WEBVTT - Like a Beacon 0:00:04.160 --> 0:00:12.559 Get in touch with technology with text stuff from dot com. 0:00:12.600 --> 0:00:16.440 Hey everyone, and welcome to tech stuff. I'm Jonathan Strickland 0:00:16.520 --> 0:00:19.079 and I'm Lauren Focalam, and today we wanted to talk 0:00:19.160 --> 0:00:22.800 about bacon. So bacon is a big thing on the internet. 0:00:22.840 --> 0:00:25.799 Everyone loves bacon. The hipster's love bacon. They're bacon t 0:00:26.000 --> 0:00:34.640 shirts and bacon what Lauren? Beacons? Beacons, stupid typos, beacons 0:00:35.400 --> 0:00:36.839 you know what? Wait wait, wait wait, I know all 0:00:36.840 --> 0:00:40.120 about beacons because I made a prediction about beacons for 0:00:40.240 --> 0:00:44.400 the predictions. So beacon technology. Yeah, you may have heard 0:00:44.440 --> 0:00:47.600 of beacons, especially if you are an iOS seven fan, 0:00:47.760 --> 0:00:50.199 and you might have heard of I beacon, and you 0:00:50.240 --> 0:00:53.280 may wonder what the heck is a beacon? Why? Why 0:00:53.320 --> 0:00:57.480 what are we talking about here? So really to understand that, 0:00:57.520 --> 0:01:00.520 you have to know that beacon is really an implementation. Okay, 0:01:00.520 --> 0:01:05.000 it's not, it's not so much, but rather an application 0:01:05.120 --> 0:01:08.800 of Bluetooth Low Energy exactly. And Bluetooth low Energy is 0:01:08.880 --> 0:01:11.320 part is one of the protocols. It's part of Bluetooth 0:01:11.360 --> 0:01:15.240 four point Oh. So, Bluetooth is a set of standards 0:01:15.360 --> 0:01:19.759 for wireless data transmission. You may have heard about personal 0:01:19.800 --> 0:01:24.160 area networks these little networks that exist within a small region. 0:01:24.200 --> 0:01:28.240 We're talking like within the the range of around fifty 0:01:28.240 --> 0:01:31.680 meters around a hundred sixty four feet that's typically what 0:01:31.720 --> 0:01:34.840 Bluetooth four point oh can reach. Um, these are where 0:01:34.840 --> 0:01:36.480 you can have all these sort of devices talk to 0:01:36.520 --> 0:01:38.880 one another within this region. If they were to leave 0:01:38.920 --> 0:01:41.000 the region, they would no longer be in contact with 0:01:41.000 --> 0:01:44.280 each other. I played some awesome games of Space Team 0:01:44.280 --> 0:01:48.600 over Bluetooth. Seriously Space Team, well, I mean like the 0:01:48.600 --> 0:01:52.480 the I have controllers for video games that work on Bluetooth. 0:01:52.600 --> 0:01:55.800 I've got the Pebble smart watch, which connects by a 0:01:55.800 --> 0:01:59.560 Bluetooth to my smartphone. I have a speaker in one 0:01:59.560 --> 0:02:02.680 of the showers at my house that is a Bluetooth speaker, 0:02:02.720 --> 0:02:06.120 so I can turn on my my Neil Diamond playlist 0:02:06.200 --> 0:02:10.639 when I go and and what oh, that's perfect come 0:02:10.639 --> 0:02:16.320 into America today. I love Bluetooth, so so Beacon. Like 0:02:16.360 --> 0:02:18.560 you said, it's part of a Bluetooth Low Energy or 0:02:18.639 --> 0:02:22.360 also known as Bluetooth Smart. Those are the two interchangeable terms. 0:02:22.680 --> 0:02:25.359 And this is a particular set of protocols that allows 0:02:25.440 --> 0:02:29.800 for low energy Bluetooth transmissions. This is really important because 0:02:29.840 --> 0:02:33.639 Bluetooth traditionally is kind of a battery suck. It really 0:02:33.720 --> 0:02:36.200 drains your battery pretty quickly. Right. But but but this 0:02:36.320 --> 0:02:39.160 uses just small packets of information, so it's not nearly 0:02:39.200 --> 0:02:42.880 as much of a drain. Exactly. It's very efficient. Uh, 0:02:42.919 --> 0:02:45.120 it's and and it's also limited. Right, So you're not 0:02:45.160 --> 0:02:48.160 gonna be streaming Like I talked about that Bluetooth speaker 0:02:48.200 --> 0:02:49.799 that I have in a shower, I'm not going to 0:02:49.960 --> 0:02:53.000 use Bluetooth low energy to stream a song from my 0:02:53.080 --> 0:02:56.160 phone to that speaker because it can't handle that size 0:02:56.160 --> 0:02:58.840 of a data packet. It's