StickNFind Bluetooth Proximity Detector with Up to 9 Year Battery! - CES 2014
Linus Tech Tips
·Linus Tech Tips
·2014-05-07
·
971 words · ~4 min read
0:00
Linus Tech Tips coverage of CES 2014 is brought to you by ncx.com, your source
0:05
for great technology selection and service along with Corsair Memory and
0:09
Western Digital. So, we're here at Stick and Find. It's actually the last
0:13
possible minute of the show, but I needed to run back and see these guys
0:16
because they have something that I personally think is really cool. Now,
0:20
we've seen little devices such as uh things you can put on your keychain to
0:23
notify you when you move away from your phone and stuff like that, but what I haven't seen before is something that um
0:29
is able to achieve this kind of range and this kind of battery life. So, this
0:33
one right here is the micro beacon. It's
0:36
it has a 8-year battery and a 50ft
0:40
range. Next up, we have the standard stick and fine beacon. It has a one-year
0:44
battery and a 100 foot range. When you step up to the Pro, you get water
0:48
resistance. You also get, see, I'm totally cheating here, a 100 foot range
0:51
and a three-year battery. And then when you step right up to the extend, you get
0:55
a 9-year battery, water resistance as well. And then I believe that's pretty
1:00
much that's the advantage. Okay, so 9-year battery. So this is the kind of thing if you're absent- minded, you
1:04
always leave your car in the parking lot. This is what I'd put on it. It's that small. It's that small. We can do
1:09
B-roll. It's okay. It's that small and it has a 9-year battery. Then the last
1:13
one, and also yeah, 200 foot range on that one as well. The last one, this is
1:17
the rechargeable unit. This is the HQ beacon. And the battery doesn't last for
1:21
a phenomenally long time and before you have to recharge it. But what this one
1:24
does is it works up to around 3,000 ft
1:28
using a combination of Bluetooth and GPS technology. So it can be configured to
1:33
do things like show you the last place that you left a device that had this
1:37
stuck to it. So when it goes out of range, it can go, "Oh crap." And it can
1:40
drop a pin on a map. You can go ahead and see where all your stuff was, where
1:43
you last saw it. You can also set it up to notify you in the event that you walk
1:46
away from something. So luggage, keys,
1:50
phones, things like that would be very very relevant here. But the application
1:53
that I actually see as most relevant to me is putting it on something like a
1:58
beloved pet or child. I didn't suggest that second one actually pet. Let's just
2:02
say pet and using it to find it. So I'm going to be the beloved pet for our
2:07
little demonstration here. And I'm going to use the standard beacon and I'm going
2:11
to have my lovely assistant hold up a phone in front of the camera while I
2:15
walk away. So here we go guys. I am walking away with it.
2:20
How are you? Good. How are you? You have something for sale.
2:27
What do you want? We have this, right?
2:31
Yeah. The big one. This one is what? Better here. This one more sensitive.
2:36
What? Yeah. Range. Different battery life.
2:53
Thank you very much. So once it reaches about 98% signal strength, you know,
2:56
your game of hot and cold is pretty much done. Now, unfortunately, it works as as
3:01
a game of hot and cold as opposed to, you know, dropping pins on the radar
3:05
exactly around you. But to me, the most fascinating thing about it is the
3:09
battery life because you can have all the great technology in the world that
3:13
you want. I mean, I think something like the Samsung Galaxy Gear is a great example of this. Great piece of
3:17
technology. Battery lasts for like a few hours, so you're constantly tethered to
3:20
a to a wall socket. This one, not so much. You set it, you forget it, you
3:25
remember like once a year to change your cat's battery and then it's all good. Now, if I didn't feel like playing hot
3:30
and cold, there are other options as well. I could have simply clicked page it.
3:36
It's got a little LED on it. It's got a little noise that it makes. Makes it a
3:39
little bit easier to find. I saw the LED a second ago. Where'd that LED go? Well,
3:43
the LED goes off at the beginning. Anyway, we'll do B-roll of that. Thank you guys very much for checking out our
3:48
booth coverage of the Stick and Find. Remember, the applications of this
3:51
technology go beyond just finding something. You can use them for things
3:54
like um you know, instore navigation. For example, if a retailer were to
3:58
deploy these 9-year batteries all over their store, you could actually like
4:01
navigate the store and go to clothing just by following around the little little beacons beacons because you can
4:06
label them wallet or you can label them like, you know, bathroom or whatever the
4:10
the case may be. Imagine a store that never had to direct people to the bathroom anymore. Anyway, guys, remember
4:14
our trip to the show this year is powered by ncx.com, your source for
4:18
great technology selection and service, as well as Corsair Memory and Western
4:21
Digital. Without those guys, there's no way we would have been able to be here
4:24
bringing you this content. So thanks a lot.