I was on the SXSW Meatbus last night and I met a charming young lady from England, Renate, who introduced me to the Poken. Poken is a tiny USB key with an embedded RFID reader/transmitter. When you press a little button on the dongle and place it next to another Poken it passes all of your pertinent information to between Pokens – Pokenii? You then plug the Poken into a laptop and connect to your online manager and you can then “add” that person to your contact list.
The contact information includes all of your social media contact information including Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and all those weird ones they use Europe.
There is a great audience for these little guys – kids. They’re collectible, they’re high tech, and they only transmit information when you press the button, ensuring relative privacy.
I could also see this appearing in phones. When asked, Renata explained that this could end up as a standalone solution in six to eight months but if someone doesn’t get to this first.
It works quite seamlessly and registration was entirely online.
Right now the product is mainly European but you can pick them up online from the UK. It’s a great little toy.
Finally, some gadget news to report at SXSW.
Photo Gallery by Picturesurf
There’s a Dutch start-up already into the mobile social networking you’re referring to – ‘E’
Go check http://www.hellomynameise.com/.
very cool, though i agree that this should be a feature on a cell phone. Have a button on/in the phone that when you press it asks for a security code and then transfers. would replace business cards…
that was definitely the only real adult implementation i could see.
Yes.
Having that kind of functionality in a mobile phone would make much more sense to me. It’s more handy as you don’t need to carry such a silly plastic dongle with you all the time – the mobile phone is always with you.
Secondly, it’s more secure as you could protect your data with a password (if you lose the dongle, you’re basically “gone” on all your social networks.
Thirdly, software on a mobile can be updated more easily than a dongle and as your mobile has a screen, it’s probably easier to understand and more powerful than a dongle without any screen.
There are probably already companies offering a mobile phones solution with the same or better functionality.
>> Secondly, it’s more secure as you could protect your data with a password (if you lose the dongle, you’re basically “gone” on all your social networks.
None of your personal data are actually stored on the Poken, the service accessible through the website is password protected and thus no one can access your data if you loose it or if it get stolen. In addition all data is encrypted 128b, so security is really taken care of, in other words don’t worry.
Good idea. Wouldn’t want the information to be lost or fet into the wrong hands though.
“I could also see this appearing in phones. When asked, Renata explained that this could end up as a standalone solution in six to eight months but if someone doesn’t get to this first.”
People are working on this. People I know personally. The best solution is a standard contact XML transfer on ALL blue tooth enabled phones.
There is no need for RFID when we have bluetooth.
http://blogs.zdnet.com/hardware/?p=2450
Google is imposing artificial limitations on this as are all the other phone makers including crapple.
This technology could have been made 3 years ago, but has not because of that.
Until we see Google and Crapple bring back the API, we will not have parity. <– That’s a period.
Nobody wants to carry a dumb dongle, or swap human SKU codes with scanners like they do in japan, or do anything of the likes.
This is a european concept brought to America. We need an American solution.
I am going to Google IO in May, and I am going to bitch at Google to re-activate Bluetooth API in Android.
Sorry if this is a double post, the server timed out.
Hey Google, when you put the BlueTooth API back into the next release that T-Mobile picks up, make sure to add a way to transform a DOM document object back into a string.
transform was left out of every SDK up to and including 2.0
I had to use a stringbuffer to form my XML, LAME, LAME, LAME.
BlueToothStream bts = new BlueToothStream(this.getNearestBTDevice());
bts.write(file(”myContactInfo.vcf”, r));
bts.close()
There, all that plastic is now obsolete.
Now everyone can transfer .vcf files. It’s coming.
Google said they did not want to release it because:
1 – “Repurposing” Google Talk Friends
2 – Verifying Remote Intent Senders
3 – Placing Too Much Security Burden on Developers
This should be left to the developer. Not the API writers. There should be Application permissions that allow the app to use these. Period.
The phone companies probably asked Google to leave it out and they gave these phony reasons.
Google, put it back in right now in SDK release 3.0 and cupcake.
Aaah, the fad is spreading! In The Netherlands they are (were?) all the rage within the marketing community. I haven’t encountered one in the wild outside of NL though. Whilst being a step in the right direction, for sure, I was deeply underwhelmed by it. And yes, this is much better suited to be built into your phone.
Actually, they send your reference over when you hold them together regardless of button clicking. Click the button twice and it sends over a ‘discrete’ reference, where you can limit the amount of personal info you give. (it’s explained better on their site)
They’re pretty ingenious – if a little childish.
i have got mine for a while and it is awesome. VERY useful in public gatherings and definitely a good substitute to the old unmanageable business cards. I really want this to be a phone app one day
We should all write in to Google and call the lack of BlueTooth API a bug
http://code.google.com/p/android/issues/list?can=2&q=label:Priority-Medium&colspec=ID+Type+Version+Security+Status+Owner+Summary&sort=&x=&y=&cells=tiles&mode=grid
Fill up their bug tracking system until Google surrenders.