it's really just a tiny 0:02:59.520 --> 0:03:03.239 packet can handle a little bit of information. It's Twitter 0:03:03.280 --> 0:03:06.720 instead of Netflix, exactly. Yeah, it's a good, good comparison, 0:03:06.800 --> 0:03:09.920 you know you are. Uh, it's very versatile, but it 0:03:09.960 --> 0:03:13.640 also has its limitations. So this technology, like you said, Lauren, 0:03:14.040 --> 0:03:17.440 it's not new. It was actually developed under the name 0:03:17.520 --> 0:03:21.760 Wybery by a company, little company called Nokia, So Nokia, 0:03:21.960 --> 0:03:24.840 Nokia or Nokia, depending upon how you like to pronounce. 0:03:24.840 --> 0:03:27.519 It started working on this way back in two thousand 0:03:27.560 --> 0:03:31.079 and six, but it was eventually lumped in in two 0:03:31.120 --> 0:03:34.680 thousand and ten with the Bluetooth standard. So we've had 0:03:34.760 --> 0:03:38.800 this since, but it's just now starting to get some traction. 0:03:38.880 --> 0:03:43.000 You're starting to hear about beacons, especially once uh, Apple 0:03:43.080 --> 0:03:47.360 announced that they were incorporating I beacon, although to be fair, 0:03:47.760 --> 0:03:50.600 Apple was not. They didn't trumpet this. This was not 0:03:50.680 --> 0:03:53.440 like one of their big announcements when they unveiled iOS seven. 0:03:53.800 --> 0:03:56.840 If you looked at one of the keynote slides almost 0:03:56.880 --> 0:04:00.600 at power point, but keynote slides, it was probably weren't 0:04:00.680 --> 0:04:04.720 using power probably not. Uh, it was one of like 0:04:05.360 --> 0:04:08.080 two dozen terms on the on a slide that would 0:04:08.160 --> 0:04:11.200 appeared down towards the lower left hand corner, and it 0:04:11.280 --> 0:04:15.040 wasn't really featured at all. Well, I think that that's 0:04:15.280 --> 0:04:19.280 mostly because not that many um not that many apps 0:04:19.440 --> 0:04:23.640 have have that function built in, or that that not 0:04:23.680 --> 0:04:28.880 that many hardware providers are overall selling beacon technology to 0:04:29.720 --> 0:04:32.960 two places that would be able to use them. Yeah, exactly, Yeah, 0:04:32.960 --> 0:04:35.440 there's only a few examples right now. For example, uh, 0:04:35.560 --> 0:04:39.120 the Apple stores have them now in the Apple stores. Case. 0:04:39.160 --> 0:04:42.560 Here's I guess I should really explain what a beacon does. Technically, 0:04:42.560 --> 0:04:46.200 what a beacon does, It transmits information over this bluetooth 0:04:46.240 --> 0:04:50.680 low energy two devices that can then accept that information. 0:04:51.080 --> 0:04:53.440 It can also act as a receiver. Doesn't have to 0:04:53.480 --> 0:04:55.559 just be a transmitter, can be a transmitter and receiver, 0:04:55.640 --> 0:04:58.039 and in fact, I think most implementations we will see 0:04:58.080 --> 0:05:01.799 will show both transmitter and receiver. Um. So the idea 0:05:01.880 --> 0:05:04.560 being that because it's low energy, you could create a 0:05:04.600 --> 0:05:08.640 standalone device that all it does is beam out whatever 0:05:08.680 --> 0:05:11.440 information you wanted to beam out, and it would be 0:05:11.520 --> 0:05:16.239 accepted by other mobile devices that have Bluetooth technology enabled 0:05:16.360 --> 0:05:18.920 to have some sort of app that as able to 0:05:19.000 --> 0:05:21.839 interpret this information and present it to you. So in 0:05:21.880 --> 0:05:25.400 the case of the Apple stores, it was information about 0:05:25.839 --> 0:05:27.840 like how long the weight was at the Genius Bar, 0:05:28.040 --> 0:05:29.760 so you might walk in and as long as you 0:05:29.839 --> 0:05:32.719 had that app installed on your iPhone and your iPhone 0:05:32.760 --> 0:05:35.680 was running iOS seven, then you would get that information. 