Ideas

I think the first part is already in place but I LOVE the second one. I wouldn't have to go looking for flyers. I would know what is on sale. The store could add directions to reach the product (in the centre aisle).

This is a great idea!
This is a great video!
I'm impressed with the work you've put into this!
Hurrahmaza!

Thank you, Fell free to vote

Is anyone better at making a logo? I am not lol... That logo is just using word, I will see if I can hop on to a photo shop computer.

i don't think it's viable as a solution to the problem you described in the brief (automatically keep track of new & old business associates) because it's too broad a solution.

essentially you broadcast your contact info on a PAN, with others having the chance of opting out to different degrees (ie limit to contact info, no ads, etc), while being open to receive info from others at the same time.

i'm assuming that the "opting out" thing is in order to thwart spam and/or focus on information that is essential to you.

since spammers are not really conscienscious to begin with, they'll prolly just tag the ads as "firstname/lastname", and suddenly you have an address book full of Mr Pump Dump and L. Argep. Enis.

This goes for any transmissions that you'd like to filter (only certain category of businesses, people active in your area, companies smaller than 15 people, etc), which in the scenario you present is easy to both get around for nefarious reasons, as well as muck up (oops, i put the "city x" info in the "state" info, and was then filtered out because you only were interested in people from city x)

You can of course throw programmers at this and create anti-spam plugins and filtering, but that might be a hard sell if you want a smooth system that unobtrusively keeps track of people. Imagine all the hassle of email, and the trouble people have organising their inboxes (let's assume that you have 99% efficient spam filtering) and which email goes where - the only reason we put up with this is because email is a necessity today.

i imagine coming home and docking the blueberry, and have a list of sixty people popping up. lets assume you're receiving from everyone at a certain event, even people you have nothing in common with, and did not even talk to. that's additional noise that you have to navigate: "did i talk to peter from toadcorp or was that patrick?"
even if you include portraits, you've already said that you don't recall faces well, and the image might be out of date anyhow, and might not help you.

the idea is good, and if you look at the toys and games that work on PAN networks they are interesting and fun (gameboys and whatnots), but they require user interaction and have a very limited purpose (just connect). the connection part isn't difficult, it's how to navigate the information that is transmitted.

a solution that i see to the problem you describe is a brute force approach: at a convention, you might create a local version of this function by creating a file with up-to-date image and personal info & affiliation available as a download to cell-phone / pda / laptop, and then create a simple interface that allows notes to be taken or other input (record a conversation and tie it to the persons convention profile, tick them off of a list of "people i've meat", etc), but this requires a lot of initial work to get a system that would work on many platforms, was unobtrusive to use, and the results of which would readily be accesible on other platforms. in essence it's just a modifiable, highly specialised, directory.

as for the shop idea, it is a neat thing, but that is another project all together (the businessman might go to a meeting turning on bluetooth or wifi, someone just going shopping might not even know how, giving you a limited democraphic) and i think it's not so much a technological issue but rather a practical research into customer behaviour and ROI with your solution vs. in-store ads.

by broadcasting this info only on a LAN, you're not really harnessing the power of the cellphones/berries either - sms/mms ads are already here, and i'm sure best buy already has enough customer info (or the ability to buy it) to be able to do a targeted weekly sms/mms campaign. they might in fact make it default whenever you sign up for a membership card or what have you.

and the objections to spamming and filtering apply here as well.

it's not my intention to spend my first post on being nasty or putting you down, but i think that my objections are valid. i recognise the issue that you describe in your brief, but i'm not sure that you have defined the problem well enough to work on a solution.

cheers

Thank you monocultured, You bring up some really really good points, and I don't have all the answers, but I hope to work with a team (maybe someone like yourself) to over come these obstacles, and create an amazing program.

when it pertains to networking--->
the following does suffice:
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a working blackberry
+
*email signatures*
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Now in the realm of exchanging business card info and downloading flyers like you suggested. Well using bluetooth has its drawbacks and leaving it open to be amassing all that information will lead to a flood of information transmitted to your device. Like monoculture mentioned earlier.