Hey Google, when you put the BlueTooth API back into the next release that T-Mobile picks up, make sure to add a way to transform a DOM document object back into a string.
transform was left out of every SDK up to and including 2.0
I had to use a stringbuffer to form my XML, LAME, LAME, LAME.
BlueToothStream bts = new BlueToothStream(this.getNearestBTDevice());
bts.write(file(”myContactInfo.vcf”, r));
bts.close()
There, all that plastic is now obsolete.
Now everyone can transfer .vcf files. It’s coming.
Google said they did not want to release it because:
1 – “Repurposing” Google Talk Friends
2 – Verifying Remote Intent Senders
3 – Placing Too Much Security Burden on Developers
This should be left to the developer. Not the API writers. There should be Application permissions that allow the app to use these. Period.
The phone companies probably asked Google to leave it out and they gave these phony reasons.
Google, put it back in right now in SDK release 3.0 and cupcake. We are not amused Google. Not amused.
Those 3 references were actually for XMPP.
The bluetooth reasoning was:
” The reason is that we plain ran out of time. The Android Bluetooth API was pretty far along, but needs some clean-up before we can commit to it for the SDK. Keep in mind that putting it in the 1.0 SDK would have locked us into that API for years to come.
Here’s an example of the problems in the API. Client code is required to pass around IBluetoothDeviceCallback objects in order to receive asynchronous callbacks, but IBluetoothDeviceCallback is meant to be an internal interface. That client code would break the moment we added new callbacks to IBluetoothDeviceCallback.aidl. This is not a recipe for future-proof apps.
To make things even more tricky, the recent introduction of the bluez 4.x series brings its own new API. The Android Bluetooth stack uses bluez for GAP and SDP so you’ll see more than a passing resemblance to bluez’s interfaces in Android. The bluez 4.x change requires us to carefully consider how to structure our API for the future. Again, remember that once we settle on an interface we need to support it for years going forward.”
Sorry about that. I copy pasted the wrong part.
Right. And after it is included you’ll start bitching about battery life.
That’s true. BUT, you could have the app turn it on before using and off right after.
http://developer.android.com/reference/android/Manifest.permission.html#BLUETOOTH
The manifest permissions are still there, but the API is gone. I don’t get why they are b1tching about the Interface. They didn’t take IDL out. So what if it’s an internal interface, it’s open source, it’s not like you can’t look at the service source.
I need blue tooth for my Android software as well.
I hope Google will put it into SDK 3.0, but I know Apple will not touch it.
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1431538&tstart=0
“It’s possible, but it doesn’t look like it’s available right now. I’ve written a small app that tries to open both /dev/tty.bluetooth and /dev/tty.iap (the serial port connector on the dock) and both of them give error 13, access denied.”
Hi everyone!
If you have any questions about Poken you can send me an email on renate@doyoupoken.com, or Tweet me on @renate.
I’m also Pokening people at SXSW this week. Come find me!
“High Four!”
As soon as the BT API comes back in Google the other manufacturers will follow, and you will be left with a lot of recycled plastic.
You know this won’t last.
These chips will be in millions of Nokias over the next 2/3 years.
Bluetooth wont work for business cards as every phone maker has different file types. Its try sending a bookmark from a Samsung to a LG mobile. Does’nt work. Until a standard is made for this (which I doubt) its going to be a long road
However this works for transactions
I attended an event last week in which Poken was launched in Japan.
The tech is proprietary and does not use RFID. The only data transferred is a unique ID, which is used to sync to an online account. If it is lost after activation, the personal information of those you have met is not at risk (unless you managed to lose your ID and PW along with it..).
That’s everyone’s dream–to meet a cute girl from England at SXSW on a bus and end up Poken her.
(someone had to say it.)
Well, this is cool in theory, but how are they planning to get this gizmo to enough people so it actually makes any sense?
And what happens when the disk on key manufacturers bake something similar into their own products?
I’ll jump right on a plane to Brussels and catch a train north. By the time I get to the Netherlands I will not have met a single person who has one of these things. Only after I have visited a smoke shop will it seem like a good purchase, because they are so cute. Worthless. Perfect for your blog though.
It makes me so mad that we pay $400+ dollars for the HTC dream with BT and dumb Google turns this off, and now people are making millions forcing us to carry USB dongles that don’t synch in real time.
We should be able to pull profile information as soon as you receive contact information in vcf or XML format.
