Augme Buys Mobile Barcode Player Jag Tag

Cisco predicted 50 billion "things" will be connected to Net by 2020. The "Internet of Things" is definitely a trend to watch.

A barcode represents a URL to a camera phone, or a physical world hyperlink. Any physical object can now be linked to the Internet.

JagTag, one of the companies on my Physical World Connection list, was acquired by Augme today.

(the Physical World Connection list should provide some additional acquisition candidates)

More thoughts on Physical World Connection here.








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The Fingerprint, A Physical World Hyperlink, And Physical World Connection Help Police

How is a fingerprint like a website (URL)?

When an Internet enabled device scans a fingerprint (retrieves a match using a database through the Net) and delivers information, it (fingerprint) has acted as a Physical World Hyperlink.

A computer resolves a machine readable identifier and delivers information through the Web.

From Guardian Police use fingerprints in the street

Every police force in the UK is to be equipped with mobile fingerprint scanners - handheld devices that allow police to carry out identity checks on people in the street.

The new technology, which ultimately may be able to receive pictures of suspects, is likely to be in widespread use within 18 months. Tens of thousands of sets - as compact as BlackBerry smartphones - are expected to be distributed.

The Most Revolutionary Phase Of All...Physical World Connection

When every physical object is, or can be connected to the Internet, ie (Physical World Connection), is when a revolution occurs.

Some call it the "Internet of Things", I also call it the Internet Phase 2.

Cars, refrigerators, billboards, tennis rackets, water heaters, digital cameras, stop signs, airplanes, sprinkler systems and any physical object you can think of, will soon be "connected" to the Internet. This occurs with various types of Physical World Hyperlinks.

A Physical World Hyperlink is any sensing device (RFid, GPS, ZigBee etc) or a machine readable identifier (barcode, image, sound etc) that when initiated or scanned provides an Internet connection (or a connection through the Net).

The ability for devices (more than PCs and mobile phones) to connect (or have the ability to connect to the Net) will offer some exciting applications. The ability for individuals and corporations to connect/interact via the Net, created new multi-billion dollar companies/industries (Google, eBay, Amazon, YouTube). This also allowed economies to become so much more efficient.

The areas to watch for Physical World Connection:

1. software/hardware (solution) that resolves any type of physical world hyperlink

2. a "registry" for domains that will be issued for every device (that will dwarf the number of website domains)..like Verisign

3. a network provider that can ensures a secure network for these devices (it's one thing if your website is hacked, it's something completely different if your machinery or car is)

4. a delivery system/platform that can move any sized data from a physical object through the network (what good is having objects connected and providing data if they cant transmit and receive it)

On the advertising side of PWC here's how Google Can Connect The Physical World

Even Microsoft is developing the RFID browser.

Internet enabled everything

In the 15 years since Sir Tim Berners-Lee invented the World Wide Web, the life of almost everyone in the industrialised world has been touched by it. But just as many of us are getting to grips with its second stage, the mobile internet, few are prepared - or even aware - of the third and potentially most revolutionary phase of all: the internet of things.

Mobile Bar Code Reading The Next Technology Wave

Do you know how billions of hyperlinks get created overnight?
Just assign one to every bar code.

Virtual worlds, mobile coupons and bar-code readers on cell phones are the next technology wave that U.S. chain stores must ride if they hope to stay competitive in the fast-changing world of global retail.

"These technologies are going to change the way you interact with your customer, they're going to change the way people shop, they're going to change the way you manage your brands," said Giff Constable, general manager at Electric Sheep Co.

Those bar codes aren't just for cashier scanning anymore.

Soon every physical object, using a 1d bar code (or coming soon 2d bar code) and a camera phone, will allow Physical World Connection. Those bar codes will act as Physical World Hyperlinks. Connecting a physical object to a specific website.

Check out what Sprint is doing with mobile bar codes now.

Big Brother Will Use Physical World Hyperlinks For Security

Who needs implantable RFID chips, when your eyeball will do.

When a machine readable identifier (fingerprint, iris, DNA etc) is scanned, identified from an Internet database, and then delivers information...Physical World Connection has take place.

In the following case, irises will act as Physical World Hyperlinks.

Senior British police officials are talking to the FBI about an international database to hunt for major criminals and terrorists.