0:05:36.400 --> 0:05:39.760 So it's kind of like real time updates about the 0:05:39.880 --> 0:05:43.120 environment you are currently in, and and and again. It 0:05:43.760 --> 0:05:47.479 obeys the same range rules of Bluetooth. You know, once 0:05:47.480 --> 0:05:50.279 you get outside of that fifty range, you're not getting 0:05:50.320 --> 0:05:53.000 those those updates anymore. But a whole bunch of devices 0:05:53.040 --> 0:05:56.279 within that range can all receive this information simultaneously. Right, 0:05:56.320 --> 0:05:58.440 and if you have a lot of the beacons in 0:05:58.480 --> 0:06:01.159 a space, you can get different types of information as 0:06:01.160 --> 0:06:03.320 you move through the space. So let's go back to 0:06:03.320 --> 0:06:06.839 the Apple Store, because why not. It's a trendy place. 0:06:07.160 --> 0:06:09.960 So there might be one beacon that's near the Genius 0:06:09.960 --> 0:06:12.240 Bar that gives you an update on how that's going. 0:06:12.279 --> 0:06:14.880 There might be another beacon that's closer to say the 0:06:15.040 --> 0:06:18.320 Mac displays, and you get information on all the newest 0:06:18.360 --> 0:06:21.039 Mac computers. And then there might be another one that's 0:06:21.080 --> 0:06:23.760 over by the iPhone displays. You get information about the 0:06:23.760 --> 0:06:26.119 iPhones as you walk around, So when you get close 0:06:26.200 --> 0:06:29.400 to the iPhone display, information pops up on your phone, 0:06:29.720 --> 0:06:32.240 and it again, it's kind of like it's it's like 0:06:32.279 --> 0:06:35.600 the Internet of Things meets augmented reality in a way, 0:06:35.680 --> 0:06:38.960 because you're getting this digital information about the actual physical 0:06:39.080 --> 0:06:42.359 environment around you. Right, Each beacon has its own little 0:06:42.360 --> 0:06:45.240 I D, and so when your device comes within its 0:06:45.360 --> 0:06:49.159 range um, your device is going to either receive a 0:06:49.160 --> 0:06:52.080 little packet of information directly from the beacon or just 0:06:52.120 --> 0:06:54.120 receive the beacon's I D and then forward it to 0:06:54.120 --> 0:06:56.800 a server which can then give you a lot more information. 0:06:56.920 --> 0:06:59.719 Right exactly, because again that the information the beacon itself 0:06:59.760 --> 0:07:02.360 can end is pretty limited, so there might be some 0:07:02.400 --> 0:07:04.680 tag teaming going on here that would all depend upon 0:07:04.680 --> 0:07:07.800 the app that's on your phone. So this is also 0:07:07.839 --> 0:07:10.360 a good time to remind everyone that when we say 0:07:10.400 --> 0:07:13.720 the beacon is an implementation of of Bluetooth, it's a 0:07:13.760 --> 0:07:17.440 way of saying this is a means of transmitting data wirelessly. 0:07:18.120 --> 0:07:21.120 What happens with that data, how it transfers, what's being 0:07:21.160 --> 0:07:24.400 done with it, that's all dependent upon whatever app you're using. 0:07:24.840 --> 0:07:27.760 So in other words, it's kind of like any app 0:07:27.800 --> 0:07:31.440 that connects to the internet. The Internet allows for the connection, 0:07:31.560 --> 0:07:34.840 but it doesn't determine what actually happens. What what actually 0:07:34.880 --> 0:07:38.320 happens is dependent upon the software of the app itself. 0:07:38.360 --> 0:07:40.480 That's why Twitter does not do the same thing as 0:07:40.520 --> 0:07:42.680 four Square, which doesn't do the same thing as Facebook, 0:07:42.680 --> 0:07:45.320 which doesn't do the same thing is etcetera, etcetera. So 0:07:45.680 --> 0:07:48.680 they all have their own parameters. All right, that's important 0:07:48.680 --> 0:07:50.440 to remember because that's going to come into play in 0:07:50.480 --> 0:07:55.200 the second half of our conversation. So, because you can 0:07:55.240 --> 0:07:57.880 have these devices that don't take up a lot of power, 0:07:57.920 --> 0:08:00.640 you can actually have pretty small form fact years to 0:08:00.800 --> 0:08:03.520 have a little battery and this little transmitter and not 0:08:03.600 --> 0:08:05.480 a whole lot else. There might be a circuit board 0:08:05.480 --> 0:08:08.040 that lets it connect to either another server like you 0:08:08.080 --> 0:08:11.520 were saying, or just to have some other sensor, depending 0:08:11.560 --> 0:08:13.800 upon what you want to use this for. Yeah, but 0:08:13.840 --> 0:08:15.360 it could be as small as a as a dongle, 0:08:15.440 --> 0:08:18.880 like a USB dongle. Yeah, so it's it's because it's 0:08:18.920 --> 0:08:20.600 small and it doesn't take up a lot of energy. 