// new thread here
BlueToothStreamBroadcastReceiver btsBR = new BlueToothStreamBroadcastReceiver();
while (String contactInfo = btsBR.getIntent()) {
bts.write(file(”friendContactInfo.vcf”, contactInfo));
bts.close();
String XMLWebProfile = HTTP.request(”domain.com?” +contactInfo);
// this could include pictures, text, and other metadata about the user.
// display on screen, cross reference with friends.
This should all be possible right now. Google and Apple are stealing the features out of our own hardware we paid for. Google knows better. Google should do as I say.
error in the psuedocode
// new thread here
BlueToothStreamBroadcastReceiver btsBR = new BlueToothStreamBroadcastReceiver();
while (String contactInfo = btsBR.getIntent()) {
bts.write(file(”friendContactInfo.vcf”, contactInfo));
String XMLWebProfile = HTTP.request(”domain.com?” +contactInfo);
// this could include pictures, text, and other metadata about the user.
// display on screen, cross reference with friends.
}
bts.close();
You could use the GPS location services with a server database of contact longitude and latitude to find near by contact across devices, but if you’ve ever used GPS on the iPhone or Android you know how inaccurate it can be and it doesn’t work well inside.
Google absolutely has to reverse their decision for the 3.0 SDK
http://blogs.zdnet.com/hardware/?p=2450
I will be at IO in late May begging for this. Join me there and we can all petition Google. Hardware solutions are expensive and cumbersome. That’s why we have open OSes on phones now. Think of all the hardware we needed before multitasking personal computers.
I like the idea of these a lot. Sure, they’re silly and a little bit childish, but they kinda make exchanging contact info fun again. For all the years of being promised a universally compatible way of exchanging virtual business cards, there really hasn’t been a standard since… well, really since Palm lost its PDA market share. Back in 1999 it seemed like everyone had a Palm and it was easy to just beam contacts. Nowadays almost everyone has a phone with Bluetooth but most people either still can’t or don’t know how to beam their contact to someone else. Which is just stupid in this day and age. So until we fix that, I suppose having something like this will have to do. And since it seems like we still won’t have a universal way to exchange virtual business cards for a long time, I reckon Poken has a good chance at becoming some sort of standard in the meantime, especially if they can branch out with other products that might be more accepted in the business world (such as conference badges or just more plain versions of the existing device).
Mobile phone companies like Nokia, Motorolla, Palm, RIM ect…
have been notoriously bad at making OS and application firmware.
that’s the reason.
“So until we fix that, I suppose having something like this will have to do.”
As soon as GOOG replaces the BlueTooth API, that will all change. Firmware developers are amongst the most cushy job unimaginative people on earth.
These are the same poeple that make set top DVD software. They wouldn’t realize a good way to exploit bluetooth resources if somebody punched them in the face with it.
Re-enable the API(since when do we disable API anyway?) and let us have a crack at it.
Chris, Fcuk off and rant somewhere else you twunt.
Interesting, but I agree that the kid market is probably the best.
One big problem is that they are useless until a critical mass adopts them. What good are they at a conference or meeting if no one else has one?
Well, I was discussing this with somebody and suggested that the Android or iPhone should take a picture of the business card, send it to the server, then that the server should use OCR software to convert it to XML data.
The XML data is then shuttled back to your phone, and stored as digital information.
A USB key with one utility of course can not do this. You need a phone with an operating system.
I may be implementing this in the near future after I get my cloud computing and CDN cluster running.
So this is about what it looks like. You’re at the conference, you take your cards, take the pics in the bathroom or in a lighted area, then you send them to the service, the service OCRs them to text, and greps out the company, contact, address, then stores it in the DB for the next time the contact data is seen and shuttles the cleaned up XML/.vcf back to your telephone device, along with any shared linkedin or profile info from pipl, namyz or whatever.
http://www.soeet.com/ocr_demo.jpg
Again, a single utility USB dongle is incapable of advanced toolchains.
That’s why smart phones are a far better target.
Here’s the API
http://developer.android.com/reference/android/hardware/Camera.html
Make one better than ours. I LOVE competition!!!
I’m not a dumb skinky franch Canadian politician commy that locks people into slum conditions so my mafia contacts can be millionaires.
COMPETE!
It’s just a chip that controls new BUTTONS on the ear buds cord!
Jesus… you guys really want to be known for stupidity.
:)
apart from the RFID tech it replicates the concept of what we did 10 years ago with our Palm III or V, where you pressed the contact button and you sent your business card info (through IR) to the other Palm.. nowadays the best solution would be to implement it in mobiles with an inter-OS app… I don’t want to carry an extra gadget in my pocket!!!
The only way to do that is for Apple and Google to provide us with the Bluetooth API.
The BlueTooth API is also needed for other things besides VCF info. We need it for a lot of stuff that GPS contact retrieval is unacceptable for. They need to bring that back.