The US-initiated program, "Server in the Sky", would take cooperation between the police forces way beyond the current faxing of fingerprints across the Atlantic. Allies in the "war against terror" - the US, UK, Australia, Canada and New Zealand - have formed a working group, the International Information Consortium, to plan their strategy.

Biometric measurements, irises or palm prints as well as fingerprints, and other personal information are likely to be exchanged across the network. One section will feature the world's most wanted suspects. The database could hold details of millions of criminals and suspects.

Physical World Hyperlinks Coming Soon!

New barcodes on signs, posters and the like are expanding the mobile web.

From Sydney Morinng Herald Physical World Hyperlinks Coming Soon!

The world of the so-called 2D barcode is nearly upon us. After several false dawns, hyperlinks for the physical world are becoming a reality, thanks to mobiles with higher resolution cameras and the emergence of 3G high-speed connectivity.

ScanBuy, a New York provider of technology capturing 2D barcodes, has signed a deal with Nokia to embed its software in the mobile maker's S60 and S40 models - primarily in China, a country with 500 million mobile-phone users. And global packaging company DuPont is offering to print the codes onto its customers' products using ScanBuy's technology.

These more sophisticated versions of traditional barcodes (universal product codes) used in retailing can be scanned by cameraphones and converted into text, images or video. They can simply contain information - up to 1MB in some cases - or act as web links, making the tricky process of surfing the net via mobile as easy as "point and click".

Barcodes And Physical World Connection Could Transform Ad Industry

Adotas has a nice summary on how barcodes (physical world hyperlinks,) when scanned with a camera phone, (Physical World Connection) have the ability to transform the ad industry.

The article discusses what could happen when special barcodes (2D codes) are used as links to more info about products. Although the data contained in the barcode ALREADY on the products contains less info, it too will be used as a link to the Internet.

The Humble Barcode Could Change The Ad Industry



"One particularly interesting technology already gaining considerable traction in the Far East is the use of barcodes that enable mobile phones to interact directly with every day objects.

The premise is simple – people use the cameras on their mobile phones to read encoded information via barcodes. These new types of barcodes (2D codes) can hold a far greater depth of data than the barcodes we’re used to seeing on every day objects today. Once scanned, software built into mobile phones can translate the information into content ranging from text and images through to video clips.

For direct response advertisers this could have a major impact. Instead of being restricted to the inclusion of 1 800 numbers and URLs, offline ads could start to evolve into far more powerful pull marketing tools."

The Economist Reviews Physical World Connection With "When Everything Connects"

This week's The Economist has a great summary on Physical World Connection, or the "Internet of Things", called "When Everything Connects".

The ability for devices (more than PCs and mobile phones) to connect (or have the ability to connect to the Net) will offer some exciting applications. The ability for individuals and corporations to connect/interact via the Net, created new multibillion dollar companies/industries (Google, eBay, Amazon, YouTube). This also allowed economies to become so much more efficient.

What industries and companies will be created when any type of device can connect to the Internet? How efficient will this make an economy?

Phase 2 of the Internet, when physical objects can be connected to tne Net, using a Physical World Hyperlink, offers some exciting times ahead.

Why do I think The Next Google or Next Microsoft is this application? Google is so successful because they offer the ability to find anything on the Internet which consists of billions of websites. Imagine that same function to find OR control any device connected to the Net.

So far the mobile phone has been getting all the attention. Around 2.8 billion are already in use, with a further 1.6m being added every day. The phones themselves are improving at a cracking pace. Yet this boom is also spilling over into other areas of wireless communications, used for linking machines, sensors and objects.

Everybody talks about the emerging markets being the big opportunity for the cellular industry in the next few years, but in the longer run there are going to be a lot more devices talking to each other,” says Paul Jacobs, the boss of Qualcomm, which makes mobile-phone chips.

The phenomenon “could well dwarf previous milestones in the information revolution”, according to a 2001 report entitled “Embedded, Everywhere” by America's National Research Council.

In the years ahead new wireless technologies will appear in a plethora of devices, much as computer chips did in the second half of the 20th century

Out With The Old, In With The New

I thought of cute lines that include Verizon, "remember when?" and a couple others.

Sometimes a picture does a better job of telling a story.




Look closely below the handset.