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I had a very similar idea 2 years ago. But instead of BlackBerry, it incorporated transmission of business cards and catalogs via miniature keychains where the information was stored in RFID tags.
I never really embarked on that idea, but i noticed someone capitalized on it. So I guess I was not the only one thinking in that perspective

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btw i am bad with names myself

however I keep a lil note in my "Memo Pad" on my blackberry
and keep track of names as such.

what about a www.classmates.com type website for blackberry users

they can update their information there.
- when you send a link from that website to any user and they add you to their "address book"... then information is extracted from that website.

i know it's vague

Thank you generic_idea_machine, I like a lot of your points. RF business cards are not a new thing my old palm has that function... but you have to pointed the two devices at each other and wait way two long till they exchange the card. It didn't work, but what got my brain thinking of how to make this idea better.

I like your idea of a classmate.com type website for networking... do you mean to send a link to the blackberry that would bring them to the website... this would eliminate the amount of info need to be transfered. making the swap quicker... Am I way off track or is that what you are suggestion?

Thank you generic_idea_machine, I like a lot of your points. RF business cards are not a new thing my old palm has that function... but you have to pointed the two devices at each other and wait way two long till they exchange the card. It didn't work, but what got my brain thinking of how to make this idea better.

I like your idea of a classmate.com type website for networking... do you mean to send a link to the blackberry that would bring them to the website... this would eliminate the amount of info need to be transfered. making the swap quicker... Am I way off track or is that what you are suggesting?

Np dude

Yeh ransfer through RF is cumbersome (in light of what you said).

//I like your idea of a classmate.com type website for networking... do you mean to send a link to the blackberry that would bring them to the website... this would eliminate the amount of info need to be transfered. making the swap quicker... Am I way off track or is that what you are suggestion?//

yep, all blackberry have browsing functionality.

you click on a link

it brings you information about a particular user

When you add them to your "address book" all the other information related to them (phone, website) is added to your address book

Blackberry browsing and some java code can make this happen

This is a really good idea! But wouldnt it be a little expensive to send out all those adds and stuff because the people would always have to be hooked up to the web to recieve this stuff and that would cost alot of money for people... Just my thought :)

Excellent idea and has everyones know, the best ideas comes from real life and real situations.

So, this is for extroverts?

How many people would really welcome stores sending ads to them (the flyers) on a machine they have to pay for - isn't it just like junk faxes?

How many people would broadcast their personal information indiscriminately while wandering around on any given day?

Who pays for all this?

Obviously there are people who really like this idea but as a privacy-loving non-Blackberry user, I would not subscribe to a service like this. Literally, you would have to pay me to take it.

Do you have a big enough market out there? Who is the target customer?

Thanks!

beaty man!

Hey Jill thanks for the comments!

Networking is huge, and thats where I see this being used. But you don't broadcast your info everywhere you go... you selected if that is on or off. I know what you mean I don't want to give my business card to someone I pass at the mall.

with the ad feature that is something that you can control, for me I hate using 411 (directory assistance). I would like to walk though a store that I visit often and have their info in my cell phone so when I am driving around and don't have a phone book I don't have to pay the $1.50 to use 411 (directory assistance).

My target is the business man that is trying to get his name out in the business community. Networking events are really big, and there are a lot of business cards exchanged, I think we could sell Wireless HandShake to them to.

Thanks GL, your intelligent response much appreciated.

As you can tell, it doesn't seem like something I personally would use, but so what! I am trying to see it as a product that would have a natural market.

In controlled environments - e.g. a conference, a lecture hall, a party, an event - it could be a fast upload of tags for everyone who's there and then you could optimize your in-person networking I suppose.

Seems like a geo-based mass e-mail kind of thing. I think it might be a good add-on for conventions and events, for example.

Is there nothing like this now?

Jill that is an amazing idea! you tag your self with this program and at a networking event you say what kind of people you are looking to network with... when you get near someone that has a tag you are looking for it could beep or vibrate to alert you... that means you can network with people you are looking to network with

Jill is that what you mean?

because thats really really interesting!

I think there are similar comments or ideas along this line (the line of tags etc) within CH though to my knowledge I have not directly copied one of them.