0:08:20.680 --> 0:08:22.720 You could directly have a whole bunch of these and 0:08:22.720 --> 0:08:26.720 and dedicate each one to a specific task. Uh. One 0:08:26.760 --> 0:08:29.720 of the examples I like about what you could do 0:08:29.760 --> 0:08:33.800 with this is imagine that you go to Another implementation 0:08:33.920 --> 0:08:37.520 could be a way of navigating around a really big space, 0:08:37.600 --> 0:08:40.880 like say an airport. So anyone who's done a lot 0:08:40.920 --> 0:08:43.079 of traveling, especially if you ever have to go through 0:08:43.120 --> 0:08:45.400 an airport you're not really familiar with and maybe you 0:08:45.400 --> 0:08:47.880 have to make a connection, that can be really stressful. 0:08:48.040 --> 0:08:50.679 Oh yeah, And I mean it's not like GPS is 0:08:50.720 --> 0:08:52.880 going to work in that kind of situation because the 0:08:53.080 --> 0:08:56.120 I mean, although the airport is very large, GPS isn't 0:08:56.200 --> 0:09:00.160 that specific, right, And especially GPS usually can't penetrate if 0:09:00.160 --> 0:09:02.480 you're inside a building, right, you might if you're not 0:09:02.559 --> 0:09:04.760 close to a window, then you may not be able 0:09:04.800 --> 0:09:07.360 to get a strong enough signal for GPS to even 0:09:07.360 --> 0:09:10.120 tell you really where you are. Right. But if you're 0:09:10.200 --> 0:09:12.760 using this beacon kind of technology, your device is going 0:09:12.800 --> 0:09:15.000 to have its own I D numbers, so so this 0:09:15.080 --> 0:09:19.040 beacon network can send out specific information to it, like, 0:09:19.120 --> 0:09:21.679 for example, how to get to your gate. Yeah. So 0:09:21.760 --> 0:09:24.240 let's say that I land at an airport I've never 0:09:24.280 --> 0:09:26.760 been at, UH and I opened up my app and 0:09:26.800 --> 0:09:30.040 it then connects to this network, this beacon network that's 0:09:30.080 --> 0:09:33.600 inside the airport, and the closest beacon identifies who I 0:09:33.640 --> 0:09:36.600 am through the app. It knows where I'm going because 0:09:36.640 --> 0:09:39.240 the app I'm using has my travel plans in it, 0:09:39.679 --> 0:09:42.120 and then it relays the information to me, saying, all right, 0:09:42.160 --> 0:09:44.439 you need to turn right and go down this way, 0:09:44.920 --> 0:09:49.000 and your your gate is the seventh one on the right, 0:09:49.320 --> 0:09:51.000 and so I know, I just turn right and I go. 0:09:51.040 --> 0:09:53.040 I don't have to worry, I don't freak out and 0:09:53.520 --> 0:09:55.560 have a meltdown in the airport as I am want 0:09:55.600 --> 0:09:59.080 to do. Or could give you coupons for that for 0:09:59.120 --> 0:10:01.720 that food booth. Yes, yeah, maybe maybe I'm rushing by 0:10:01.720 --> 0:10:03.640 Starbucks and then suddenly it says, hey, you want a coffee, 0:10:03.800 --> 0:10:07.520 like yes, yes, I do want a coffee, or or 0:10:07.520 --> 0:10:09.960 it could give you information about the artwork that's that's 0:10:10.000 --> 0:10:12.120 posted up in the halland exactly, and as you get 0:10:12.120 --> 0:10:15.160 closer to your actual gait, it may pull up your 0:10:15.520 --> 0:10:18.320 your electronic boarding paths so that you can just to 0:10:18.600 --> 0:10:20.800 scan and get on the flight so that way. And 0:10:21.440 --> 0:10:23.079 they've even gone so far as to say, what if 0:10:23.080 --> 0:10:25.560 you had one of these so that as you got 0:10:25.559 --> 0:10:28.480 on the flight and you sat down, it reminded you, hey, 0:10:28.720 --> 0:10:31.200 turn off the cellular service on your phone now, because 0:10:31.280 --> 0:10:34.080 now you're on on the plane to do that. So 0:10:34.640 --> 0:10:37.560 you can see where this could be really useful in that, 0:10:37.679 --> 0:10:41.319 you know, again kind of maneuvering through unfamiliar areas or 0:10:41.559 --> 0:10:44.440 taking advantage of things like uh, like, let's say a 0:10:44.480 --> 0:10:47.000 store has a sale that you wouldn't have known about otherwise, 0:10:47.000 --> 0:10:48.880 but because you have this one app on your phone 0:10:49.559 --> 0:10:52.719 and because it enables the connection, as you walk by, 0:10:52.720 --> 0:10:55.120 it says, hey, by the way, uh, you know, shoes 0:10:55.160 --> 0:10:58.200 on sale, and you might think, hey, I need shoes. 