Placecast brings location-based retail trade signals Smartphone applications

Leena Rao is currently working as a writer for TechCrunch. She recently finished graduate school of the Medill School of journalism at Northwestern University, where she studied business journalism and videography. From 2004 to 2007 she helped lead efforts for advocacy and community relationships Congressman Carloyn Maloney in New York. She graduated from Columbia University in 2003 where it was ... ? Read More

Placecast's ShopAlerts service that provides retail and commercial offers and discounts to consumers via their mobile phones, today announces the new functionality, integration with Mobile Smartphone apps.

As we wrote in the past, ShopAlerts is a white-label geofencing platform for businesses that want to deliver the GEO work offers to its customers on their mobile phones. Consumers can sign up to receive text messages in different ways — in-store, online, via text message, mobile Web sites, or on Facebook. Geofences virtual cause around physical location; When the user selected in the geofenced area, it receives a message from the business, including discount, sale, shop or other content.

With the new feature, retailers have deployed mobile applications can allow users to obtain from the nearest store, retailer or other appropriate location, location-based communication without the app being open in the same way as ShopAlerts programs work on any phone, this new feature works on any Smartphone platform.

Once a retailer integrates with ShopAlerts, clients (who are in receipt of alerts) will have location-based push notifications when they are in the area of geofenced. Retailers can also use the preferences expressed by the consumer, such as loyalty or past purchase data to improve the relevance of the message or transaction. Time of day and weather can also be taken into account for the creation of added value, and brands could also enable location-based notification when a particular product is available in a nearby store.

Placecast says that he will work directly with retailers to integrate ShopAlerts into their applications, helping them to develop a programme and a messaging strategy, choose the number and size of geofences and activate the field.

Integration with retail Smartphone applications makes a lot of sense for Placecast. With the increase in offline and online commerce Placecast gives retailers another way for consumers and offer relevant transactions and information. The aim is to bring the user in the repository, and messages sent via the Smartphone app can help do that.

Placecast is already used by a number of high-profile brands such as North face and even AT&T.

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Harvesting energy from the radio signals: Two new devices from Japan (video)

Dr. Serkan Toto is currently working as the first and only Asian-based writer for the TechCrunch network, mainly covers with Japan technology and Web companies for TechCrunch, CrunchGear and MobileCrunch. Serkan also works full-time as an independent Internet and mobile industry consultant with a focus on the Japanese market. He is Saint lingual, holds an MBA and a doctorate in economics. Serkan ... ? Read More

Gleaning electricity from radio signals are not super efficient (or new concept), but it is possible technically. Two companies from Japan has recently come up with new devices that can do just that: a harvesting energy from the cell phone signals, another uses a rectifying antenna (Rectenna) for energy production.

Firstly the device [JP] recently announced Tokyo electronic device can pick up radio signals from cell phones between 800 Mhz and convert them into electricity (800 Mhz frequency is used in mobile phones in Japan). The company says that users can expect to get to 2.5 free milliamperes (stored in the small lithium ion battery).

Device gathers signals from other wireless gadgets, too, and it can provide a few minutes running time is built into tablets and laptops (that's better than nothing). Tokyo Electron markets as "green" product and collaborates with the American company Powercast in its development.

We do not have this device, but professional video shot of the next one, recently developed Rectenna from the Tokyo-based Nihon Dengyo Kosaku. Device (pictured above) itself has two main points of sale: he is thin (12 mm to collect signals from Wi-Fi and 30 mm for digital terrestrial broadcasting waves) and needs just 50 µW authorities begin.

Nihon Dengyo said that their Rectenna can get power in micro Watt range from Wi-Fi signals at a distance of about 10 cm, enough to power sensors, for example. The device can be used both inside and outside buildings.

Here's the video (shot by Diginfonews in Tokyo in English), which provides better:

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