Tile Launches Sharing, Allowing Others To Help You Find Your Lost Items

Sensai Raises $900K To Help Data Scientists Query Unstructured DataTile, the lost item tracker that you can attach to purses, keys, luggage, bikes or anything else that tends to go missing at times, is today rolling out a new feature designed to make it easier for people to get help finding their items. In an update to the company’s iOS and Android applications, users will now be able to share their Tiles with others, including friends, family, roommates, or anyone else they choose in order to increase the chances that their Tile – and whatever it’s attached to – gets found.
The Tile tracker, by way of background, originally began as a crowdfunded device before raising $13 million in seed and Series A funding to fuel its growth. The company had sold over half a million of its small, white square-shaped devices as of last fall, but declined to provide any updated numbers today. Instead, CEO Mike Farley references a different metric: he says the Tile community is finding over 250,000 items every day.

That includes those who are using the Tile devices to locate lost items still in Bluetooth range, as well as those who leverage Tile’s larger network. The way the Tile works is that it’s able to tap into its community of users who have the company’s app installed on their smartphones in order to help people with missing items locate them, even when that item is no longer nearby.
However, relying on a network isn’t always as helpful as just asking a friend to help you find something. That’s where “Shared Tiles” comes in. Not only does it mean you can ask your own micro-community for help, it also means that a single Tile can be used among a group, too.
You may be out of town or just at the office, but someone else in your household or who you trust can help you find something you’ve lost just by installing the app on their phone. That way, couples can search together for missing keys, for example. Or if you go out of town, your roommates can still locate the remote that got lost in the sofa cushions, even though the Tile attached to it was originally associated only with your phone and account.
Lost items play a little melody while you’re hunting for them, which makes it easier to find them when misplaced.

The feature is a minor one for Tile’s app, but speaks to the company’s ability to make its hardware more usable by way of software upgrades. In the future, Farley says there are plans to do more with the software, too, including adding the ability for users to thank the strangers who helped them locate a lost item. He even hinted at the possibility of adding a “reward” option, which could encourage users to join in the lost item hunt for something of value to a Tile user.
But in the near future, Tile is focused on developing its business model which will involve a subscription-based business. Unlike a number of other lost item trackers, Tiles don’t include a user replaceable battery. That means your Tile will eventually stop working, but the decision to go this route was deliberate. Farley felt that users would simply abandon the devices after the battery dies – that it’s too much hassle to replace it. Plus, by eliminating the need to allow the Tile to open up, the design of the dongle can be improved, too.
So Tile’s goal instead will be to encourage users to sign up for a replacement program that would ship out new Tiles when the older ones near the end of their life.
Farley says details on how this program will work will arrive in the next couple of months.
But in the meantime, the company is having a little fun with its Tile community. Right now, Tile is hosting an Easter Egg hunt that uses the Tile app to find hidden eggs around San Francisco, one of which includes a $1,000 prize as a reward for its discovery. (The company’s Facebook page has more on this).
As for the new sharing feature, that’s arriving today in the Tile apps for both iOS and Android. (Note that the apps are being updated now on the respective app stores – if you don’t see the update yet, you should soon.)

By: Unknown On 14:36

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The Sharing Economy Is On The Brink Of Disrupting Business Travel

