Related articles and links

Here’s an area to collect interesting articles and links.

Google’s Physical Web
https://google.github.io/physical-web/

The folks from the research team are doing an excellent job analysing Eddystone beacons (the one used by Magnet) here:

https://github.com/mozilla/connected-devices-experiments/issues/32

Super interesting the video from Sam about how to configure one of those beacons:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_Ka7jdxFH0

For those one that still don’t have any beacon but want to try out magnet or other clients you can start advertising webs from your Mac (yes sorry, just mac right now)

Use this project: https://github.com/dermike/electron-slide-beacon/

You can download the executable directly from here:

Yes! Don’t be like me and try to stumble your way through building code. Download the executable - “PhysicalWebBroadcast.zip” - and you’ll be up and running super fast.

Hi folks,

just discovered this company: Beeem which product is creating landing pages for being advertised in a physical web world:

Looks quite interesting, perhaps we can give then a call about magnet :slightly_smiling:

Could be a good place to start evangelising the oembed web-app widget
concept.

W I L S O N P A G E

Front-end Developer
Firefox OS (Gaia)
London Office

Twitter: @wilsonpage
IRC: wilsonpage

Pro-tip! Your mac beacon is still “on” even when your computer is closed. An office mate helped me discover that my beacon was still beaming my twitter account as I was walking around.

Nice article about the implementation of physical web in London bus stops:

http://www.proxama.com/news/building-the-worlds-first-consumer-physical-web-engagement-experience/

Excerpts from ANATOMY OF A TRADE SHOW BOOTH: HOW TO AVOID AN EXHIBIT THAT’S DEAD ON ITS FEET.

SOLVE A PROBLEM FOR ATTENDEES
Think about the immediate needs of the people you will want to talk to at the trade show. Likely, they’re busy people who might have been volunteered by their boss to attend the event. Here are some ideas to get you thinking about what you can offer to draw people to your booth:
Somewhere to sit - Forget a lame bowl of candy or free pens, most of the working men and women at the show just want a place to rest their feet for a few minutes. If you have the space, create a small, cozy sitting area for attendees to rest and chat.
Phone charging station - Everyone could use a battery boost. Bonus points if you combine this with a small sitting area.
FUN - You may be there for business, but your booth doesn’t have to be all business and no play. Incorporate a game into your exhibit to break the ice with attendees. Offer unique prizes to stand out from the crowd.

GET SOCIAL
Everyone and their mother is on some form of social media, and usually more than one channel. Use this to your advantage by building social media into your trade show exhibit experience. Below are just a few tips to scratch the surface of how you can get creative with using social media to compound your trade show efforts:
Follow and use the official trade show event hashtags in your posts - both during and leading up to the event.
Geotag your posts - This allows other local users to find and interact with your posts. You can also promote or run social ads geo-targeted for the trade show location so that attendees will see your posts and be more likely to seek out your booth.
Run a contest on social during the trade show to promote at the booth - For example, if your company focuses on Instagram, you can create a banner promoting the contest. Have attendees take a photo of your booth or with an employee and tag your company and/or use your event or company hashtag. The winning photo receives a prize sent to them after the event. This can get your brand great exposure.
Use LinkedIn - Trade show events are typically B2B, which means most companies and attendees spend time on LinkedIn. Reach out to your connections to invite them to the trade show - you can send them a personalized direct message. Be sure to connect with any new people you meet at your booth on LinkedIn.

This is really insightful, thanks!

I’ve added a few more use-cases to the Use Cases Wiki
https://github.com/mozilla-magnet/magnet/wiki/Use-Cases. I’m especially
excited about what fun interactions we can offer when users are close to a
booth. Make magic happen. Physical responses to interactions on Magnet
tiles. A crude example: tapping a tile makes a big light on top of the
booth flash.

W I L S O N P A G E

Front-end Developer
Connected Devices
London Office

Twitter: @wilsonpage
IRC: wilsonpage

Just saw an article for another physical web browser with the same concept than magnet, not just adding links but trying to improve the experience of the discovered web pages:

https://www.phy.net/blog/better-physical-web/

Seems we are not alone in our purpose of make the physical web something not just embedded into the OS :slight_smile:

Nice article on the state of discovery clients and beacon-less broadcasting techniques.