Right now you have to have a database of both people sharing and their *accurate* GPS positions and have them both have network access to do this. It’s a hack around not having blue tooth.
What if you have other data in your application in SQLite, whatever it may be and you want 1 button transfer to your friend. What if you want to play NETWORKED mobile games like on PSP ???
As you can see this stretches way beyond just business information exchange. This is a huge thing that they have to unlock right this minute for us to proceed as a society.
Tell me more about this Google and BT API thing.
OK, here is the original post
http://android-developers.blogspot.com/2008/08/some-information-on-apis-removed-in.html
This is bullsh1t. Say you’re on a train with your friend. You have a G1 dream w/Android, your friend has an iPhone, you both have Arkanoid. You want to team play ????
NO BLUETOOTH. That’s right. Now you have to get out at the next stop, go to Walmart and buy 2 PSPs, and buy the same game, $$$
What if 2 businessmen are on the same train. They want to exchange business info.
NO pushbutton BLUETOOTH contact xchange.
Now those businessmen have to actually talk to each other risking social embarrassment, and revealing the fact that they are woahfully inadequate at their jobs by discussing topics in person without the aid of Google citations or constantly having to look down at their phone on wikipedia.
These things are great, a product like this just needs critical mass or at least a group of early adopters and evangelists.
Failing that they could just license the technology or partner up with a cell phone manufacturer.
Good luck to them.
Great for identity thieves and child molesters.
They are going to need a heck of a lot of real hard marketing and advertising to recoup the cost of the injection moulding. What is the likely margin on those as well. Nice idea if a pan-euro mobile operator incorporated them in, but isnt that bluetooth/wifi?
RFID’s are another one of those tools with a lot of potential but if not executed carefully can cause problems; particularly data privacy/security issues. I learned a lot about them here; a digital security site.
Great!!!
Interesting. Though I am also interested in the charming young lady you mentioned.
This Poken thingy is great.
We used them at the Lift Conference here in Geneva.
I hope one day it will be in all our car keys but also in our phones…
I have NO use for this, though I guess it is a clever idea for those that are into social networking… I am NOT… have seen too many articles on malware, virusis being passed this way… plus, I am a bit of a privacy nut.
What I would like to see is a small unit that would read and show barcodes and rfid’s so I know what they say.
Wow, this is another sweet thing. Looks a bit like a simpler version of SifTables http://siftables.com/
SiftTables, as they promise, will be extendable and programmable which is sounds very interesting.
Wondering if the Poken would have been ‘invented’ in US (bay area) how much in favor the comments would have been.
In The Netherlands poken reached mass market adoption.
Cool concept. However, it won’t fly as a stand-alone device…….that’s the last thing people need…..gotta be bundled in a phone.
@ Engago Team
I don’t think this has anything to do with “where the product/device was invented”
Most people don’t want to have in their pocket a USB stick (actually can it even be used as one?) that looks like a bad pokemon copy.
I don’t know the people behind the venture and if they did get any funding however the success of their business seems to rely too much on a coin flip (will their market segment – 8 to12 years old – adopt the design of the Pokens?).
Other better services will be out there sooner than later.
such a product is already out there:
http://mingle360.com/
holy crap!
Kep this thing away from my daughter!
What were they thinking? this thing is a privacy nightmare.
And it’s obviously geared toward kids!
I thought the Brits were kind to their citizens, at least kinder than the US is. Something like this should NOT be legal for kids.
Even if the design can look childish, poken is a lot more than this. It is very interesting in conferences context. As an example we had a poken (the technology, not the design) directly integrated in our plastic card holder at the liftconference.com this year 3 weeks ago in Geneva. This was a common effort of Amiando, the ticket seller and poken themselves.
So when you meet other people you can simply touch your plastic card holder and you’re then connected to the other person, really simple.
Picture of the plastic card holder:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ifeedyou/3325387470/sizes/l/
There is also Hellomynamesie, which seem to have a very cool design not like Poken
I bought one on http://www.pokenrage.com, also delivers in UK. Nice gadget!!!!!
Just letting you guys know that poken is coming out in Australia soon. This website is taking some pre-orders:
http://www.ozgadgets.com.au/fun-gadgets/poken
This Poken is actually brilliant. What I really like is the simplicity of the idea, and the fact that ISN’T tied to a cellphone. It is a cheap and nasty dongle that hooks onto your keychain and does one very simple task brilliantly: it swaps codes with other Pokens. That is all it does. All of the “smarts” happen online — where they belong. Who could resist? I hope the day never comes when this functionality is built into cellphones or other multipurpose devices. Follow the KISS principle instead.
2009 China International RFID Technologies and Applications Show
Date:June 24-26
Venu: Shenzhen Convention Center, Hall 3, China
http://www.rfidexpo.com.cn/eng
I want to poke somebody 8)