Mister Beacon

How are we going to deal with the pandemic at hand, and how do we return to ‘normal’? These are the questions at the forefront of our minds. Bluetooth may have an answer. Companies, like Estimote, from the first signs of trouble, have been taking measures to transform their existing technology to help in the era of COVID-19. Last time on the podcast, we talked with Jakub Kryzch, CEO of Estimote, about their new product, the LTE beacon. This time he is back to tell us about an innovative spin on that same product which now has the goal of providing a safer and healthier workplace environment through contact traceability. This product, worn around the neck or clipped to a belt, can anonymously and privately help individuals keep their social distance with lights and sounds, as well as help track back when individuals have potentially been exposed. While essential businesses, for example food and drug production, are the targets today to help increase the safety of their workplace, these type of techno

How do you feel about your failures? Do you fail enough? If we are all supposed to fail fast, what’s the best way of doing it? What do you think of Colgate Lasagna, New Coke or Google Glass? These are just 3 of 100+ failed products featured in The Museum of Failure, ‘a collection of failed products and services from around the world’ with the goal of providing visitors with a learning experience and insight into ‘the risky business of innovation’. This week, we sit down to talk to Dr. Samuel West, Organizational Psychologist and Curator of The Museum of Failure, about how failure, but more importantly how failing mindfully, is essential to progress. We talk about an organization’s culture and effect on exploration and experimentation, principle patterns of failure (or lack thereof), and to keep true to the theme of the Mr. Beacon podcast, we also discuss whether the Bluetooth beacon ecosystem should be regarded as a failure.   See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This week we shift our focus from the usual suspects, Bluetooth & beacons, to the application experiences they enable. While Bluetooth, proximity and Real Time Location System technologies can increase efficiency and create new user interactions, among other use cases, it is ‘all useless if it doesn’t result in applications that people can engage with’. Sean Van Tyne, Customer Experience Architect of Van Tyne Group, coaches us on some of the tools they use to help companies ensure the customer journey is a success such as heuristics, personas, and usability testing. Find out more about how user experience and customer experience gained importance and the companies that drove it.   See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

How do you make the IoT secure? What happens when you don’t? What are some of the most powerful IoT companies doing to address those questions? Full episode here:The ioXt Alliance believes in building a safer IoT world. They believe this world can be made possible through an alliance built on establishing security standards, shaping public policy, and compliance through testing and certification. This week we talk to Brad Ree, the CTO of The ioXt Alliance. This international standard for IoT security was brought to life by some of the tech giants you might be familiar with: Google, Amazon, Comcast, T-Mobile, to name a few. In this episode, we dive into how the ioXt Alliance defines IoT and the vast differences that consequentially create notable variances in security requirements for each. Acknowledging that IoT is scaling and with scale comes increased risk, we continue the discussion about the tradeoffs such as cost, usability, longevity, and more. Turn in this week to learn how The ioXt Alliance is evolvin

