Kickstarter-shunned startup Lockitron recently announced its system for networking its deadbolt attachment for use with smartphones, and it’s quite clever. The device is connected to the internet via an Electric Imp wi-fi chip, but without a screen or input interface, selecting connection preferences poses an issue. A smartphone app allows users to input their network information which is then translated into flashes of light played back to a sensor on the Lockitron itself. This computer-readable data transmission could be applied across many industries including as a part of customer loyalty programs or out of home installations, giving the slightest bit of tactile interaction back in an otherwise wireless world.
Tag: crowdsourcing
The Challenges Of Kickstarter
Kickstarter’s premise is pretty great. Take a bunch of clever entrepreneurs and empower them to make the creations people demand. But as Fast Co’s Mark Wilson points out, there can be a lot of risks involved, particularly regarding supply chain. While larger corporations may be able to handle the production to create scalable products, it may stifle the very creativity Kickstarter is known for.
Netflix’s crowdsourced victory
Three years and one million dollers later, Netflix has an improved ratings and recommendation system, and months of free advertising in the lead up to a jubuilent conclusion for the BellKore Pragmatic Chaos team. Thousands of teams from across the world submitted their ideas, ultimately leading to a final round of mergings which brought team BellKore across the finish line 20 minutes before their primary competitor, Ensemble.
The experiment is a three-fold triumph: For Netflix (the company’s stock has been steadily climbing over this year and was up .30 on Monday when the results were announced); For the wider technology community who will get to benefit from the winning team’s algorithms–publishing methods was one of the stated requirements of the competition; and for the infinite possibilities of crowdsourcing–both as a problem solving and a marketing tool. Continue reading “Netflix’s crowdsourced victory”
