Team
Jeffrey Zhang, David Tran, Anna Lee, Shawn D’Souza, Melissa Huang
Brainstorm
Cheatsheeter - store your notes for an upcoming exam on your watch
TBT Navigation - get visual turn-by-turn instructions on your watch and audio via bluetooth. Useful for cyclers. Could have haptic feedback to say which direction to go (so cyclers don’t have to look).
MyPersonalPal - a personal assistant app that manages your calendar / bank accounts / to-do list
PokeWatch - an interactive pokemon catching game from your watch (radar on watch, game on phone)
FunFactor - When you approach a POI, this fun fact generator will tell you that tidbit that will leave your date quite impressed.
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FingerBuddy - an application that allows a user to scan their finger to confirm an NFC payment
RecipePrompter - A recipe book for recipes under 10 instructions to facilitate memorization of basic recipes. Could also include timing instructions (time to start the onions, take them off the flame, etc., tailored for beginner/interm/advanced)
SmartHome - Help your home help you through your watch to control lights, microwave, garage door, anything you need!
SmartCar - Use the watch as your smartkeys to unlock from afar or find your car in a packed parking lot.
BathroomBuddy - Quickly locate nearby restrooms and their averaged rating out of 5 stars from past users.
watchO - control TV volume/channel/options from a watch
Weebo - When you’re lonely, Weebo will be your virtual best friend and tell you how great you are.
Jokester - Feeling down? Jokester will generate a random joke to cheer you up!
MedBuddy - an application that reminds you of when and what medicines to take.
ViewFinder - an application that allows users to mark/rate nearby places for good views (like sunset spots)
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Touristy - an application that alerts people of good nearby places to visit for tourists
VirtualTourGuide - an app that gives you a tour of the area nearby -- choose between historically themed, shopping themed, food themed, or unexpected surprises!
CuterFood - Yelp-like application to find nearby cute restaurants/cafes. On watch so as not to detract from experience of exploring an area by pulling out phone.
CoffeeMate - an application that allows users to find nearby cafes (non-Starbucks)
FoodForFree - When you’re hungry and left your wallet at home, this app will find if there’s any free food nearby.
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Yelper - automatically checks into places that users visit (requires tap to confirm)
Recommendify - an application that recommends sales nearby (for brick-and-mortar stores)
Wishlister - an application that alerts a user of when an item they want goes on sale (either online or brick-and-mortar stores)
StoreBuddy - Uses NFC, beamer or QR to scan store items, tell you their price, and also the price of the item at nearby stores. Tells you the price of that cute dress because you really hope it’s on sale.
PersonalShopper - Scan items in a clothes store, app recommends whole outfits made of clothing from that store and stores nearby. Can also store items from your own wardrobe and recommend outfits that fit well with what you already have. Watch is used as scanner and to show quick view of outfit.
SupermarketHunt - Helps you find which aisle your item is in a huge supermarket! Locations are sourced from other people’s scans in StoreBuddy.
GroceryList - Put your grocery list on your watch. Way easier than trying to shop with a smartphone!
CampusBuddy - an application that broadcasts to all students of safety alerts
ReminderBuddy - Context based announcements/reminders (vibrates to alert user)
Prompter - This app can remind you when you’re somewhere you need to do something (enter the house, take off your shoes! passing Walgreens, pick up your prescription!)
BabyBuddy - a baby monitor application (stream video from a baby monitoring camera)
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TunesBuddy - This app can identify that new pop song on the radio whose name you missed.
NewSong - an app that listens to the currently playing song and recommends similar songs
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BumpToConnect - At a loud and busy conference, bump watches with another attendee to exchange contact information.
PassBuddy - Stores your tickets’ QR codes so you can catch that airplane that’s about to take off or jump on the train right before it choo-choos off.
iClicker - So you can get your 61C points from Dan Garcia even if you left your iClicker at home / your buddy hid it in your pillow.
Find my friends / avoid my nemeses - a location-aware app to help users find nearby friends / avoid nearby enemies via alerts and a radar interface
FindNewFriends - Lonely? This app will introduce you to people in the area also looking for new friends.
Brighten - Brighten someone’s day. This app lets you send encouraging, anonymous messages to strangers who are feeling lonely or just having a bad day.
Be There - Connects volunteers with people in the area who are looking for a listening ear or some support during a hard time.
TeaMeetsDonut - a watch extension for a popular dating app
NextWatch - Tells you arrival/departure times of nearby BART, bus, and other unpredictable public transportation methods.
MicMan- an app that allows a user to broadcast a message to people in the same vicinity. Good way to connect with neighbors.