What I was thinking is that you could communicate with the people you want to meet, set up your dance card so to speak, mini-appointments, not that formal, like "meet you at the fountain in 10 minutes". The alarm / buzzing mode would be good too, more spontaneous.

Good call Jill

Would you be interested in joining this project?

Jill

I absolutely love the expanded idea you chimed in with...

I've been to quite a few developer conferences over my career, that idea would absolutely take flight. Id be willing to bet there isn't anything like this available today.

Target Market: business professionals [introverts especially]

Revenue Stream: free/subscription based service, free for your first conference, nominal fee for additional conferences and events.

Please keep me posted on this... I want in.

great idea with a exclusive videos

Just to throw another spin of this into the mix.. Imagine if you were able to just display a barcode, or special symbol of sorts, use te photograph feature to capture it - and then download the information of the person, by translating the image, or barcode, to the data in an online database?

Also, if you were to just have an electronic device, to collect, and transmit your preprogrammed information, then when you meet people who you want to exchange information with, instead of sharing business cards, you could just swipe your cards together, and they would be able to "communicate" the data between each other by being brought into close contact with each other.. Like security passes, that just get tapped onto a console...

Then you could store a few hundred people's information at an event, and then just download their data, in digital format, directly into your addressbook...

I really could not decide but I voted for it anyway.

I think this is a few ideas in one, and it might be better to split them apart, because they would have a different target market.

1. Contact info between business associates
2. Info from (and to?) stores and such
3. My addition -- people you meet, or whom you'd like to meet socially

No. 1 is the closest to your original idea and problem that you want to solve. But some of the same aspects could apply, especially to No. 3.

As someone else brought up, most people wouldn't want to broadcast their info. A couple of people brought up ways to narrow down the number of "handshakes."

Here's another possible way to do so: some kind of tag system. People could tag themselves and also limit which tags they would accept.

Conceivably, to cut the potential for spam, each person would be limited to some number of tags.

WOW

A lot of comments, a lot of good comments! Can I ask how many people would buy this?

I don't know any of the people involved and just try to look at the ideas based on their strength and weakness.

I think people that are in marketing may like this idea. But most people, to be honest, don't want anyone that they don't know to blast ads into their devices.

I unfortunately will not want this service and will in fact consider it as spam.

Again, GL, I hope you don't get offended by my comment.

You have been able to exchange vcards by Bluetooth for years so the core of this is in place.

The software needed to spray the business card out woudl just be a variant of a Bluejacking script or one of the Bluetooth chat programmes.

The problem I see is the scatter gun approach, leave this on accidentally and you will be broadcasting details everywhere.

My preference would be a java script for my phone that automated the card exchange via bluetooth, saving me the tap tap tap scan tap tap code tap tap tap code that I need to do to swap cards now. One screen click to say i want to swap cards, an automated scan, on click to choose the device I am swapping with. The device then exchaneg data and file the data in a predetermined area of the memeory.

The challenge is making this compatible with all handsets.

If an online tie up is wanted, then Plaxo woudl seem to be most logical.

Forgot to spell check and add that there are several blue tooth advertising solutions e.g. : http://www.bluetooth-advertising.co.uk/

The idea is great. I agree the SNS aspect and retail should be split. I worked at Classwave wireless where we developed a mobile services platform that enabled such applications. Back then in 2000, the idea was you would walk into a hotel with a BT-enabled PDA and could checkin from the handheld device and go straight to your room. We were in early trials with a major hotel chain at the time. The concept also included walking by a store, seeing what specials there were etc. Some of the challenges were long connection times with associating two BT devices but that may not be a big issue now.

I had a similar idea on the networking side back in 2002 when I was coming up with my concepts for social networking tools. My idea was that my handheld would have a some pre-set information and my photo but not my contact information, nor name, maybe just a handle. This way private informatin

The idea was to find others closeby with which I have common ground. For example, we went to the same high school, we come from the same hometown, we share a hobby or an interest, etc. On the far end the software would search my network and those participating in the service and find those people in the crowd who I am only seperated by one or two degrees by searching our contact lists. Once there was a match the devices would play the same audio file or you could chat with each other and arrange to meet at a specific spot.

The important thing in networking is to establish relationships not just collect contacts. Part of establishing a relationship is to quickly find some common ground, shared passion, etc.

