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Apple Acquires Indoor Location Company WifiSLAM

61 points by barredo 14y ago

tiziano88 14y ago
what's up with the almost duplicate paragraph in the middle of the article?
- njloof 14y ago
  The news business has outsourced its editing duties to nobody.
helper 14y ago
Well, this certainly solves the problem of WifiSLAM's software not being able to run on non-rooted iOS devices. It will be interesting to see if Apple makes a public api so that Apps can provide indoor location services.
- dan1234 14y ago
  Hopefully it'll be rolled into the existing CoreLocation API meaning current location based apps start using the data without needing to be updated.
hkmurakami 14y ago
A college friend of mine was part of the founding team but resigned fairly quickly to return to his PhD program. since he is the only one I know at the company, I just feel really bad thinking of what kind of hindsight /remorse he must be going through right now :(. That being said, congrats to the team! great to see robotics algorithm companies that use hard science finding success! edit: I know this kind of thing happens all the time where someone leaves and the company goes on to become a homerun (ex: Apple) but this is the first time I've had a close friend go through it and I just feel terrible for him even though I haven't even talked to him about it. I guess he may have no regrets regardless, I strangely can't help but feel .... I don't even know how to say it... I just feel bad.
- cpeterso 14y ago
  If it's any consolation, the company was acquired for "only" $20M, so founders probably won't make "never work again" money after all the investors, debts, and taxes are paid.
  - neebz 14y ago
    slightly offtopic: I have been trying to find a good resource on how taxes work on acquisition price. do you have any good link to read?
    - alain94040 14y ago
      Very simple: long-term capitals gains. As a founder, you bought your stock more than 1 year ago, for virtually nothing. In the US (minus California), that's a flat tax. (*) founder stock is not to be confused with stock-options, which is what early employees usually get. Completely different.
- 2pasc 14y ago
  I know a guy who said no to a job offer at Google as Employee #3 because "they had no viable business model". If that can help your friend feel better....
  - colmvp 14y ago
    At the same time, how many people here have advised others to stay away from early startups because of the low probability of an lucrative exit, low pay, and dilution?
deleted 14y ago
[deleted]
polshaw 14y ago
I take it this works by comparing the signal strength from multiple routers, and that they haven't found some magic to do this from a single router?

61 points by barredo 14y ago

tiziano88 14y ago

what's up with the almost duplicate paragraph in the middle of the article?

njloof 14y ago
The news business has outsourced its editing duties to nobody.

helper 14y ago

Well, this certainly solves the problem of WifiSLAM's software not being able to run on non-rooted iOS devices. It will be interesting to see if Apple makes a public api so that Apps can provide indoor location services.

dan1234 14y ago
Hopefully it'll be rolled into the existing CoreLocation API meaning current location based apps start using the data without needing to be updated.

hkmurakami 14y ago

A college friend of mine was part of the founding team but resigned fairly quickly to return to his PhD program. since he is the only one I know at the company, I just feel really bad thinking of what kind of hindsight /remorse he must be going through right now :(. That being said, congrats to the team! great to see robotics algorithm companies that use hard science finding success! edit: I know this kind of thing happens all the time where someone leaves and the company goes on to become a homerun (ex: Apple) but this is the first time I've had a close friend go through it and I just feel terrible for him even though I haven't even talked to him about it. I guess he may have no regrets regardless, I strangely can't help but feel .... I don't even know how to say it... I just feel bad.

cpeterso 14y ago
If it's any consolation, the company was acquired for "only" $20M, so founders probably won't make "never work again" money after all the investors, debts, and taxes are paid.
- neebz 14y ago
  slightly offtopic: I have been trying to find a good resource on how taxes work on acquisition price. do you have any good link to read?
  - alain94040 14y ago
    Very simple: long-term capitals gains. As a founder, you bought your stock more than 1 year ago, for virtually nothing. In the US (minus California), that's a flat tax. (*) founder stock is not to be confused with stock-options, which is what early employees usually get. Completely different.
2pasc 14y ago
I know a guy who said no to a job offer at Google as Employee #3 because "they had no viable business model". If that can help your friend feel better....
- colmvp 14y ago
  At the same time, how many people here have advised others to stay away from early startups because of the low probability of an lucrative exit, low pay, and dilution?

deleted 14y ago

[deleted]

polshaw 14y ago

I take it this works by comparing the signal strength from multiple routers, and that they haven't found some magic to do this from a single router?