Show HN: Play-tag, an iBeacon dog collar
play-tag.com
play-tag.com
If you want a iBeacon for your dog, you can just pick up a TI SensorTag and it includes 6 sensors, and code ready to go for using with iOS and Android. All for $25 / half the price.
http://www.ti.com/ww/en/wireless_connectivity/sensortag/inde...
Would that other thing go on a dog collar? : /
They also offer a variety of transmitters of different sizes and types, some of which are pretty small for small birds- in case you have a small dog or cat and want a smaller transmitter.
Q - is it really iBeacon? iBeacon is a specifically licensed "technology" from Apple (which, to go offtopic, should be avoided because it's intentionally exclusive and locked in, despite the existence of unsanctioned implementations on other platforms). BLE != iBeacon, just as Facetime != h264).
Q - Is it really manufactured in the USA?
Q - What are the in-app purchases? I'm not sure what functionality you could provide above and beyond that would merit an additional purchase.
C - I have a terrible eye for aesthetics, so take this with a grain of salt, but the fonts on the site really bring down the quality level and expectations.
What font do you think would work better?
Any sources on this? I thought that was just Apple's name for their own BLE API's. i.e. iBeacon is their marketing term for BLE.
iBeacon is some interaction standards atop BLE, and early on everyone assuaged themselves that it was safe and open -- because it's just some BLE interactions -- but Apple has it covered by trademarks, patents (similar to Microsoft's ActiveSync patents, as an aside. It's just a web service, but use it in certain ways and you're at risk of a patent suit) and marketing.
Ultimately, if your pet does manage to escape the range of your phone (or base station), there's nothing that this app can do to help you locate them. Do you have any plans to expand the app to support crowd sourced recovery like Tile (http://www.thetileapp.com/)?
We were thinking about crowd sourcing, but still on the fence. What's your thought on it?
Alternatively, you can just write your phone number on a dog tag.
Additionally, I don't see anything on the tag that explains to people that they should download an app for owner information.
Beacon aware doggie doors, doggie location analytics within the house, a treat dispenser that gives each of your dogs only a certain allotment of treats per day based on their beacon ID, a doggie photo booth that sends the photos back to their owner when the dog triggers it, and the list goes on and on.
The problem for me is that I already know he is missing, and this thing doesn't tell me where he is.
This question has a very vauge answer, mainly it doesn't give waterproof details or anything specific at all.
Keeping track of exactly where my dog is within 150ft radius, not so much. The "leash" analogy is also entirely misplaced. "Leash" implies having control over your dog, so it can't get away. With playtag it seems, there's not really any element of "control" at all, and if my dog gets more than 150 feet away it's basically useless.