0:10:58.600 --> 0:11:00.280 I will go and look at them. And this is 0:11:00.320 --> 0:11:03.080 beneficial to the store owners as well. I mean, because 0:11:03.120 --> 0:11:05.079 you know, if you say, oh, I do need some shoes, 0:11:05.120 --> 0:11:07.000 I wasn't going to buy them before, but now I 0:11:07.040 --> 0:11:10.720 totally will, right, And then the store owner sees through 0:11:10.840 --> 0:11:14.679 data visualization that you have interacted with a display. And 0:11:14.760 --> 0:11:17.400 it's because you know, I think of think of looking 0:11:17.400 --> 0:11:20.360 at screen where each of the beacons is represented on 0:11:20.440 --> 0:11:23.040 the screen in a location in your store. Prehaps it's 0:11:23.080 --> 0:11:26.520 even directly associated with a display, and then it lights 0:11:26.600 --> 0:11:28.960 up every time someone interacts with it. And then if 0:11:29.000 --> 0:11:31.320 you see that on that screen that one section is 0:11:31.400 --> 0:11:33.840 lighting up a lot, you know that that's really popular, 0:11:33.880 --> 0:11:36.840 it's working really well. If another section is hardly ever 0:11:37.000 --> 0:11:39.400 lighting up, you might say, well, what's wrong? Is the 0:11:39.440 --> 0:11:42.040 display not attractive? Is it in just a bad area, 0:11:42.080 --> 0:11:44.319 Like there's just not a lot of foot traffic there? 0:11:44.360 --> 0:11:47.400 What can I do to improve the traffic there and 0:11:47.400 --> 0:11:50.280 and improve sales? Yeah, especially over time, you can create 0:11:50.440 --> 0:11:52.760 a heat map of what your customers are doing. Yeah, 0:11:52.800 --> 0:11:55.720 it's it's like ground level market research that you can 0:11:55.760 --> 0:12:00.439 do yourself based upon this. Now, Uh, that things up 0:12:00.520 --> 0:12:03.800 the idea that they are watching what people are doing 0:12:03.880 --> 0:12:06.400 and how they're moving through the store, which can give 0:12:06.480 --> 0:12:09.480 someone the hebe and or GBS. As I recall, Lauren, 0:12:09.600 --> 0:12:12.240 you felt that that was a little that was not 0:12:12.320 --> 0:12:15.200 really your bag. Yeah, well it's actually when we were 0:12:15.200 --> 0:12:18.040 talking about it in the Predictions show. What I'm more 0:12:18.120 --> 0:12:21.360 don't want is my phone pinging me about a billion 0:12:21.400 --> 0:12:23.320 different things when I'm in a store, because that's just 0:12:23.360 --> 0:12:26.240 not the store experience that I am personally looking for. 0:12:26.440 --> 0:12:28.040 I can I can see where it would certainly be 0:12:28.120 --> 0:12:30.720 useful to many people. That sounds like I would be 0:12:30.800 --> 0:12:33.600 so irritated so quickly. So, Lauren, are you the kind 0:12:33.600 --> 0:12:36.520 of person this is just not not really to beacons? 0:12:36.520 --> 0:12:38.000 I'm curious to find out. Are you the kind of 0:12:38.000 --> 0:12:39.760 person who when you need to go shopping, you know 0:12:39.880 --> 0:12:41.720 exactly what you want, You go and you get and 0:12:41.720 --> 0:12:45.360 you leave. No, Well, sometimes sometimes I am me because 0:12:45.360 --> 0:12:49.160 that's what I call the dude approach. I'm like, I 0:12:49.160 --> 0:12:52.120 actually probably have the extreme lady approach, wherein I kind 0:12:52.160 --> 0:12:54.000 of know what I want and then I also want 0:12:54.040 --> 0:12:56.800 to look at literally everything else in the store. But 0:12:56.880 --> 0:12:58.960 you want to do it on your terms. Yeah, got it. 0:12:59.000 --> 0:13:01.000 I don't want to guide it to Are I understand? 