If I'm at a networking function or conference, I really don't want to meet everyone. You could easily extend your idea to include a preset list of interests, hobbies, etc. and match in that way.

Back in 1998 in Japan, they came up with the lovegetty which allowed people to find others with similar interests in close proximity.

There are wireless tag companies that I looked at several years ago. I cannot recall the name but they were providing short-range wireless tags for finding people with similar interests at a trade show/conference.

Here are a few links in the area of wireless badges which may help to extend the idea:

http://ttt.media.mit...arch/276badgeocg.pdf
http://www.cs.duke.e...es/12-app-social.pdf
http://www.aeroscout.com/
http://www.expansys.ca/p.aspx?i=136538
http://www.boston.co...ess_badges_supplier/

Another item to add is that once you've established contact with someone, provide the ability to quickly tag them and add brief notes. This is the most important thing, most people do it on the back of printed business cards today. For example, 'divorced, 2 kids, grew up Ottawa, loves tennis, watches Survivor. send info on new tennis club, kids party place'

The beauty of your approach using your existing device is that you don't need anything extra, just software and a BT-enabled device.

Great video and great idea!

I'm looking forward to help refine it if you move forward. One of my strengths is in analysis and coming up with a good definition of what needs to be built.

Hit submit too soon, the second paragraph should end "This way private information is not being broadcast to everyone in the area. Doing that opens up huge issues and could be a show stopper for this idea. Instead, once a social connection / initial relationship is established, you can share the vCard/phone numbers/email address. Just like if you're at a club trying to pick someone up. You chat first and then exchange phone numbers later. Oops, I guess today it's email addresses or IM IDs these days, I'm showing my age ;)

Another note. I always try to get a photo of people because I'm also challenged with remembering names. I have over 3,800 contacts (not relationships) and have a hard time remembering who is who.

Most cell phones and now blackberries have cameras on them so the ability to quickly take/share/associate a photo with the person could be an extension. In business networking events, at least in N.A., I don't think it's socially acceptable to take someone's photo but I would love it if I could take a photo of each person I met!

I would not want anyone spamming me by BT. It wouldn't mind the idea if someone wanted to do it and I agreed to it, but not wide open. BTW, did you know all 72xx series RIMs have a bidirectional IR interface but the software never used it? Dunno about current models such as Pearl or Curve - as BT would seem t be the way to go...

GL: I too have thought of something like this with a little twist. I cant program or such but I would like to be on the team. Rah!

Why restrict the idea to just a software for cells, etc. Maybe its own device?

Also, I see the classmate thing.

I love this idea and you have my vote.

The main reason why you can not do this.
The FCC has regulations over cell phones and there are many other legal restrictions.

I like it.. but I would be scared of spam and tracking info.

]V[oogy

Actually, Kevin Cox is wrong. If a cell phone has FCC approval, then anything done with it's certified compliant software and radio protocol stack, including Bluetooth is fair game. Some cell companies even left the BT in promiscuous mode by accident! It's just software - and the the application level - it is not illegal.

http://www.favorgoods.com offers enormous variety of world's leading brand sporting goods at rock bottom prices, we provide with the customers worldwide Qulity goods, Free shipping, and Quick delivery.

Good idea.
I do not know if the sales or subscriber payment infos has been brought up , but an interesting thing of this project is to me the possibility to partner with all kind of companies having an activity , something to sell -;), in the geogrophical locations the eventual contact establishes : ads by nearby mc donald's or WH enabled spots/logos in restaurants / places that have free wifi spots (for bluebooth no needed of course...).

What about adding this service into a GPS based existing solution also, click on Wireless Handshake (or the alternative GPS Handshake) in order to provide some social or business networking choice event ?

Nice idea anyway.

Strange how technology makes it easier to connect with someone half way around the world than it does to meet your neighbor.

Nice one!!

Thanks Firefox

I like your idea GL...seems interesting. I also have amnesia with names! lol

This idea is great and very helpful in a businessworld where we meet different people from different places. The tendency is that we would have very hard time in figuring someone whom we've met before.

With the possible emergence of this technology, I bet most if not all of the businessmen would really go for this. Good luck to GL!