Posted on April 12th, 2013
Google gains team behind Behavio, a startup that uses smartphone data to make predictions
By Dante D’Orazio on April 12, 2013 02:46 pm
Google has added a few more employees to its roster. The new hires come from the team behind Behavio, a company works on recording and analyzing the data that smartphones are capable of keeping track of: location, speed, nearby devices and networks, phone activity, noise levels, and much more. The idea is that the software can keep track of all of this data and be able to watch for any deviant behavior and make educated guesses based on what’s going on. To do all of this, Behavio created Funf, an open source framework that allows developers to leverage this data on Android.
The team is made up of three MIT Media Lab alums, and last year the project won a $355,000 Knight News Challenge grant. As reported by Nieman Journalism Lab, which profiled Behavio last year, some of the early work done at MIT in this field used data recorded by smartphones like physical movement, texting activity, and more to predict when someone was becoming sick before they noticed any symptoms. There is little information available about the company joining Google, but Behavio says that it will be shutting down its private alpha in light of the news though it will continue maintaining Funf. The team says that it will be working with Google to develop improvements centered on the belief "that our digital experiences should be better connected with the way we experience the world."
Update: An earlier version of this article said Behavio had been acquired, but after reaching out to Google we’ve been told that this is not an acquisition, and the team will merely be joining Google.
Pasted from < http://www.theverge.com/2013/4/12/4217618/google-purchases-behavio-a-startup-… >
Posted on April 6th, 2013
Posted on April 6th, 2013
Posted on March 25th, 2013
Sherpa, a New “Predictive” Personal Assistant App, Stays One Step Ahead of You
The newest personal assistant app to join the mix is called Sherpa, created by former Google AdWords product manager Bill Ferrell. The app, which currently runs only on iPhone, is soft-launching today, with plans to become more widely available next month.
So, what sets Sherpa apart from the pack? First off, it’s meant to be a “predictive” personal assistant app, Ferrell said, one that anticipates your next step instead of just making tasks easier once they’ve popped up in your calendar. Location plays a big part in Sherpa’s predictive algorithm (which many other personal assistant apps factor in, as well).
An example of this would be Sherpa showing you your hotel reservation information as soon as your flight has landed, so you’re not digging for that info while you’re hailing a taxi or dealing with a car rental.
Pasted from < http://allthingsd.com/20130325/sherpa-a-new-predictive-personal-assistant-app… >
Posted on March 16th, 2013
Internet of Things
What if every Thing were connected to the Internet?
reelyActive makes it possible for everyday Things, the objects around us, to connect to the Internet using the simplest of radio devices. Imagine if Things could interact the way humans do via smart devices: we can only begin to fathom the possibilities!
Real Time Location Systems
What if the location of everything and everyone was known?
reelyActive makes it possible to identify, locate and track Things and people at points of interest. Imagine if a space and the objects it contains could react to who and what is present at any given moment: it becomes a responsive environment!
Wireless Sensor Networks
What if the state of a space and everything it contains was known?
reelyActive makes it possible for Things and wireless sensors to communicate physical and environmental information to the Internet. Imagine if a space could constantly adjust its conditions in response to outside influences and the needs of the Things it contains: it too becomes a responsive environment!
Pasted from <http://reelyactive.com/corporate/applications.htm>
Posted on March 11th, 2013
Wristband plugs you into smart buildings
16 January 2012 by Niall Firth
Magazine issue 2847
Packed with environmental sensors, an unobtrusive wristband will help you keep comfortable indoors and could do much else besides
SWELTERING in the office while your colleague shivers under layers of extra clothing? Just register your discomfort by tapping a button on your wrist and let the room do the rest.
That’s one of the ideas behind WristQue, a project at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology that aims to create a low-power wristband device that works with sensors embedded in buildings to monitor how you feel and continually adjust the lighting and temperature to keep you happy.
WristQue is the key to controlling "the immersive world of interactive media that will one day surround us", says Joe Paradiso, director of the Responsive Environments Group at MIT’s Media Lab, who is working with colleagues to design it.
Each 3D-printed, plastic WristQue band will contain a microprocessor and will be packed with environmental sensors to detect changes in temperature, humidity and light. It will be fitted with a chip that uses ultra-wideband radio signals to pinpoint the user’s location and will be able to communicate wirelessly with sensors fitted in smart buildings….
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21328476.100-wristband-plugs-you-into-s…
Posted on March 10th, 2013
Posted on March 9th, 2013
Startup Light Aims to Give You a Digital Record of Your Life
That is the concept behind Light, an app from Schellino’s Miami-based Light of Creativity art workshop that aims to be a digital record of your life. Think of it as Dropbox with social functionality. You can download all your personal photos, videos and blog posts and let a few friends and family comment. And those comments will be part of a file that represents you in digital form, perhaps long after you’ve died in a “.Life file.”
Pasted from <http://mashable.com/2013/03/09/light/>
Posted on March 6th, 2013
Tracking Sensors Invade the Workplace
Devices on Workers, Furniture Offer Clues for Boosting Productivity
Pasted from <http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324034804578344303429080678.html?mod=djemalertTECH>
Posted on February 22nd, 2013
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