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While walking through Paris yesterday morning I came across an interesting shop (selling material to be creative with). I wanted to remember this so I asked for a business card. They didn't have any. Knowing myself, I would loose the card anyway.
But I did carry my Palm and my Nokia phone with
me. Wouldn't it be great if their shopwindow would have a button that would beam their business-card to my PDA or phone?
A device that does this should be easy and cheap to make. Any shop could attach this to the inside of their shop-window, like you would see Garfields on rear-car windows in the nineties. Without going into the shop you can get their coordinates (after closing time for example).
Perhaps install the device also in delivery vans and pizza-delivery mopeds. Could it be functional not only on parked ones but also when driving alongside one?
flashier flashing shoes
http://www.halfbake..._20flashing_20shoes
Same basic principle for teen vanity market? [jutta, Aug 20 2000]
(?) POPspot Wireless
http://www.popspotwireless.com/
Toasty, toasty! [wiml, Aug 20 2000, last modified Oct 21 2004]
Brochure / Billboard maker for Palms
http://www.pocketgram.com/
Another Pricey Software creation tool [thumbwax, Aug 20 2000, last modified Oct 21 2004]
(?) it exists!
http://www.wideray.com/product/index.htm
WideRay caching server for any mobile device [rrr, Jul 25 2002, last modified Oct 21 2004]
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No reason why not, if you make the LEDs a little more powerful. A rather neat idea, I think. |
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Alternatively, use a cell phone
that knows its location (via GPS
or traingulation from base
stations) and a geographically
indexed directory (a phone book
with street addresses will do).
This is already practically baked;
even today, you could carry a GPS
and just press the "waypoint"
button when you're near a store. |
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For direct beaming (as opposed to
indirect lookup), Bluetooth is a
lot more likely than IR. |
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Egnor, the point is not to do a lookup of the geographically nearest store. That's baked for decades. Just the ZIP-code and the yellow pages will do. It's about the (carefully selected) input for your address book in your PDA/phone. |
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What do you want to do, then, that
"the ZIP-code and the yellow
pages" won't let you? Your
scenario made it sound like your
biggest concern was remembering
that you'd seen the store (and
keeping track of its name) in the
first place. |
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"Business card" information like
contact information, store hours
and the like are best kept online
on a Web site, anyway. You just
need enough data to find that Web
site, and a simple location
reminder ought to suffice. |
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Egnor, it's about remembering the store after having seen it, physically. You see it, visit it, you like it, and decide to keep the address for future use. I fully agree with you that all the info are best kept (up to date) on a website. The only thing that the device does is beam it to your (artificial) memory so that you won't have to type or write it. Just pointing your PDA or phone at something and pushing 'ir receive' is easier than any other method to get the info in your 'system'. |
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Also a way for the store to offer e-coupons redeemable at the store's web site, to encourage business from those who come by when the store is closed. This application would be especially useful in Paris, where the 35 hour work week is threatened by demand for longer store hours. |
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RRR: I still claim that just
pressing "remember this location"
on your phone is easier still, and
doesn't require the store to
install anything. You can look up
the location later (and find the
store's Web site, and...). |
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I agree with egnor in that a "remember location" button could be nice. Many times I've wondered where in the heck a store I passed by is. BUT I also agree with rrr because a business card can contain more than just location info, especially in this case. E-coupons were a great idea. A list of items sold by company and current stock would be helpful. It'd be great if I could know if Circuit City had Playstation2's in stock just by driving by their parking lot! Or in a mall I could surf the stores by simply walking down the halls with my Visor! Walk by the stores, if they have something you want/need go in and get it, otherwise keep walking... Stores could display specials on your handheld to entice you to walk in anyway... |
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This may not be relevant, but one of my suppliers has no doorbell on their frontdoor. Instead they have a telephone mounted to the wall. When you lift the receiver, it rings them. If they are out, you go through to their voicemail, like any regular phone call would....simple....and it timestamps when you were there too. They can then (if they so desire) match that timestamp to the CCTV etc etc. |
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The great benefit of egnor's 'remember location' button is
that it works always, also if the store doesn't cooperate.
And not only with stores it will work, but also with for
example a spot in nature for a picknick. Once you have
the location with coordinates (GPS or triangulation of
cellular base stations) in your handheld, the rest of the
information about this spot can be found automatically.
Software should translate the location into a ZIP code,
name of shops there, the website it might have, etc.
Anyone with some knowledge of the Palm OS and
triangulation could write this for my VisorPhone... Please,
anyone? Is there a Palm OS developers forum I can
cross-post this idea to? |
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How about an IR or wireless data port near the entrance of the business which would allow you to connect their website? |
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Then you could browse the company's product(s), perhaps place an order and have it delivered. |
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You could also bookmark the website which should already have contact information. |
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Baked, almost exactly as specified: see link. (Spendy, though.) |
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Spendy doesn't begin to describe the pricing of popspot - owners of perhaps the most hideous technoproduct page. |
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Good idea- but you can't stop a net from growing once communication starts. At some stage (if IR is 2-way)your virtual agent would continue shopping for you. Your interest in a store, or it's products, might lead to stores competing for your dollar- perhaps with an alert on your PDA when the item is in stock and local. |
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It becomes a cousin of the internet, except involving IR and feet. |
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For the simple stuff- you'd just need the barcode for the business card and a barcode reader on the PDA. 2-D barcodes are nice. Then the store can just print new stuff when needed and does not need to maintain an IR transmitter. |
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[wiml] That sure is close. And expensive. And you don't own it. And the data appears to be relatively static. |
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egnor: Yeah, but lots more PDAs can do IR reception than are Bluetooth-enabled. So I like this idea as it stands. Plus you can get IR amplifiers from smarthome.com (they call it a BLAST emitter: http://www.smarthome.com/8174.html). |
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You don't even need IRDA. |
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"FOR CONTACT DETAILS - SMS TO 555-5555" |
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The SMS server automatically sends back a GSM format business card or a SMS with all those details. |
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