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I'm building something similar (https://gethuan.com/ https://gethuan.com/) using augmented BLE and long range sensors. Maybe if I get big enough Amazon will buy

I'm building something similar (https://gethuan.com/ https://gethuan.com/) using augmented BLE and long range sensors. Maybe if I get big enough Amazon will buy me out. Ok, back to work!

seph-reed 7y ago
A lot of devs these days have a similar mentality, and it's really, really sad. I mean, I get it, getting bought out is how you get money. Competing is not an option. But in the end, it's like the only options in tech are to innovate for free (ie not sell out, but get copied) or innovate on your own dime and get paid way less than they make after buying you out. Personally, I find neither of those exciting.
- xenospn 7y ago
  I should have used /s. Oh well.
  - seph-reed 7y ago
    Oh thank you so much. <3 I hope your project goes well!
oh_sigh 7y ago
Looks interesting; installed. I toyed around with gps/locator collars(findster) but unfortunately the quality was junky and the battery life was horrible, so I had no faith it would do its job when I needed it. How close does someone with the app need to get to the tag before it phones home?(nevermind, FAQ says ~300 ft, which is really good. It seems like if you can see the animal, you can probably get it's beacon id?) Do you triangulate positions from multiple users, or show a general track of the animal over time? Are you partnering with big driving orgs (ups, Uber, etc) or parks departments to get more readers on the streets? What's your revenue model?
- xenospn 7y ago
  Can be several hundred feet in an open field, YMMV in an urban environment. On the other hand, I don't want to have too big of a radius in town, closer is better. There's a reason you don't really see dogs wearing GPS collars - even with LTE-M, the experience is still not good and I don't think there's product market fit. Absolutely - partnering up with Ride shares is on my roadmap, as well as sticking antennas in Drones and I'm filing a patent for automatically dispatching rideshares that can triangulate a missing pet even if there's no other sensors around.
  - xenospn 7y ago
    Revenue is subscription based - people pay for higher range or custom tag designs. Making the product nice to touch and having multiple designs is extremely important. People really like that!
- StreamBright 7y ago
  I think the last 30 years of development pushed us towards a inefficient high power usage direction that was not followed by a revolution in energy storage. The end result is that we charge our phones at least once a day. If energy storage was developing the same pace we would be charging once a year.
dronehire 7y ago
Your app appears to be incompatible with my Android smartphone. It's a fairly new, mid-range phone and I haven't had any issues installing other apps. Any idea why it might be incompatible?
- xenospn 7y ago
  Incompatible how? I'm testing using most poplar brands in the US, and haven't had an issue. Google Play also reports I'm compatible with most phone vendors but Android always manages to surprise me :) What vendor?
  - dronehire 7y ago
    I'm not sure, Google Play just says, "This app is incompatible with all of your devices." Both devices are Xiaomi smartphones. My new phone is running Android 9.
    - xenospn 7y ago
      I just looked at the 'Device Catalog' of my Google Play account and it says it's compatible with 82 Xiaomi Devices. Weird!

I'm building something similar (https://gethuan.com/ https://gethuan.com/) using augmented BLE and long range sensors. Maybe if I get big enough Amazon will buy me out. Ok, back to work!

seph-reed 7y ago

A lot of devs these days have a similar mentality, and it's really, really sad. I mean, I get it, getting bought out is how you get money. Competing is not an option. But in the end, it's like the only options in tech are to innovate for free (ie not sell out, but get copied) or innovate on your own dime and get paid way less than they make after buying you out. Personally, I find neither of those exciting.

xenospn 7y ago
I should have used /s. Oh well.
- seph-reed 7y ago
  Oh thank you so much. <3 I hope your project goes well!

oh_sigh 7y ago

Looks interesting; installed. I toyed around with gps/locator collars(findster) but unfortunately the quality was junky and the battery life was horrible, so I had no faith it would do its job when I needed it. How close does someone with the app need to get to the tag before it phones home?(nevermind, FAQ says ~300 ft, which is really good. It seems like if you can see the animal, you can probably get it's beacon id?) Do you triangulate positions from multiple users, or show a general track of the animal over time? Are you partnering with big driving orgs (ups, Uber, etc) or parks departments to get more readers on the streets? What's your revenue model?

xenospn 7y ago
Can be several hundred feet in an open field, YMMV in an urban environment. On the other hand, I don't want to have too big of a radius in town, closer is better. There's a reason you don't really see dogs wearing GPS collars - even with LTE-M, the experience is still not good and I don't think there's product market fit. Absolutely - partnering up with Ride shares is on my roadmap, as well as sticking antennas in Drones and I'm filing a patent for automatically dispatching rideshares that can triangulate a missing pet even if there's no other sensors around.
- xenospn 7y ago
  Revenue is subscription based - people pay for higher range or custom tag designs. Making the product nice to touch and having multiple designs is extremely important. People really like that!
StreamBright 7y ago
I think the last 30 years of development pushed us towards a inefficient high power usage direction that was not followed by a revolution in energy storage. The end result is that we charge our phones at least once a day. If energy storage was developing the same pace we would be charging once a year.

dronehire 7y ago

Your app appears to be incompatible with my Android smartphone. It's a fairly new, mid-range phone and I haven't had any issues installing other apps. Any idea why it might be incompatible?

xenospn 7y ago
Incompatible how? I'm testing using most poplar brands in the US, and haven't had an issue. Google Play also reports I'm compatible with most phone vendors but Android always manages to surprise me :) What vendor?
- dronehire 7y ago
  I'm not sure, Google Play just says, "This app is incompatible with all of your devices." Both devices are Xiaomi smartphones. My new phone is running Android 9.
  - xenospn 7y ago
    I just looked at the 'Device Catalog' of my Google Play account and it says it's compatible with 82 Xiaomi Devices. Weird!