0:13:01.280 --> 0:13:04.600 I understand entirely. And then see. Here's the thing you 0:13:04.640 --> 0:13:07.120 have to remember is that this involves you installing an 0:13:07.120 --> 0:13:09.839 app on your phone. Uh. And yeah, no one, no 0:13:09.880 --> 0:13:12.160 one is saying that this is going to be enforced, right, 0:13:12.240 --> 0:13:15.120 And this is not like one app. This is this 0:13:15.200 --> 0:13:17.839 is a technology that enables app developers to make their 0:13:17.840 --> 0:13:20.560 own apps. So every store would have to create an 0:13:20.559 --> 0:13:22.240 app in order to interact with you in this. You 0:13:22.640 --> 0:13:25.679 might either have forty different apps on your phone so 0:13:25.679 --> 0:13:27.480 that you can go to the mall and use all this, 0:13:27.679 --> 0:13:30.000 or you might find an app developer that partners with 0:13:30.120 --> 0:13:35.040 lots of different stores to make an over overarching kind 0:13:35.080 --> 0:13:38.480 of experience. Uh. This is all brand new, so it's 0:13:38.520 --> 0:13:40.560 not like brand new in the sense of people actually 0:13:40.920 --> 0:13:44.320 working building these things. So it's not like, um, there's 0:13:44.320 --> 0:13:46.600 a lot to point at right now, right right, And 0:13:46.880 --> 0:13:49.679 you know, people aren't the only thing that that beacons 0:13:49.679 --> 0:13:52.199 can track. You can also use Bailey technology for a 0:13:52.280 --> 0:13:54.760 lot of different stuff. There's there's a particular product called 0:13:54.840 --> 0:13:58.440 drop tag that includes Bailey and a bunch of accelerometer 0:13:58.520 --> 0:14:01.319 type sensors. It's it's made to be included with shipments 0:14:01.360 --> 0:14:03.440 and to report back on whether or not the package 0:14:03.480 --> 0:14:06.480 was in fact handled with care. Yeah. I can imagine 0:14:06.520 --> 0:14:10.360 this being a big deal with say luggage, so people 0:14:10.400 --> 0:14:13.440 can can say like, no, I can demonstrate to you 0:14:13.480 --> 0:14:16.640 that my luggage was not handled properly because look at 0:14:16.640 --> 0:14:19.400 the data. The data don't lae right. Um. You can 0:14:19.400 --> 0:14:22.720 also tags, say equipment in a hospital or something like 0:14:22.760 --> 0:14:25.440 that with receivers instet of a beacon network to track 0:14:25.520 --> 0:14:27.440 the stuff that you need. Yeah. In fact, the health 0:14:27.440 --> 0:14:30.160 care industry is one of the big industries that are 0:14:30.320 --> 0:14:33.960 that's projected to be a huge user of this kind 0:14:33.960 --> 0:14:36.680 of technology. Sure, you could also use it to track 0:14:36.720 --> 0:14:39.160 your employees if they have an I D badge, Although 0:14:39.280 --> 0:14:42.360 that that that actually goes back into the creeping me 0:14:42.400 --> 0:14:46.280 out about tracking behavior kind of notice that you spent 0:14:46.640 --> 0:14:49.400 an average of seven minutes in the break room when 0:14:49.400 --> 0:14:52.880 your break times are supposed to be limited to five minutes. Yeah, 0:14:52.880 --> 0:14:56.480 that would be not so much fun, although certainly in 0:14:56.520 --> 0:14:59.240 some situations it could it could be a boon to 0:14:59.360 --> 0:15:02.600 the business to figure out. Um, for for example, in 0:15:02.880 --> 0:15:05.400 manufacturing or something, if if you need to figure out 0:15:05.480 --> 0:15:08.640 how long a product is spending with different teams of people, 0:15:09.040 --> 0:15:11.080 or could be very us or if it's someone who's 0:15:11.120 --> 0:15:15.520 say like uh, on call, like an I T specialist 0:15:15.600 --> 0:15:18.480 that could for hours. Yeah, yeah, it's one of those 0:15:18.480 --> 0:15:22.040 things that could happen. So uh, you know, we we 0:15:22.080 --> 0:15:25.640 mentioned that GPS doesn't necessarily work very well indoors. That's 0:15:25.760 --> 0:15:28.560 where the speaking technology is really expected to take off 0:15:28.600 --> 0:15:32.120 as an indoor areas, although not exclusively, because there are 0:15:32.160 --> 0:15:34.600 a lot of stadiums that are talking about using this. 0:15:34.920 --> 