Grizzly Analytics Blog

We reported on Extreme Reality (XTR) about a year ago, as one of several gesture recognition start-ups that looked soon to be hot.  Now it's been reported that XTR closed deals with both Samsung and NEC, for their technology to be used on those companies' computers. As we said previously, Israel-based  XTR 's technology does work on mobile, but the company's focus is on webcam-equipped computers. Their technology delivers full-body gesture recognition, implemented fully in software, using standard camera technology.  Both Samsung and NEC are reportedly using the technology for computers, not mobile phones. So what will be next in gesture recognition?  Other gesture recognition companies are likely to be in play soon, including software solution companies like EyeSight , 3D-camera-based middleware solution companies like Omek Interactive and LM3Labs , and CMOS companies like SoftKinetic . Even more exciting to us, however, is the growing area of "micro-...

GeoFencing has been growing slowly in the past year, primarily for either to-do reminders or for location-based marketing.  But the true GeoFencing revolution is much bigger, and coming soon. Technologists need to start looking at GeoFencing now. GeoFencing is technology that enables an action to be taken when a device enters or leaves a specific geographical area. With GeoFencing, a to-do list app can notify a user when nearing a store to buy milk, or a store app can notify the user of a sale on their favorite shirts as they're about to walk by the store.  The common element is an app waking up and alerting the user as the phone nears a given location. But GeoFencing isn't just about marketing promotions and it isn't just about location-based reminders. GeoFencing is a revolution in how mobile apps and services run. And it's coming soon. To say it really simply: How do mobile apps and services run now? Users run them when they decide to or remember to.  How ...

GeoFencing: Enabling Location-Based Reminders, Ads, Promotions, Proactive Apps, Security & More GeoFencing technology enables an action to be taken when a device enters or leaves a specific geographical area.  GeoFencing is emerging as a key technology enabler for a new generation of mobile applications, services and business models.  While the word GeoFencing has not yet entered common usage, it has been researched for years by all the major mobile companies, and a wide range of GeoFencing applications are reaching market.  GeoFencing is poised to revolutionize smartphone applications and services. Applications become proactive, running automatically when nearing a relevant location, and targeting their services to the user and to the location. Are you a smartphone calendar and to-do list user?  GeoFencing will alert you as you pass a store that sells the milk you need. Are you a retailer? GeoFencing will run your store’s app automatically as the...

Everyone knows how bad mobile app discovery is. I recently saw a group of 20-30 techies and mobile bloggers talk for days about something they wanted in a mobile app  before any of them discovered just the app that they were all looking for. When one of them suggested I download it, it took me a while to find it, even with the name in hand. See here  and  here   for just a few of the many articles talking about app discovery recently. But Microsoft is researching a new approach to app discovery that will give a huge boost to app discovery on the Windows Phone ecosystem.  The idea is location-based app discovery. Microsoft's newly-published patent application lays out some of the details. Apps in their application store have the option of being tagged with specific locations that they relate to. App locations might be tagged by the developers, or might be discovered automatically.  Then, when a user looks for local apps on their phone, they're offered i...

Start-up company Meridian has just announced that its indoor location technology will power a new mobile application for Macy's flagship store in Herald Square, New York City.  The new Macy's app will show users a familiar "blue dot" on a store map as they move around, and will help them navigate to the products they're looking for.  Meridian also announced that their technology will be used in new indoor navigation apps for Miami Children's Hospital and the Sydney, Australia airport. Their technology is already in use at the American Museum of Natural History. Until now, app developers wanting to use Meridian's indoor technology had to build the apps bottom-up using Meridian's system.  But with Meridian's newly released upgraded system, app developers can add in Meridian's indoor location technology to their existing apps, easily and effectively. But what makes Meridian different from most other indoor location technology providers? T...