Following Mister Beacon's appearance on Coffee with Mr. IoT (Watch Here), we switch roles to host Robert Schmid, Chief Futurist at Deloitte, aka Mr. IoT, on this week’s episode! Robert describes himself has as pragmatically audacious with a ‘deep passion and experience in all things digital – IoT wearables, social, mobile, and cloud computing’. This made him the perfect guest to discuss the current state of the Internet of Things ecosystem in all its strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. We talk IoT A to Z from sensors, performance, platforms, privacy, security, as well as use cases. Tune in this week to learn what IoT is good for – the use cases where the strengths are manifested and those where it’s not such a good fit.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This week on Mr. Beacon we talk with Cognosos, an asset tracking SAS platform using both Low Power Wide Area Network (LPWAN) as well as Bluetooth. Jim Stratigos, Cognosos’s CTO, shares with us why LPWAN is the best choice for his automotive use case and what “drove” him to create a proprietary tech rather than using LoRa. Their solution enables dealers and auctions to have a cost-effective way of tracking vehicles in large outdoors lots by providing an essential piece of the equation, long range. In addition to range, we touch on the benefits and tradeoffs of the software and hardware architecture and business model decisions leading to SAS. We leave a little something extra at the end for those aspiring to be a CTO. Jim gives us the inside scoop from his extensive experience at Cognosos and companies like Cisco, Motorola, and AT&T.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Lighting is everywhere and, conveniently, it’s always powered. This gives it the potential to be a network of sensors for a fraction of the hardware, installation, and maintenance cost of the alternatives. This week on the Mr. Beacon Podcast we meet with Bastiaan de Groot, CEO of the smart lighting company, Ingy, to delve into the disruptive power of lighting, both in an environmental and business context. Ingy believes ‘it is time for a new approach to smart buildings’ so they have built software for a mesh sensor network that is licensed to lighting manufacturers, sensor manufactures, and portal providers. This software offers lighting control systems and a wide range of smart building services like sub metering, asset tracking, indoor navigation, occupancy analytics and more.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Midmark is the 100+ year old company that “we all know, but don’t know”. The last time you were at the doctors or dentist, you were probably sitting on one of their chairs or tables, and most likely surrounded by many of the products they produce like cabinetry, lighting, and diagnostic equipment. HT describes Midmark as the market leader in providing “everything you need to outfit a medical environment”. HT Snowday, VP of Innovation and Technology Development at Midmark, joins us today to talk about how Midmark is also in the business of Real Time Location Systems (RTLS). This week we get a different perspective, a customer-orientated view, of RTLS technology in one of the largest organizations in healthcare. Join in to hear about the different technologies they use in a variety of healthcare use cases, such as asset tracking, device management, patient/caregiver management, and work flow processes.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The Physical Web: What is it, what happened to it, and what is the Physical Web Association’s response? This week on Mr. Beacon we have two of the Co-Founders of the Physical Web Association, Agustin Musi and James Grant, joining us to give us the scoop on the Physical Web’s past struggles as well as it’s promising future. Listen in to learn how the Physical Web provides a better alternative to developing an app, typing in a URL, or scanning a QR code, and how it provides a level playing field for content delivery.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Ultra-Wideband (UWB) in the iPhone 11 – What is it and what are the implications? A few months ago a large group of engineers from Apple and Samsung entered the room where a small group of engineers were working on updating a previously obscure radio standard IEEE 802.15.4, mainly used for industrial applications such as luxury car production. Fast forward to a stage in Sunnyvale where Tim Cook unveils his new iPhone 11. The fate of Ultra-Wide Band or UWB was changed forever when Apple added a new it’s U1 UWB/Ultra-Wide Band radio and an elaborate new antenna to its latest iPhone 11.  We talk to Nathan Dunn CEO of Bluecats, one of the pioneers of UWB and Bluetooth solutions about what this means to the industry, the applications it unlocks now and what it could be used for in the future.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

There’s been a lot of talk about the new Bluetooth Angle of Arrival (AoA) standard. This week we have a first-hand account of what it took to deploy AoA technology and how well it worked in a large scale manufacturing environment. At the Quuppa Partner Conference in Finland, we had a chance to sit down with Bob Grimm, an IT Enterprise Architect at NGK Automatics Ceramics USA, Inc. Bob had just been on stage talking about NGK’s recent deployment of Quuppa Angle of Arrival technology as part of the architecture for a real time location system (RTLS). NGK Ceramics, creators of an indispensable part for automobile catalytic converters, have massive manufacturing centers which equates to many assets and moving products that need to be accounted for. Bob described the pre-RTLS process as “finding a pallet in a sea of pallets” and the environment as exceeding production capacity that was out growing their rack based inventory control process. With the RTLS system in place, NGK immediately saw value from the inc

‘Digital to physical convergence and the Internet of Apparel, with a sustainability twist!’ Dr. Kevin Dooley, a professor specializing in supply chain at Arizona State University, joins in his role as the Chief Scientist of The Sustainability Consortium (TSC). TSC is a 100+ member community of retail giants including Amazon, Walmart, Walgreens, as well as major CPG Brands, non-profits, and academic institutions. They work across all product categories to determine a way to make the things we buy more sustainable. On this episode, we learn about WearEver, a TSC project with goals to embed technology into apparel to measure usage which has the potential to increase demand for ‘clothes that have better emotional and physical utility and durability’ whilst unlocking a treasure trove of information about where / when / what consumers wear. Kevin discusses what drives interest in tracking usage of consumer products, the potential technologies to achieve this, and their current limitations.   See