Gillmor Gang: Happy Medium

Editor’s note: Dan Ruch is the founder and CEO of Rocketrip.
The foundations of the business-travel ecosystem are under more strain than ever before. U.S. companies are projected to spend $310 billion on business travel in 2015 (up 6.2 percent from last year), but how they spend that money has become a source of tension and uncertainty.
Sharing-economy startups like Airbnb and Uber are challenging traditional travel vendors – and in the process, they’re forcing many businesses to reevaluate travel policies and conventions that are pillars of the current system.
The corporate travel ecosystem is traditionally powered by relationships between travel managers and travel providers, the latter of which includes travel-management companies, airlines, hotel chains and rental car companies. Travel managers and providers negotiate rates and perks based on the volume of travel that a company will book.
For example, a multinational company that commits to one airline can often secure a flat discount, free upgrades, free baggage check and last-minute rates that are as much as 75 percent lower than what a leisure traveler would pay. A hotel chain might offer discounted rates, free breakfast, free last-minute cancellations and more.
Although these relationships can save companies tons of money and improve quality of life for business travelers, many employees see corporate travel policies as a hindrance. They’re discovering that sharing-economy services that they use in their personal lives are often more convenient and less expensive than what is available inside their corporate travel platform.
As hotels compete more aggressively on prices and extend their lead in services, travel managers and business travelers will ultimately win.
Tapping a smartphone screen to get an Uber has become second nature for many professionals, who often perceive it as more convenient than booking a corporate car service. Then there’s the matter of cost. We’ve found that Airbnb saves 41 percent, or an average of $102 per night, compared to hotels. If services like Uber and Airbnb make employees’ lives easier and save their companies money, there’s no reason not to use them.
People’s preference for using sharing-economy services in their personal lives has already begun to extend to their business lives – with or without the travel manager’s blessing. Concur, a top travel-management company, reported in July 2014 that Airbnb transactions in their expense reports had increased by 27x year-over-year while Uber transactions had climbed 5x.
In many cases, this shift collides headlong into the travel manager’s strategy and perceived mandate. The first conflict is one of volume: the more employees who book in the sharing economy, the less they book with traditional travel vendors. If the company fails to spend above the minimum threshold negotiated by the travel manager, the deals and perks may be voided.
The second conflict is about safety and insurance. One of a travel manager’s duties is to use vendors that provide the company’s employees a reasonable level of protection against harm when on the road.
Today, many insurance policies do not cover the sharing economy. Hypothetically, if employees were on a business trip and suffered bodily harm in an Uber, they could potentially sue the employer for failing to ensure their safety. Most employees are completely unaware of how complicated, stressful and restrictive this issue can be for a travel manager.
So as the new travel economy challenges the old guard, the travel manager faces a catch-22. Travel is typically a company’s third-largest expense after salaries and rent, so the travel manager is under pressure to encourage cost-effective choices. She could promote the sharing economy, but doing so would eventually undermine all the perks and conveniences she worked so hard to negotiate.
Without support from legal and compliance, the travel manager is inclined to avoid Airbnb and Uber for safety reasons anyway. But banning employees from using the sharing economy creates more friction with travelers who already use and prefer these services.
The travel manager’s dilemma and the overall trends in corporate travel suggest that travel-management companies and traditional vendors will have to evolve. The sharing economy is consciously targeting the corporate market. Airbnb launched a business platform that offers 500,000 rooms spread across 190 countries. Uber, too, launched a business edition.
Given the popularity of the sharing economy, the travel manager’s responsibilities and the value of the corporate travel market, I think we can expect the following developments in the near future.
First, sharing-economy services will meet travel managers halfway on safety and insurance issues. Uber, for instance, could restrict business travelers to drivers who meet a minimum standard for experience and average customer rating. Airbnb could rework its own insurance policy to protect client businesses from accidents that are more likely to occur in a private home or apartment (e.g. a cooking accident).
Second, sharing-economy companies are going to compete head to head with the old guard on perks. Airbnb might offer flat discounts, last-minute travel rates and relaxed cancellation policies, or they could even work out a deal with Uber to provide top-tier guests with free transportation to and from the airport.
The sharing economy is consciously targeting the corporate market.
Third, we’re going to see more conversations between travel-management companies and the sharing-economy startups. American Express Global Business Travel, Carlson Wagonlit and BCD Travel ultimately have more to gain than lose in partnering with Airbnb, Uber and their peers. The concern in the back of everyone’s mind will be revenue sharing: Will a travel-management company generate enough profit per booking? What partnership model is economically viable?
The corporate travel ecosystem is due for disruption, especially if these three scenarios come to fruition. Importantly, these developments could help rescue travel managers from their catch-22.
Traditional travel vendors – hotel chains, in particular – will challenge the sharing economy’s rise. As hotels compete more aggressively on prices and extend their lead in services (dining, fitness centers, conference space, etc.), travel managers and business travelers will ultimately win. Most businesses will welcome the disruption of the corporate travel ecosystem, and they will take steps to maximize the potential savings.

By: Unknown On 01:26

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Privately Takes An Ephemeral Sharing Pitch To Telcos

A Swiss spin-out startup from security firm Kudelski has relaunched its controlled social photo-sharing app, rebranding it as Privately. The earlier timebombing iOS app

By: Unknown On 04:55

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Snapchat Cuts Off Sharing From Music Video App Mindie

Hackers have screwed Snapchat several times and now the startup is taking aggressive action to keep it from happening again. Yesterday, Snapchat cut off access from music video sharing app Mindie citing its security policy. The company confirmed the enforcement to me, and said it reset the Snapchat passwords of anyone who’d given Mindie their credentials. Unfortunately, that’s left a lot of confused Snapchat users locked out of their accounts until they register a new password.
While Snapchat had previously gone after rogue apps like Snapsaved that let people circumvent its screenshot warnings, Mindie is a much more mainstream, venture-backed company. While security was the reasoning here, the move also brings up the question of how Snapchat will deal with apps that let you post polished content rather than only creating snaps with its native tools.

By: Unknown On 06:35

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