Smartphones are getting smarter with a host of new-age lifestyle apps. While developers are writing down lines of codes to make your life simpler, we bring you one such app that will join all the dots of your daily life. Meet DOT, a physical push notification from a group of five Berkeley engineers aka Iota Labs.
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All you need to do is download the app and place DOT (a physical device) somewhere important. It can be your home or your office or car or anywhere to be precise. The device is connected to your smartphone via Bluetooth 4.0 and gives you ultra-accurate location-based Notifications.
DOT streamlines your life
If you thought red and green lights only meant ‘stop’ and ‘go’; well you are here for a surprise. DOT, when placed in your home, can give you notifications like your roommate is home or you need to throw away the trash or take your medicines or just indicate that you are on DND mode. All these can be done with customised light-notifications. For example, suppose your roommate is at home. The DOT device will indicate a green light letting you know the same. Or, if you are on DND mode, the DOT device will indicate the same with a red light.
Sometimes we hate checking emails and hence end up missing out on important ones. Not with DOT. Your emails from your boss will not go unnoticed. DOT will tell you that you have an email from your team lead or boss or team member. It will separately send you notification about your pending tasks for the day. So, before you login, DOT has already given you an overview of all that you need to do for the day.
DOT is very much like those messaging apps, but with a slight twist. Almost everyone of us are in a rush. In an attempt to get everything done, at times we forget to inform our roommates or people living with us about certain works that needs to be done. Result- Your work remains unfinished! With DOT placed in your home/office, you can send a notification to another person about a task that needs to be done. When that person is near the DOT device, he/she will automatically get your message and get the work done. Isn’t that task management at its best?
Technicalities of DOT
DOT is comprised of three basic components- Bluetooth 4.0 proximity sensor, IoT enabled LED and an open source app store.
- Replaceable battery
- Battery life: 6 months to 1 year
How they work together?
When you walk in within the range of DOT, the proximity sensor makes your smartphone stimulate context-specific notifications. Along with this, the LED lights enables your phone to give you relevant information. The open source app store is absolutely free and is open for suggestions from users to developers who create solutions.
DOT – Customised product for daily life
DOT is soon going to launch its kickstarter campaign for crowdfunding. Founder Kunal Chaudhary says DOT is built for users to customise the product as per their lifestyle. There are variety of use cases that an user can pick from and assign to DOT. Here are few things that DOT can do-
- Message another person for some work to be done.
- Based on your location, DOT will launch the apps that you will need. For instance, when you get in your car, maps will open up by default.
- Location-specific notifications. DOT will send you only those notifications that are relevant based on your current location.
- Track and control smart home devices. For instance, lights will get switched on when you walk in and vice versa.
- LED notifications based on your preferences.
- Accessible for all smartphones (Android and iOS).
- Open-source JavaScript API.
About Iota Labs
Since its inception in August 2015, Iota Labs gained recognition in the Berkeley Startup Community pretty fast. Backed by notable accelerators like Citris Foundary, a UC Berkeley applied technology incubator, the team of five engineers hail from computer science, Mechanical engineering and Electrical engineering backgrounds. The idea of DOT happened when Kunal and his team were experimenting with Augmented Reality. They happened to realise that our smartphones lack the context and they can build a solution for that.
The USP of DOT is, the more you will use DOT, the more it will know you. Isn’t it awesome to have an app that knows you so well that it ends up taking care of all your minute details? The only thing you will need to do is to tell it once.
Product Price: $20
To know more about DOT, visit their site : http://doteverything.co/
Back them on Kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1867163750/dot-the-physical-push-notification
Watch them on Producthunt: https://www.producthunt.com/tech/dot-89233cd2-b450-4a42-a663-3f7cfc1e0988