0:15:37.920 Both football staves, Super Bowl used it, uh, and then 0:15:38.000 --> 0:15:40.960 there are stadiums like baseball stadiums as well that are 0:15:41.080 --> 0:15:43.920 looking to use this kind of technology, but an enclosed 0:15:43.960 --> 0:15:46.600 area at any rate, even if not indoors, right, So 0:15:46.720 --> 0:15:48.720 in this in those cases, it's really meant as a 0:15:48.720 --> 0:15:52.160 way of distributing information quickly to people that want that 0:15:52.240 --> 0:15:54.520 sort of information. So if you're going to a sporting event, 0:15:54.520 --> 0:15:58.120 it might be statistics updated statistics of what's going on 0:15:58.200 --> 0:16:01.280 as you're watching it. But the way that beacons to 0:16:01.520 --> 0:16:03.960 tend to track you to figure out where you are 0:16:04.280 --> 0:16:07.840 if you're inside and there's no GPS, I mean, depending 0:16:07.880 --> 0:16:10.240 upon the app, it could actually ask your phone, what 0:16:10.320 --> 0:16:12.920 are your GPS coordinates right now? But if your if 0:16:12.920 --> 0:16:15.360 your phone can't get GPS coordinates because you have to 0:16:15.360 --> 0:16:18.360 be in the middle of the first flour of the mall, yeah, 0:16:18.760 --> 0:16:22.160 or a concrete bunker filled with beacons as they often are. 0:16:22.720 --> 0:16:25.840 UM what what it tends to use is the received 0:16:25.920 --> 0:16:29.640 signal strength indication or r S s I. This is 0:16:29.720 --> 0:16:33.440 really the strength of the connection between your device and 0:16:33.480 --> 0:16:37.280 the beacon, and as the distance between your device and 0:16:37.280 --> 0:16:41.480 the beacon decreases, the signal strength increases their inversely proportionate 0:16:41.560 --> 0:16:46.760 sure So UM that by by using multiple beacons, you 0:16:46.800 --> 0:16:49.480 can start to estimate where someone is. If if you 0:16:49.520 --> 0:16:54.720 are close to Beacon A, and you're not far away 0:16:54.800 --> 0:16:58.800 from Beacon C, but you're pretty far from beacon B. 0:16:58.800 --> 0:17:01.120 By triangulating that you can kind of guess where the 0:17:01.160 --> 0:17:03.160 person is. Sure And the more beacons that you have 0:17:03.240 --> 0:17:05.760 set up in this kind of situation, the better your 0:17:06.000 --> 0:17:08.400 your accuracy is going to bind up being exactly so 0:17:08.520 --> 0:17:11.800 that way you can start to track a person's movement 0:17:11.840 --> 0:17:16.200 through a physical space, at least with some degree of 0:17:16.200 --> 0:17:19.240 of certainty. It doesn't always work. There have been lots 0:17:19.240 --> 0:17:21.280 of tests where people have walked up to a display 0:17:21.320 --> 0:17:24.080 that has a beacon there, and there's another display nearby 0:17:24.200 --> 0:17:26.119 as a beacon there, and they get the wrong information 0:17:26.160 --> 0:17:28.720 for the for the display they're looking at that does 0:17:28.760 --> 0:17:32.160 see still still happen, but that is the technology improves. 0:17:32.200 --> 0:17:33.840 I think that's going to smooth out a little bit. 0:17:33.920 --> 0:17:36.280 And also I take a while, And it depends again 0:17:36.320 --> 0:17:38.160 on how many beacons you've gotten the area right, Yeah, 0:17:38.160 --> 0:17:40.760 the actual physical layout of where you've put these beacons, 0:17:40.760 --> 0:17:43.840 and how how those those borders overlap. You know, you 0:17:43.880 --> 0:17:45.880 don't want too much overlap because then you're just gonna 0:17:45.880 --> 0:17:48.560 get confusing information. But you don't want it to be 0:17:48.720 --> 0:17:52.080 completely separate because then you can't really tell where someone is. 0:17:52.119 --> 0:17:55.240 You just know that they're close by because it's not directional, 0:17:55.400 --> 0:17:59.719 it's just proximity. So that's important to remember too. So 0:17:59.760 --> 0:18:01.600 we've got a lot more to talk about with this, 0:18:01.720 --> 0:18:06.520 including some of the big concerns beyond just hey, they're 0:18:06.640 --> 0:18:09.240 looking at where I'm going in the store. Uh, there's 