Comments on: If Objects Could Talk They’d Say, “SendMeHome.”

By: Lost Property Heaven » If Objects Could Talk They’d Say, “SendMeHome.”

Lost Property Heaven » If Objects Could Talk They’d Say, “SendMeHome.” — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 19:22:59 +0000

[...] If Objects Could Talk They’d Say, “SendMeHome.” [...]

By: Jen van der Meer » If Products Could Speak - Would They Say “SendMeHome”?

Mon, 30 Mar 2009 14:23:05 +0000

[...] rely on a mega infrastructure of sensors and data networks – like this simple concept SendMeHome via TechCrunch. It’s a site that let’s you register an object with a unique code, and they sell little [...]

By: gregg dourgarian

gregg dourgarian — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 13:32:16 +0000

One of the founders (not the one who keeps commenting here) used to intern with us, was an incredibly talented and hard working guy.

Not sure what to think of this idea, but he was a great actor too: http://www.staf...iting-star.html

By: curtains

curtains — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 17:50:40 +0000

Best of luck to them. Interesting concept, but I think it’s going to be an uphill battle…..$4 for a pack of stickers?

By: http://macmaniapodcast.com

http://macmaniapodcast.com — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 15:00:45 +0000

Very well-written post!!! Please check out my site as well at http://macmaniapodcast.com

By: fb2250783

Sat, 28 Mar 2009 03:33:58 +0000

As Andrew said, you might not want to put personal info on the item. If you put a landline number on an item, it’s not that hard to find out where you live.

Also (and this doesn’t apply to SendMeHome, because they’re web only), most commercial companies providing this service put a toll-free phone number on the sticker, so the person finding your item doesn’t have to call long distance. TrackItBack claims to go the extra crazy step of having multilingual operators standing by, just in case the item is found by someone who speaks a different language than the item’s owner. (In fact, some of their stickers are English/French bilingual.)

By: Christopher

Christopher — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 01:40:13 +0000

This is a great idea. Perhaps in iPhone app next?

By: Andrew Lee

Andrew Lee — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 23:07:55 +0000

Do you want to put your trackable contact info on your stuff? What if you lose your car keys? Do you want people to be able to find where you live?

By: maya

maya — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 22:18:27 +0000

If I’ve to put stickers on my stuff, why not directly put my phone number or email on it?

By: Paul

Paul — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 21:12:14 +0000

No, think of the tie-ins… Give away items to charities, and see how they’re used and where they end up. Cool feedback for donors.

Or put one on one of those rental bicycles in Paris, and track the stories.

Or send objects on ‘missions’, like the Australian tradition of stealing a garden gnome, taking it on a trip and sending back pictures to the owner of their gnome at famous landmarks.

The possibilities are, well, if not endless…

By: Chris Arkenberg

Chris Arkenberg — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 20:52:49 +0000

Interesting to consider SendMeHome, TouchATag, and TrackThis together as a general movement towards both locative and communicative objects. Combined with the coming ubiquity of sensors from folks like Crossbow and the SPIME scenario gets closer & closer.

By: Andrew Lee

Andrew Lee — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 18:50:39 +0000

Wait, people are still using IE? Seriously though thanks for the heads up.

And go get a real browser.

By: Andrew Lee

Andrew Lee — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 18:49:43 +0000

The SendMeHome service is free… so no : )

By: Andrew Lee

Andrew Lee — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 18:47:34 +0000

Because many of the items you have you don’t want to put your contact info on. House keys, for example. Wouldn’t want to tell someone who finds them where to go to steal your stuff. Besides, what if your contact info changes. Do you want to relabel everything?

By: Andrew Lee

Andrew Lee — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 18:45:27 +0000

Hi Andy – We do give them away for free. We even have templates for you to print out yourselves. Go look at the site.

By: Zach

Zach — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 18:30:20 +0000

or e-mail address…

By: Austin Hill

Austin Hill — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 18:15:19 +0000

Very cool idea from one of my favorite authors. It’s funny because Akoha was in part inspired by Bruce’s incredible short novel, Maneki Neko.

http://tqft.net...iki/Maneki_Neko

The entire category of Internet Object Tracking is an exciting domain for Web meets world whether for gaming, social experiences or augment reality experiments. Will be interested to see how people start to innovate when we use not just TCP/IP on the intertubes – but start to really tie our physical spaces with links to Internet data.

-Austin

By: Zach

Zach — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 17:52:48 +0000

This site has the dumbest examples of use I could ever imagine! This technology and concept is very promising, but how many people are willing to pay to use allow their coffee mug to open a specific link on their computer?

By: Roberto

Roberto — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 15:31:29 +0000

I always find the companies interesting at TC, even if sometimes I know that I won’t be a user. But this site is just pointless, sorry, just buy a sticker and that’s all.
And I don’t see the relation with Akoha… beyond the use of paper.

By: Design freak

Design freak — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 15:12:57 +0000

hehehhee….. interesting

By: HmmConvenient

HmmConvenient — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 14:42:49 +0000

1) The site is awful and looks like a weekend project 2) Staples can help you do this (put e-mail address and phone number on assets).

>> The company has been bootsrrapped with $50,000 from founders Andrew Lee and James Tamplin.

And I bet they spent $25k to buy placement of this story; FAIL.

By: Peter

Peter — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 14:23:59 +0000

I have no idea whether this site is any good because I can’t use it! Here’s what it looks like in IE8 (which I have to use at work):

http://i42.tiny...com/2ic3881.jpg

By: Ana

Ana — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 13:55:45 +0000

ImHONEST.com has been doing this for a while, except for that they actually provide a service through their tags. They provide 24/7 reporting and the logistics so that a lost item can be returned at no cost to the finder at The UPS Stores – the finder even gets a reward worth $30 of their tags. I’ve been a customer for three years and love the service they provide, it definitely beats writing my name on my iPod, besides that way it is private and anonymous.

By: fb2250783

Fri, 27 Mar 2009 13:55:06 +0000

There are already other services that provide this service. (After losing a camera, a phone, and a thumb drive within six months of each other, I started using http://trackitback.com , but I can’t tell you if it works, because I haven’t lost anything since putting stickers on everything!)

Most such companies tried the “pay for stickers; service is free” model, found it didn’t work, and started charging for service. So unless these guys have some miraculous source of funding their competition doesn’t, I don’t see them doing any better.

An example of miraculous sources of funding: I think I’ve got four different grocery store discount cards attached to my keychain right now that provide a “if found, send to” service. They can afford to do that, because it’s a rarely-used service subsidized by their real business models. A return service attached to a larger corporation can work. Doesn’t Google like to say it can find anything?

The story idea is cute, though. Cute, however, doesn’t pay the bills.

By: John

John — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 13:54:00 +0000

IDEA -Use it to track re-gifts. Which have travelled around the world the fastest? Which have been passed on the largest number of times? Etc. My father-in-law gave my wife and I something called “The Mist of Dreams” (an oddly designed ornamental humidifier). He later fessed up given to him by a student in China. Of course, we passed it onto someone else. My guess, it’s still unopened and making the rounds.