SuperTimer - Have custom or default stored timer settings for your laundry, your ramen, and everything in between
TinderPal - location based recommendations of other Tinder users
BaconBuddy - notifies users of good nearby meat shops
MenuPick - Tells you the most ordered item at a restaurant so you won’t stand there for 2 minutes and hold up the line when other people already know what they want.
OrganicBuddy - notifies users of good nearby organic grocery stores / sales at them
Birdwatchin’ - Based on your location, swipe through a series of bird picture cards to help you identify that bird perched on the nearby post.
DeliveryBoy - notifies users when they get a package / mail
IGotAnIdea - an application that allows a user to toggle voice recording from their watch. Useful for taking notes / recording ideas on the fly.
SkyWatcher - an application that shows users what constellations can be found on a given night and what direction to look in.
Isolate - a music application for an unending loop of white noise (requires bluetooth earbuds)
LatteArt - Short step by step directions to draw simple latte arts and impress the cute guy/girl at the counter.
Cocktailer - Step by step directions when you’re a bartender and it’s really loud and you just blanked on a really easy recipe because people are yelling at you.
SecretAgent - a smartwatch extension for Google Glass - tap on the watch screen to take a picture
UmbrellaAlert - an application that alerts you if you need an umbrella before you leave the house
WhatToOrder - an app that suggests what to order at a restaurant based on what your friends like
QuickOpen - Use your voice to quickly open an app, perform a task, or change your watch mode
Focus - Use your watch to switch your phone or laptop mode, to only allow certain apps / websites. Reduce distractions and simplify your lifestyle!
LetMeTalk - Works across apps to only allow messages / notifications for people or groups that you star
The reason this idea stood out among the other 59 brainstorm ideas is largely due to the use case. We believe that this is a very practical application that could definitely improve people’s quality of life. Along with practicality, this idea is broad enough that it could be applied to a variety of use cases extending upon the base functionality. Additionally, the technology includes persistent location and push notifications so we all thought that would be interesting to work on.
Target User Group
Our target user group includes people seeking company with their friends that are conveniently close by; people in situations where they wouldn’t mind having company (e.g., working at a coffeehouse); or people who want to avoid meeting a particular acquaintance. This will be an app that encourages socializing and helps you to seize more opportunities to socialize. It can also help people avoid ex’s after breakups or awkwardness with “friends” with bad history.
Project Description and Context
The Problem: Having a quick chat in person can go really far into furthering a relationship as well as improving one’s overall day - too many opportunities are missed when two people pass on either side of a wall without never knowing each other is there. And sometimes, you want to keep that wall between the two.
What aspects of the situation might influence the problem solution? We can break down these aspects into two categories. The first is when we want to passively seek social contact. Some examples of when these needs occur are when we are performing menial tasks on our own, such as chilling/working at a cafe, going to work out, going grocery shopping, etc. In these situations, socializing could make the experience more meaningful and fun than they otherwise would be. In the other category, there are some people with whom we do not have the perfect relationship, such as our enemies and our exes, and with whom we want to avoid contact at all times. In this case, the ability to know if anyone on our blacklist is close by is highly useful.
What related or complementary solutions exist already?
FindMyFriends! on the Google App Store: (>5 million downloads)
Apple Find My Friends for iPhone, iPad, Mac, PC
Google Latitude for Android and IPhone (retired app)
Why is a mobile app better (over web app)?
If you’re strolling through the park and it’s a wonderful day outside, you’re really hoping to run into someone you know to chat for a couple minutes before your next commitment. By the time you take a second to take off your backpack and carefully take the laptop out of its case and hope that there’s some Wi-fi around, it’s already time to run off to another meeting. For an application like this, the ability to access its functionality while on-the-go, as opposed to settled somewhere with your laptop, is crucial and complements the user need of seeking their friends and avoiding their enemies passively and without too much effort from them (i.e. constantly and actively monitoring a web app).
Why is a smartwatch better (over mobile app)?
By the time your phone buzzes (and you’re not even guaranteed to feel the notification) and you go into your backpack pocket and dig it out and look at the screen, your ex-boyfriend could already be right next to you. BUT, if you had a smartwatch and his face popped up with a red arrow in his direction, it would be too simple to make a beeline in the opposite direction! The persistence of a watch would make the notification much more apparent so you can avoid any awkward encounters. The persistence of the watch also makes it easier to navigate toward friends you actually do want to see -- if it was only on your mobile device, you’d look like a lost boy scout with a compass in hand, but with a watch, the process of navigating toward friends is much more elegant.
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