A few weeks ago we heard about the new Bluetooth 5.1 specification, and notably two new exciting features: Angle of Arrival (AoA) and Angle of Departure (AoD). This week we are reunited with a familiar face, Fabio Belloni, to bring these features to life using Quuppa technology. Fabio Belloni is the Chief Customer Officer at Quuppa, a location platform that has pioneered AoA for RTLS solutions. In this episode, Fabio takes us through a demo of the reverse architecture, Angle of Departure (AoD), at their annual Quuppa Partner Conference. Rather than real time location applications, AoD is best used for indoor positioning and navigation. We then take some time to get updated on the last year at Quuppa, including their announcement of the new family of Quuppa products, and discuss what the future landscape of this Bluetooth specification.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This one is for sports fans! Liiga, or Finnish Elite League in English, is the top professional league in Finland, and the first be deploying Bluetooth technology in an ice rink! Antti Jussi, CDO of Liiga, joins us to talk about the real-time positioning project in their arenas. Antti paints a picture of Quuppa gateways with angle of arrival technology hanging from the ceilings which track Bluetooth tags on players and the puck with incredible accuracy. For the first time, teams and players are given the opportunity to dive into the data and statistics that can be collected by this system, whether it be to improve the teams flow together, their individual performance, or to look at the competition. Check out this week’s episode to learn more about the potential for Bluetooth beacons to enhance the sports industry and the challenges in initial investment as well as implementation.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Think back to the days when we thought of Bluetooth as the connection between our wireless headphones, keyboards, and the audio systems in our cars. Today we know it as so much more. Bluetooth Low Energy brought to life a new array of connected device applications. Now we are just starting to see the huge potential Bluetooth has in location services. This week we hear from Ken Kolderup, VP of Marketing for the Bluetooth Special Interest Group, the standards organization responsible for specification, qualification, and promotion of Bluetooth technology. We discuss the newest Bluetooth feature, Direction Finding, and how it is transforming our expectations of what location services Bluetooth can provide. We are moving from simple proximity detection to real time sub meter positioning. This new standard is enhancing the level of accuracy that can be achieved. For example, in manufacturing, we can go from knowing that a pallet is ‘present’ in a building, to knowing which pallet is which and exactly whe

We have all experienced the annoyance of a waiter that has disappeared, whether it’s because you need menus, you’ve been waiting to place your order, and especially when you are in a rush to pay your bill. Rene Batsford, CEO andFounder of OrderPay, realized that ordering and paying haven’t really changed for 20 years and there was an opportunity to enhance operational effectiveness that ultimately results in happier customers. OrderPays aims to provide ‘a simple and seamless way to deliver at table ordering and payment” to simplify life in hospitality. In this episode, we talk to Rene about the competing technologies in this space, and what he sees as a ‘panacea’, one technology enabling many different use cases in the consumer journey.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Something we talk about often on the Mr. Beacon Podcast is physical to digital convergence. The world of fashion is no stranger to this phenomenon. Apparel now has its own identity and retailers are creating experiences with IoT devices and augmented reality. The blending of fashion and technology is something our guest, Barry McGeough, has seen and been involved in first hand. Barry worked with Dr. Martins, at North Face, Speedo, and founder and former head of innovation at PVH: a portfolio of iconic brands such as Calvin Klein, Tommy Hilfiger, and IZOD. In this episode, we talk about why brands have to be more consumer-centric than ever, the effects of online shopping, and the pros and cons of different technologies such as RFID, QR Codes, and Bluetooth beacons in apparel.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This week on Mr. Beacon, we welcome back Dominque Guinard, CTO of Evrything, this time in his capacity as co-chair of the GS1 Digital Link Standard. The GSI Digital Link is defined as a “standard for web-enabling barcodes promises to enhance the shopping experience for consumers around the globe, while strengthening brand loyalty, improving supply chain traceability and efficiencies and bringing mobile phone scanning into the 21st century”. Today products are tagged for many reasons: compliance, marketing/consumer engagement, supply chain,l … The digital link standard allows all of this data to be combined into one URL that can be used at any point in the product life cycle. Global Trade Item Numbers (GTIN), or more commonly recognized as barcodes, are something we may see every day but as a consumers, we don’t have any connection or use for them. The digital link aims to change this by moving these numbers to the web, and allowing everyone to interact with them. Beyond the information used in supply chain, c

Imagine a full solution, created with such ease of set up that businesses big and small alike could have a proximity marketing campaign set up in minutes - This has been Mobstac’s guiding principle. This week on Mr. Beacon, Ravi Pratap, CTO & co-founder of Mobstac, talks to us about why he believes that Bluetooth beacon applications are led by software. Ravi explains that proximity marketing, indoor location, and way finding will only be as successful as the quality of the software that is available to leverage the technology. Mobstac’s track record is a testament to this, with one of the largest beacon deployments in the world and working with customers such as T-Mobile, Google, Amazon, and Unilever. In this episode, we also get Ravi’s opinions on the state of the beacon industry, as well as the decline of Google Eddystone’s Nearby and Samsung’s Closeby.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This week we welcome Bob Friday, CTO of Mist, back to The Mr. Beacon Podcast! On this episode, Bob gives us an updated on how Mist are using machine learning in the realm of Wi-Fi and Bluetooth networks. We discuss some of the recent Mist deployments at Disney’s Swan and Dolphin Resort and The Veterans Department, and discuss the state of the Bluetooth ecosystem and where it is going. Find out why Bob thinks Bluetooth is going from a “nice to have” to a “must have”. If you missed the first episode with Mist, watch it here: https://youtu.be/AlNRGbTEMkc  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.