Hey thanks everyone!
I'm Maggie, founder of play-tag.
Someone suggested I do a Show HN, so I'm giving it a go.
feel free to contact me. maggie@play-tag.com
I'm not really sure I understand the marketing. For lost pets, bluetooth really isn't a reliable or great solution. If you could pair the tag with a smart dog bowl, or treat dispenser then you may be on to something interesting.
If you want a iBeacon for your dog, you can just pick up a TI SensorTag and it includes 6 sensors, and code ready to go for using with iOS and Android. All for $25 / half the price.
I use a product called The Cat Locator for my animals (dogs included). It's a radio beacon (with an antenna woven into the collar) that sends out a ping every second. The range in the city on a halfway decent battery is one city block. Batteries last about one month. The housing on the collar is about as big as a stack of four quarters. It's a bit expensive but I never want to lose an animal again.
They also offer a variety of transmitters of different sizes and types, some of which are pretty small for small birds- in case you have a small dog or cat and want a smaller transmitter.
I was actually surprised that my cats were not bothered one bit by the size or the weight. You can get a pretty good idea of the size here: http://imgur.com/bdVrg8J
I'd release those devices before the tag. Otherwise, you're just catering to the hacker/maker crowd. They're just going to opt to using something like the SensorTag.
Q - is it really iBeacon? iBeacon is a specifically licensed "technology" from Apple (which, to go offtopic, should be avoided because it's intentionally exclusive and locked in, despite the existence of unsanctioned implementations on other platforms). BLE != iBeacon, just as Facetime != h264).
Q - Is it really manufactured in the USA?
Q - What are the in-app purchases? I'm not sure what functionality you could provide above and beyond that would merit an additional purchase.
C - I have a terrible eye for aesthetics, so take this with a grain of salt, but the fonts on the site really bring down the quality level and expectations.
-Thanks for your feedback - yes to BLE!
-we are still negotiating larger scale manufacturing but that is the ideal.
-One example of an in-app purchase would be optional tools to organize your dog's life and changing the color of the LED, etc.
iBeacon is some interaction standards atop BLE, and early on everyone assuaged themselves that it was safe and open -- because it's just some BLE interactions -- but Apple has it covered by trademarks, patents (similar to Microsoft's ActiveSync patents, as an aside. It's just a web service, but use it in certain ways and you're at risk of a patent suit) and marketing.
It seems to me that this software would be infinitely more useful if there was some kind of always-on base station which reports over wifi. That would enable pet owners to keep an eye on their pets even when they're not at home.
Ultimately, if your pet does manage to escape the range of your phone (or base station), there's nothing that this app can do to help you locate them. Do you have any plans to expand the app to support crowd sourced recovery like Tile (http://www.thetileapp.com/)?
The marketing seemed to be centered around reducing the risk of a lost pet. If this is truly the goal, having a crowd sourced mesh network for recovering a lost pet seems like an ideal feature.
There are too many hoops to jump through. The person who finds the dogs needs an iPhone. They then need to be able to figure out that the tag requires an app. They then download an app to receive a notification from the tag. Then you somehow figure out that the dog is lost and display reward information. You reunite dog with owner. The non-dog owner somehow keeps the app around for the next time they find a dog?
Alternatively, you can just write your phone number on a dog tag.
Additionally, I don't see anything on the tag that explains to people that they should download an app for owner information.
Thanks for the feedback. There is also a code on the tag that you can text to get info about the dog and also texts the owner. We are still working out the bugs on this though... But maybe I should add to FAQ on website?
Is there an API or a way to get the raw beacon ID being broadcasted? I am already thinking of some really cool projects you could make with this.
Beacon aware doggie doors, doggie location analytics within the house, a treat dispenser that gives each of your dogs only a certain allotment of treats per day based on their beacon ID, a doggie photo booth that sends the photos back to their owner when the dog triggers it, and the list goes on and on.
Exactly!
Thanks so much for the input, these is exactly the sort of things that our team is thinking too.
Would love to hear more input of yours and chat - email maggie@play-tag.com
I don't know... I don't think that the point of a leash is to know where your dog is but more to keep him under control. This does nothing for that except ring bells and stuff which can be more annoying then helpful.
I too don't like the name that they've given the "leash" feature. It seems like it just alerts you when your dog has gotten away... which is often too late to do anything about.
They claim several times that it does not require cell phone coverage, but from the screen shots on http://www.play-tag.com/info/#about it appears that you have to log into the app before you can use it?
Also the only feature that requires this is for the health info of the dog which is stored on the cloud - all other features do not require cell phone service.
I love the concept! GPS trackers are heavy and bulky for dogs - I can see my stylish pup wearing this and I haven't seen an app that includes health info. Buying one of these :-).
This is awesome. I'm totally getting this for my dog. I love the LED feature - can you control the light through the app at other times? Like in the backyard or camping??
Yes you control the LED colors and you can turn it on whenever - great idea for camping! If you're a dog owner I'd love more of your input maggie@play-tag.com
GPS would make the product cost twice as much - and we want to make this accessible to more dog owners.
Perhaps version two though!
Thanks for your input.
Cost twice as much, worth ten times as much, in my opinion. I've had many times when a dog got away and gps tracking would have been very useful.
Keeping track of exactly where my dog is within 150ft radius, not so much. The "leash" analogy is also entirely misplaced. "Leash" implies having control over your dog, so it can't get away. With playtag it seems, there's not really any element of "control" at all, and if my dog gets more than 150 feet away it's basically useless.
I hear ya but check out the crowd sourcing feature where other app users can pick up the location of you dog & get a monetary reward. If you're a dog owner, I would love to get more of your input - maggie@play-tag.com