0:18:09.240 --> 0:18:12.720 some that's yeah, that's I don't I don't know if 0:18:12.760 --> 0:18:15.280 I had like a dude following me around in the 0:18:15.320 --> 0:18:17.320 store the whole time, if I'd be comfortable with that. 0:18:17.400 --> 0:18:19.320 So why would I be comfortable with this? There are 0:18:19.320 --> 0:18:21.399 other concerns as well, and we'll talk about them in 0:18:21.440 --> 0:18:24.000 just a moment. But before we do, let's take a 0:18:24.080 --> 0:18:29.280 quick break to thank our sponsor. Okay, so one of 0:18:29.320 --> 0:18:31.399 the things we have to talk about is if you 0:18:31.480 --> 0:18:36.520 have a technology that can at least track your movements. Uh, 0:18:36.600 --> 0:18:40.000 something immediately springs to mind. Besides, that's a little weird. 0:18:40.200 --> 0:18:42.240 It's a little creepy that they see that I'm moving 0:18:42.280 --> 0:18:45.600 through the space. And that's privacy, now, not just the 0:18:45.600 --> 0:18:48.320 fact that you're moving through a space. Because in theory, 0:18:48.400 --> 0:18:51.360 you could have an app that doesn't collect any information 0:18:51.359 --> 0:18:53.800 about you. It just lets the system know that there 0:18:53.920 --> 0:18:57.920 is a person here, but there's no identifying information whatsoever. 0:18:58.160 --> 0:19:00.200 It's just a person who has Bluetooth and a old 0:19:00.200 --> 0:19:03.520 technology that's moving through the space. That is possible, but 0:19:03.600 --> 0:19:06.720 it's not likely. It's more likely that you're going to 0:19:06.760 --> 0:19:09.480 have people design apps they're going to collect at least 0:19:09.720 --> 0:19:14.880 some information from your device, and that information could reveal 0:19:15.160 --> 0:19:18.920 more about you than you might expect. For example, there 0:19:18.920 --> 0:19:22.240 are often a lot of people will say that certain 0:19:22.240 --> 0:19:25.359 information like your gender, your data, birth, and your zip 0:19:25.400 --> 0:19:29.919 code are non identifiable pieces of information, meaning that just 0:19:30.000 --> 0:19:31.960 because you give that over doesn't mean they know who 0:19:32.000 --> 0:19:35.480 you are. Because you know you could be any person 0:19:35.600 --> 0:19:37.560 born on a certain day who lives in a certain 0:19:37.640 --> 0:19:40.920 zip code, except for eight seven of the U S population, 0:19:41.040 --> 0:19:43.919 it totally knows who you are. Yeah, eight seven of 0:19:44.000 --> 0:19:47.600 the time. That is unique information to an individual. So 0:19:48.280 --> 0:19:52.280 there is overwhelming chance that just with those three pieces 0:19:52.280 --> 0:19:56.840 of information, someone who has access to, you know, just 0:19:56.920 --> 0:19:58.720 a list of people who live in that zip code 0:19:58.880 --> 0:20:02.159 would be able to identify, cross link and identify you. 0:20:02.240 --> 0:20:04.800 Share and and note that even if you don't specifically 0:20:04.800 --> 0:20:07.600 give an app that kind of information, if you've, for example, 0:20:07.680 --> 0:20:10.240 linked it to Facebook, the app might have that info 0:20:10.280 --> 0:20:14.320 already right exactly. Any time an app links through some 0:20:14.359 --> 0:20:17.320 other service. Facebook is the greatest example, because it happens 0:20:17.359 --> 0:20:19.879 all the time. Share of Twitter or LinkedIn or or 0:20:19.880 --> 0:20:22.000 any other number of things. Google Plus is another one. 0:20:22.080 --> 0:20:24.280 Yet any of those are it's going to have as 0:20:24.359 --> 0:20:27.040 much information as you have. Granted it. Granted it. And 0:20:27.080 --> 0:20:30.720 now the permissions in the actual app should lay out 0:20:31.600 --> 0:20:35.440 what pieces of information specifically it is grabbing, whether it's 0:20:35.440 --> 0:20:39.200 from Facebook or whatever. Also, the terms of service should 0:20:39.240 --> 0:20:43.720 spell that out, But people tend to write really vague 0:20:43.880 --> 0:20:47.320 terms of service. Yeah. Also, I mean, and that's assuming 0:20:47.359 --> 0:20:49.880