Times Article
The SD Times has a new article, by Alexandra Weber Morales on Why developers are sitting pretty for IoT.
The article explains how mobile developers such as ourselves are moving to the IoT and how beacons are part of the IoT. Other important areas for IoT are (big) data and security. The article concludes with several ways to get started and explore the IoT.
You might also like to read an article on Beacons and IoT that we wrote on LinkedIn last January.
New Ruuvitag Sensor Beacon
There’s an interesting new sensor beacon at Ruuvitag. It provides temperature, humidity, air pressure and acceleration and will be coming soon to kickstarter.
At first sight it doesn’t provide that much more than standard sensor beacons. However, the differentiating factor is that this beacon is open source.
This means that the beacon is not just configurable but also fully user-reprogrammable. For example, you can run proprietary protocols and form mesh networks. The open hardware and software design to allows adaptation for your proprietary solution. Open hardware and software also reduces the risk should you base your system on it and Ruuvitag (the company) no longer support it.
iB004 PLUS Sensor Beacon Available
We now have a limited number of iB004 PLUS beacons in stock with an additional SHT20 temperature/humidity sensor. The iB004 is one of the most commonly used (and re-branded) beacons and the ‘PLUS’ part means it has a larger CR2477 battery rather than the CR2450 in the original iB004. The larger battery means there’s a longer 100m (vs 70m) range and longer battery life.
The temperature/humidity version has a small hole in the top to allow the environment, external to the case, to be sensed.
Inside the iB001M
Here’s a look inside our smallest beacon, the iB001M. The circuit board measures only 2cm across and the height of the beacon is is only 2.6mm.
The waterproof iB001M can transmit iBeacon and Eddystone at the same time. There’s also a press switch to turn on/off and a buzzer that’s found in the top side of the beacon (not shown) together with the waterproof ring. This beacon can be set up to only transmit advertising data when motion is detected.
It weighs only 4g so is great for wearable and pet-related applications.
Consequences of the Narrow Focus On Retail
Venture Beat has a great article by Kyle Fugere of dunnhumby Ventures on “Why indoor location tech is facing an uphill battle” where he says most beacon/platform providers have focussed on retail and consequently the:
“Refined focus has considerably shrunk the market opportunity for these companies”
He encourages companies to be
“more creative in regards to use cases”
and think about
“Banking, transportation, and live events with a potentially greater need and significantly shorter sales cycle”
We agree. Too many solutions tie beacons with a marketing platform. Also, one beacon type doesn’t fit all scenarios. One marketing platform certainly can’t fit all usecases. For example, a marketing platform isn’t suitable for security and sensing (IoT) applications.
The preponderance of beacon-based marketing platforms has obscured and confused what beacons actually are, due to over emphasis of the retail business benefits or description of proprietary server side CMS features. Many clients coming to us are actually confused.
The excessive competition in retail has caused beacon companies to have to run very lean. There’s noone to really talk to and even if you do get to talk to someone they only know about the benefits but can’t provide technical advice on how to solve your requirements.
Good business is all about listening to customers and adapting solutions. Most current platform providers can’t do that as most have trapped themselves with sparse human resources, narrow technical systems and very restricted ranges of beacon hardware.
Our site provides articles and a wide range of beacons to allow you to take advantage of beacons in scenarios outside traditional retail marketing and into new areas such as banking, security, transportation, distribution, sensing and the Internet of Things.
IP Telephone With Eddystone Beacon
Today, we came across the first IP telephone, by Unify, with in-built Eddystone:
You might wonder why you might want to transmit a URL or Eddystone id from a telephone. Maybe it could point to instructions how to use the phone or more details on the person who sits at that desk. However, you probably need to think wider and imagine it as a beacon that could be providing information about anything in the surrounding area – think indoor maps, indoor navigation or how to find the nearest ‘whatever’. For example, if the telephone belongs a restaurant it could be sending out the URL of a menu or a site with self-service ordering. In some ways it’s similar to the Cisco Meraki WiFi access point in that installing something ubiquitous like a phone or WiFi access point provides the opportunity to also easily create a beacon network.
We expect to see beacons being embedded in a larger range of electronic devices.