Estimote, a developer of beacon technology, has released what it is describing as the world’s first video-enabled beacon called Estimote Mirror. The Mirror can communicate with nearby phones and their apps and take content from the phones to display it on a nearby system. The mirror connects to an HDMI and USB port. Once an app is detected using BLE, the Mirror can display customised information on the display it is connected to.
Estimote believes that the best applications will be those that deliver great user experiences and “remove friction from our daily lives”.
It suggests “Imagine you have a connecting flight and have just landed at your first destination. You likely have your airline’s app installed on the phone in your pocket. Because you’re logged-in, your phone knows your flight time, departure gate and other relevant details, like whether your outbound flight is delayed. When you approach an airport flight monitoring screen, it will simply react to your presence. Personalized content will be mirrored directly from your airline app. It’s the mobile SDK which casts BLE instructions and content to the nearby video-enabled beacon”
Estimote has smaller beacons, called Stickers, and these can be used to send signals from objects to the Mirror, to allow retail, POS and museum applications.
The company said that there is a complete SoC inside the Mirror, but we hadn’t got technical details at press time. When these come through, we’ll let you know. Meanwhile, here is a video of application ideas.
