Category: Mobile

Ford Max Motor Dreams

For many new parents, there is only one guaranteed solution to putting their baby down at the end of the day – a night-time drive that soothes, calms and eventually helps the little one nod off.

To help, Ford Spain has developed a cot that could simulate – in the comfort of your own home – the motion, engine noise, and even the street lighting of those night‑time drives. To all appearances a regular cot, the Max Motor Dreams, comes to life using a smartphone app. This enables it to record and then reproduce the comforting movement, lights and sounds of a particular journey.

For now, the Max Motor Dreams is a one-off pilot. But following numerous enquiries, the company is considering putting the unique cot into full‑scale production.

Tostitos Party Safe Bag

According to the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 45 people were killed in drunk driving crashes on Super Bowl Sunday 2015. This was nearly half of all traffic fatalities that day. So for the 2017 Super Bowl Sunday, Tostitos launched a limited-edition “Party Safe” bag that could tell when you’ve been drinking, and then assist you to get home safely from the party.

The special bag was created by Goodby Silverstein & Partners and came equipped with a sensor that was connected to a microcontroller calibrated to detect traces of alcohol on a person’s breath. If any alcohol was detected, the sensor would turn red and form the image of a steering wheel. The bag of chips would also give the user a $10 off Uber code along with a “Don’t drink and drive” message. Users with a NFC enabled smartphone could also tap the bag to call for an Uber.

The world’s first emotionally powered store

To help tackle the stress of Christmas present-buying, eBay with the help of American technology firm Lightwave, opened a pop-up store in central London that aimed to inspire shoppers to reconnect with the emotional spirit of giving. By using intelligent bio-analytic technology and facial coding, eBay recorded which products provoked the strongest feelings of giving. Then through personalised emotion reports they suggested the gift that stirred the most feeling.

Amazon Go

The way we buy groceries in stores is going to change forever! The first Amazon Go store is due to open to the public in early 2017. To use the service, people living in Seattle will need to install the Amazon Go app, log into their account, and then simply put goods from the shelves into their bags and walk out.

According to Amazon, the store and shelves are equipped with “computer vision, sensor fusion, and deep learning” technology that can detect when products are removed and returned to the shelves. And only when the customer actually leaves the store is their account charged.

Volvo Concierge Services

Volvo is one carmaker that is actively experimenting with new ways (Volvo Keyless Cars and Volvo In-Car Delivery) to move beyond simply building and selling cars. In their latest effort, Volvo has created a service ecosystem around its cars that give its customers access to various third-party service providers to remotely fuel up, get a car wash, service the car, and more.

The heart of the Volvo Concierge Service is the digital key, a one-time-use location- and time-specific key that allows service providers access to the vehicle. This is a big advantage as it keeps the car secure and keeps owners from needing to meet someone and hand over the key. The supplier, whether that’s a refueling company or a valet parking attendant or Volvo itself (for oil changes and other maintenance), use an app that remotely unlocks the car and allows the engine to turn on.

The Volvo Concierge Services are currently being tested in the San Francisco Bay Area with owners of the new Volvo XC90 SUVs and S90 sedans.

Crafted By My Heart

“Crafted By My Heart” is an app launched by DDB Group Hong Kong that lets you customise jewellery with your own heartbeat. Using the flash and camera on the smartphone, the app detects changes in the coloration of your finger, which it then uses to measure the heartbeat. The intensity and rhythm of the heartbeat is then translated into a unique digital rendering which is then eventually used to create a one of a kind ring.

The app offers a choice of two base designs i.e. Surge and Sierra along with three different finishes i.e. gold, silver or black silver. Depending on the finish, rings cost between HK$1,198 and HK$1,588 (US$155 and US$205), and take around 15 to 20 working days to complete.

For more infos visit www.craftedbymyheart.com.

Microsoft HoloLens redefines elevator maintenance

The future of elevator maintenance is here. ThyssenKrupp recently announced the implementation of Microsoft’s Hololens out in the field where its technicians and engineers will benefit from minimized delays and matchless workflow. Fusing cloud computing and digital IoT solutions with an augmented reality interface, ThyssenKrupp will facilitate real-time prediction of repairs and component replacements while priming their experts on potential issues before they arise.

Coca-Cola creates first ever “drinkable” advertising

Many people think they know the taste of Coke Zero, but they actually don’t. So Ogilvy & Mather created a campaign for Coke Zero that viewers could literally drink, irrespective of whether it was on a billboard, tv, print, or radio.

By simply “Shazaming” the ads, viewers could see Coke Zero pouring in on the screen of their smartphones, filling a glass, which then ended up into an actual free Coke Zero coupon that could be redeemed at select retail stores across the US.

Coca-Cola Second Screen Reinvented

Coca-Cola in Israel created a TV spot that through its audio signals communicated with the viewers mobile phones. Watching the ad triggered a “Gett Coca-Cola” prompt to appear on the viewers phones. If viewers tapped it, five minutes later a special Coca-Cola package with a branded cooler, two Coke bottles and a bottle opener, would show up at their doors.

To ensure prompt delivery, Coca-Cola partnered with local taxi app Gett which during the time of the promotion dispatched thousands of vehicles packed with the coolers across Israel.

Cornetto Commitment Rings

Netflix has taken the world by storm, transforming itself from a mail order DVD company into a streaming behemoth that uses immense amount of internet bandwidth worldwide. This in turn has led to a cultural phenomenon called Binge-watching, where you tend to watch 2-6 episodes of the same TV show in one sitting.

The insight ice-cream maker Cornetto had to this cultural phenomenon was that over 28 million Netflix users have binge-watch cheated on their loved ones. 21% of them did it while the other person was asleep, while 12% of them re-watched the show with their loved ones. So Cornetto to fix this “Netflix infidelity” created a pair of smart wearable rings that blocked access to the shows unless the two were watching them together.

The rings had to connect to the smartphone over NFC, and then through an app users would have to register the shows they wanted to watch together. After that, both parties would have to be present, and have their Commitment Rings nearby, to be able to play a new episode from any of the saved shows.

At the moment there aren’t any pricing details or release dates for this particular wearable, so you’ll have to keep checking the Series Commitment website for more details about it, or register with the site to receive more information about the product.