The SXSWi Trade Show: Four Technologies You Need to Know
The 2013 SXSW Interactive Trade Show. A cross section of established industry behemoths, tech visionaries, innovators and developers. A melting pot of digital passion, energy and entrepreneurial spirit, ranging from well-known companies like Amazon.com and Google to three-week old startups.
The SXSW Zeno team was able to take time out of its manic schedule and on-site activation to do a few laps around the floor at the Austin Convention Center. Here are four companies and innovators we met at SXSW that you need to know:
Speeker: “Discover what's interesting at your current location”
Wherever you go, with a tap on your cell phone, you can see what's happening around you. Basically, once you enter a geo-fence (your phone will sense when you’ve entered the “fenced” area) you’ll be able to see pictures, stories, opinions or even deals/discounts any user has left behind. This includes your friends, the business or anyone else who has left a “story” for someone to discover. You can gift your friends with a discount or even leave a review for your favorite type of pizza.
Imagine your brand set up a geo-fence around a specific location and left certain deals for users to “discover”, in essence leading them in-store? There’s an opportunity here for a virtual scavenger hunt, where we can hide free beverage vouchers in certain retail stores for users to discover. They’re working on implementing Facebook Connect, which will help drive excitement and competition amongst friends. You could even set up the geo-fence a few blocks away from your retail location and leave tips that users “make a left for free delicious coffee”, sent via push notification.
ThingLink: “Make your images more interactive”
ThingLink allows you to embed audio, video or rich media content within any image or website via a simple tag. Their catchphrase “there’s a tag for that” holds true, as a user can interact with tangible tags featured within a photo that directs them to a YouTube clip, Soundcloud track, an item on Amazon or even an event via Eventbrite. Their business tool ultimately makes imagery more interactive and robust, as tags are visual and interactive versus the meta tags we’re accustomed to.
Beergr.am: “Because being ‘liked’ by your ‘friends’ is nice, but getting real beer from real friends is better”
BeerGram combines the functionality of Foursquare (checking in) with a mobile wallet type app that allows you to buy your friends beers even when you arenot in the same bar, which is great at wide events like SXSW. Now instead of just commenting on a particularly bad day or liking a moment in a friend’s life, you can send something small, inexpensive but meaningful. Imagine gifting a friend a free beer at a local spot, or sharing your day over a beer even when distance means you can't be there in person.
Sonic Notify: “Deliver content to smart devices through sound waves”
Sonic Notify offers technology to broadcast data to smart phones and tablets via high-frequency sound waves. These sounds, imperceptible to human ears, trigger mobile notifications at precise times or specific locations. The cool part is that you don’t necessarily have to have the Sonic Notify app, just any app that includes their sound technology. It may already be downloaded on your phone.
Imagine while a customer is waiting in line for a drive-thru, an inaudible sound is played through a speaker that triggers a deal sent directly to the person’s phone. This captures fans that already know about the location, but could drive them to try a combo via a discount. These deals/offers could be personalized to the user via their smartphone or tablet upon entry.
