“Thanks to a really detailed discussion by Daniel Eran Dilger at AppleInsider [June 19, 2013], we can now see the full implications of the iBeacons ranging and micro-location capabilities included in iOS 7,” Anthony Wing Kosner writes for Forbes.
“iBeacons is an implementation of the Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) profile which enables very precise micro-location triggers for events in iOS 7 apps,” Kosner writes. “Already an industry is mobilizing to create hardware and software services to take advantage of these new geofencing capabilities… BLE is already in iPhone 4S and 5 as well as iPads, Mac computers and many high-end Androids. The way iBeacons works is that the mobile device is both a sensor and a signal. A BLE enabled iPhone running iOS 7 will be able to receive location-specific messages based on its proximity to a local network of iBeacons. And that phone can act as an iBeacon itself, transmitting messages to others.
Kosner writes, “iBeacon builds on top of last year’s Passbook feature in iOS and now means that you might see a sale offer on your lock screen as you crossed the threshold of a store and then have checkout information appear as you approach the cashier.”
Read more in the full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “David E.” for the heads up.]
Related article:
Apple v. Android: Bang per watt – Apple’s massive advantage – August 13, 2013
f*ck NFC
I like that strategy! I like it a lot!
I wonder if Apple has any job openings because I’m out of work.
Apple always has job openings for diligent ambitious bright people.
Actually not.
Apple HR dept.
We’ll take you on but if you so much as hint that an iPad would benefit from a few live tiles you’ll be taken out the back and executed.
Oh, and If you try to touch-swipe an iMac screen we’ll blow-torch your fingers. Have a nice day, glad you could join us.
Anyone from the tin foil crowd who would like to contribute?
Great idea! I’m going to patent a stainless steel fabric case for iPhones to prevent the evil hackers and the NSA (so I can get both groups of paranoids) from tracking you through your iPhone! Now, if only I could get that transparent aluminum…
😆
now means that you might see a sale offer on your lock screen as you crossed the threshold of a store
“Siri, turn OFF iBeacons!”
Yep. Couldn’t agree more. I really don’t think this is a feature. Rather, it’s just more advertising crap.
Hey MDN, whats with the adult content advertising on your site????
cause ads are tailored to your viewing habits..
BUSTED!!
ha, no judgement.
Sorry, this is appearing on my work machine. There is a complete blocking of anything remotely adult in nature.
adblock, seriously! mdn cannot be viewed without it.
Tell HR, “No seriously, it’s the ads. I can’t help it, they keep popping up all over the place. I think my computer must have a virus. No someone else logged in. I wasn’t at my desk when that happened. Hm? I don’t know, beats me.”
Maybe they’re IP based… which means someone at your workplace… hmmm….
I see Windows ads from time to time on MDN. That’s more obscene than any random porn that pops up.
I think the adult content pops up because of cookies from adult sites on your computer.
No, MDN shows roughly the same ads to everyone, but somewhat randomly. Has always been that way. Besides that, tailored advertising is a largely mythical business. I’ve found that most ads on most websites have very little to do with my interests or online viewing habits, unless the ads are related to the website content on the very site I’m visiting.
If you use Google or Gmail, ads will definitely reflect your browsing habits. I was bored one day and followed some links to site that sells handgun training, a site that I had never seen or heard of before. For months after that ads for that site popped up on seemingly every site I went to.
And Gmail is worse, the ads are based on the content of your email! If you get a message from a friend asking you to meet them at McDonalds, the ads next to the email, in the web app for Gmail, will be for Big Macs and Happy Meals.
Creepy. Always browse with AdBlock and Ghosterly.
It may be Google’s gift to you…
Apple seriously needs to rethink its naming conventions! iBeacons and GarageBand are beyond awkward!
Would you rather have Apple name it “iSeeYou”?
GarageBand is awkward.
MusicMakingThingy would have been Away better!
Works great, too bad it kills battery life.
this is total iBacon. Nothing more.
Now that’s an app I could sink my teeth into!
Did you see Ford is now offering bacon racing stripes, etc. on its cars? Must be trying to distract from the Sync system . . . .
Hey Apple! How about giving me back street view and public transit directions instead of wasting resources on bullshit “features” like this that no one has asked for!
Apple just bought a couple of public transit mapping companies, so that’s coming. Street View is strictly Google and you’ll never get it back unless you want a bunch of Apple iCars cruising around the world taking photos of you.
Hey JB you could just download the google maps app if you have to have transit directions and street view.
This will be great news for any moronic war mongering country. I mean just think of the thousand of innocent Iraqis that would be alive if iBeacon was around to precisely locate the true culprit of the second 9/11 terrorist act.
It’s a huge win for snipers, shoplifters, rapists, kidnappers and any sort of government that lacks any moral fiber whatsoever by being willing to spy on it’s very own citizens.
Useful for the sort of halfwit who spends their entire waking life with a phone clutched in their grubby little hand.
Utterly useless for the normal person who keeps their phone in their pocket except for when they need to use it for something important.
This will be turned off, or hidden, like many other functions that are mostly useless.
Apple introduces a worthless function? That’s innovation, tool, so start liking it immediately.
Hum.