Creating Caricature Stickers from Selfies

The Allo messaging capability from Google is now capable of creating caricature image stickers from selfies.  These are mostly for use within Allo, but you can snip them off and use them elsewhere.   Whats most interesting is how this was done, and the care to make it work well and not insult anyone,  even considering things like 'Uncanny Valley' effects.   Which hardly seems important in cartoon images,  since they don't  get close to images you would mistake for photos.

In general the results  are flattering caricatures of the cartoon style.   And you can play with the images to get them to your liking. The article about how this was done is in the Google Research Blog.   Allo is free from Google, so anyone can try.    It links to Google Assistant to make the messaging smart, in ways I am still trying to understand.  More on my examination of Allo.

Stickers vs SnapChat

Can Apple’s new iMessage ad convince you that stickers are as cool as Snapchat?   There is a heavy history of the use of stickers, especially in Japan.   Difficult prediction to make.  Heavily advertised now in the US college basketball season.  by Chaim Gartenberg @cgartenberg

Japan's LINE: Social Media with Personality

A Japanese colleague pointed this out to me.  In FastCompany. Creative idea.  Its a kind of digital/analog idea.   Its making value of emojis.  Virtual stickers.  Does that work outside of Japan?

" ... In Japan, the mobile messaging app LINE is so pervasive that young people swap LINE IDs instead of phone numbers. Worldwide, the app has more than 170 million active users a month. Though that leaves it smaller than Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, and China’s WeChat, LINE has excelled at something that’s arguably tougher than racking up hundreds of millions of users: It’s parlayed its app’s popularity into pan-media pop-culture relevance and a powerful business model. ... "

The system also integrates a number of games, see below.

(Update) More on the LINE application.

Kroger Smart Shelf

In Smartbrief: An idea that combines electronic shelf labels and small shelf edge displays.  Saw this demonstrated by NCR some years ago.

Kroger tests smart shelf technology
Kroger has launched a test of smart shelf technology at a northern Kentucky store that includes touchscreen labels that offer product information. The technology allows store workers to change prices immediately, and eliminating stickers would make more efficient use of employees' time while also providing an "engaging experience for our customers," Kroger spokesman Keith Dailey said. The Cincinnati Enquirer (tiered subscription model)  .....  " 

IDEO and Nearables

IDEO worked with us by helping build a Gym for designing consumer products, which connected to our innovation centers.    Now they are promoting the idea of bluetooth 'nearables'.   Read the comments, they have some good complaints.  In FastCodesign:

" ... Last week beacon technology--sensors which can trigger actions in devices that come within range, increasing their spatial intelligence--shrank in size and grew in opportunity with the introduction of Estimote Stickers. Three millimeter-thick adhesives no bigger than an oversize postage stamp, the nearly weightless Stickers--dubbed "nearables"--are an impressive evolution of the egg-sized Beacons that Estimote introduced in 2013.

“Beacons are a little bit like URLs for the physical world,” says Steve Cheney, cofounder and senior vice president. “We don’t know exactly how it’s all going to work out, from the experience level, but I think the apps you use the most will start to integrate beacon technology in a way where you assume it was always that way.” Like the larger Beacons, Estimote's Sticker-sensors, set to ship this fall to curious developers and companies eager to take advantage of the internet of things, help apps “see” their surroundings via motion and temperature sensors that communicate with nearby devices via Bluetooth.  ... " 

Stickers Sell in Japan

In Nextweb: A phenomenon that I had not heard of.  And based on my experience it is hard to see how blocks of emoticons could sell as a service.  But it is selling very well in Asia, and particularly in Japan.  " ... Stickers are larger-scale emoticons which are primarily used for instant messaging (IM) chats. They are popular among some, particularly in Asia, because they help convey emotion, and are more visual than blocks of text. Stickers typically come in packs of up to a dozen, most of which are free to download and use, but some services charge $1/$2 for premium packs — which may be customized for brands, products or limited edition events. ... " . The article linked to gives a good demonstration.

Wal-Mart Stocks with Neon Dots

In Bloomberg:  Wal-Mart brings in an outside auditor who uses Neon green dots to mark stocking outages.   Hmmm ... this sounds like the  Hawthorne effect.  Workers pay more attention when things are 'illuminated' to require focus.

" .... Wal-Mart prepared a spreadsheet of more than 800 items -- merchandise that included peanut M&Ms, Hanes boxer briefs, Covergirl mascara and Crest toothpaste -- that needed “stickering.” The circle stickers would indicate to Wal-Mart workers which items Acosta would be searching for during its audits.  Tovar said the most recent round of auditing was “the first time the green dots were in place.”  He added: “The reason we went to the green sticker process is because we think this is going to help the store associates do a better job of being in stock in key items. Those are the most important items to be in stock on.”   ... '

Stickers Acting as Sensors

In general a nice idea.   Wireless sensors delivered as stickers.   With considerable potential application in retail. Gamifying implications. Worth following.  I will,  and report back here.  More and pictures in Engadget. 

"... Rather than ask people to integrate bulky or intrusive sensors into their lives, GreenGoose's upcoming system (pre-orders start on Dec. 15; systems ship on Jan. 1) will instead provide small stickers with built-in Internet-connected sensors. Tip a water bottle and the attached GreenGoose sticker logs it through a small base station that plugs into your wireless router. Feed the dog, go for a walk, clean the house — GreenGoose has designs on all of it. No special skills required.... "

Near Field Communications Discount System

A somewhat unqiue method of using both RFID and mobile to redeem discounts in a store:

E. Leclerc Supermarket Tests RFID-enabled Promotional Offers
In Nice, the French retail chain is piloting a system that includes stickers with built-in Near Field Communication RFID readers that customers can use to select and redeem discounts at the store ... "

Google Pushes 2D Barcodes

From Storefrontbacktalk: ' ... This week, Google said it was trying to breathe life into these barcodes by mailing 200,000 2D barcode stickers to small businesses throughout the country. Such a move could allow these mom-and-pops to offer in-depth marketing information to anyone at the click of a smartphone ... ' . Read the whole thing. We experimented with the use of 2D barcodes. I continue experimentation with smartphones that read codes of various sorts, more posts to follow about my experiments in local retailers.