Best Reading of the Day - Entry 0070 iBeacon Rollouts

Wow.  The news is really beginning to pour in.  This just might be the year of the beacon.

http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-01-06/apples-ibeacon-helps-marketer-beam-ads-to-grocery-shoppers-phones

One company is rolling out 100 or more beacon locations through the retailers Giant Eagle and Safeway.  Grocery is entering the 21st century.

Here is a snippet from that story:

Todd Dipaola has seen the future of advertising, and it’s a Giant Eagle grocery store in Cleveland.

Dipaola’s company, inMarket, will today begin turning on a network of sensors in dozens of grocery stores in Cleveland, Seattle, and San Francisco that will allow companies to beam advertisements to people’s smartphones at the exact moment they’re standing in aisle six trying to decide which brand of beans to buy.
In further news, I haven't posted the information regarding Android catching up to this "iBeacon" capability.  Version 4.3 released the APIs necessary to enable developers to utilize this technology for maximum effect.  It in essence allows Android to play catch up with iOS.

http://developer.android.com/guide/topics/connectivity/bluetooth-le.html

Here is a snippet from that article:

Android 4.3 (API Level 18) introduces built-in platform support for Bluetooth Low Energy in the central role and provides APIs that apps can use to discover devices, query for services, and read/write characteristics. In contrast to Classic Bluetooth, Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) is designed to provide significantly lower power consumption. This allows Android apps to communicate with BLE devices that have low power requirements, such as proximity sensors, heart rate monitors, fitness devices, and so on.

Hope your new year is going well.

Happy reading,

J.W. Gant