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SwivelCard uses regular paper and has a USB drive embedded

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Re: SwivelCard uses regular paper and has a USB drive embedded

#31

Post by kevin_iP »

apendleton wrote: post #18

There probably was some point at which technologists still exchanged physical business cards but wanted people to access their digital content, but I get the sense that the physical card is decidedly on the way out, in favor of people directly connecting on Twitter or Github. It seems like, at least in the tech sector, the period when this would have been useful is already over.

Apendleton-

Kevin from intelliPaper here.

SwivelCard has bee a very good fit for many of our customers. One use has been to focus conversations.

Consider a situation where you manage a portfolio that is constantly changing, and you want to draw attention to aspects of it and personalize your pitch to a client. How cool would it be to have a face-to-face conversation focusing on real issues, and end with

"I've made a few notes. Use this SwivelCard to access them. They are secure and only you have access to this information." No, I don't need your email address - and there is no account to create or manage."

Re: SwivelCard uses regular paper and has a USB drive embedded

#32

Post by fpr »

Folks, you've put a lot of thought into this, and I respect your efforts, but you're approaching the entire product wrong.

You've created a piece of technology, which precisely matches the purpose of a site URL on a business card, except your solution is more tacky, more cumbersome, and less familiar to people, so more prone to confusion than delight.

It's scary how close a basic site URL matches your product benefits:

- You can add more data (videos, resume, etc.) on a website.

- You can change the data at the site remotely after giving the card.

- You can track access to the site (including location by IP etc.)

Considering the fact that including a URL on a card is far more accessible (no need for a NFC compatible device or an enabled USB port), cheaper and not to mention way more elegant, than a USB contraption, you'll have to find something that differentiates your product from a URL, or you'll fail.

Remember - technology itself doesn't sell. Benefits sell.

P.S.: And honestly, saying "you'll be the most popular person at the conference" because of cheesy USB business cards really drives the message forward your target audience is the socially inept. Don't do this. No one cares what gizmos you have on your card.

Re: SwivelCard uses regular paper and has a USB drive embedded

#33

Post by kevin_iP »

tzm wrote: post #28

I like the vision, but confused on what you're actually selling. After reading the FAQs, I was expecting a card that has physical memory and a foldable USB connector, but it seems this an NFC tag implementation that invokes a URL and is "designed for a connected experience". You're referring to this as 'unlimited storage' and 'wireless' technology. I'm not interested in NFC tags.. I want ephemeral USB cards with phys…

tzm,

Kevin from intelliPaper here.

NFC tags are not on all models - so I think we got you covered if you don't want NFC.

I'm curious what use-case you see. I can probably get you what you're looking for.

We have plans to extend the firmware, and I'd love to see a self-destructing chip - or lock the content to only a few uses.

Re: SwivelCard uses regular paper and has a USB drive embedded

#34

Post by saroshk »

This idea would have been more intriguing 5-10 years ago when people were more used to plugging stuff in and out and cloud based services weren't so ubiquitous. It appears that they took a long time to develop the USB part and missed the boat on that. Even the card's NFC chip, which seems to have been an afterthought in development for this product, is a more compelling feature that its main selling point.

I simply don't see this product's utility as a business card. If I want to get in touch with someone after receiving their business card, the only information I need from that business card is their email address; I'm not going to plug in a USB device just to get that email address. If I want to save all the info on the card, Evernote is already better and simpler at solving that problem.

The only people I can see this possibly being useful to are photographers for sharing their portfolio, but, again, it would have been a lot more useful for that purpose 5-10 years ago.

Re: SwivelCard uses regular paper and has a USB drive embedded

#36

Post by freehunter »

Someone wrote: post #12

"Are there privacy issues since the cards use analytics and tracking? No, swivelCard uses the same sort of analytics and tracking that you would encounter with virtually any website." I would replace that "No" by a "Yes". Also, educate me: does "virtually any website" do tracking?

It's like saying that there are no privacy issues with me listening to your phone call because the NSA is already listening. Yes, there are privacy issues, which is why Adblock and Ghostery exist.

Re: SwivelCard uses regular paper and has a USB drive embedded

#37

Post by K2h »

danso wrote: post #29

This will sound overly negative, but I'm asking from an old-fashioned perspective...but why is this easier/better than just printing a URL on a card...in that situation, the card-giver also has the ability to update the content on that destination. Or, why can't the technology be as simple as a read/write stick? The product seems to envision an idea of a "connected experience" not yet deliverable via a website...but…

From their technology page - one reason is the ability to have content on the device (local memory) even when offline. useful for serving up a resume, tutorial, guide or other content without an internet connection being required.

The current implementation (Q1, 2013) uses a FAT16 filesystem and has limited storage suitable for distributing a few files or web pages. From the user’s perspective, files on an intelliPaper device can be browsed and/or viewed just as they are on any other USB drive. Larger capacities in the 8-32 megabyte range are expected to become available mid 2013.[1]

[1] https://www.intellipaper.info/technology/

Re: SwivelCard uses regular paper and has a USB drive embedded

#38

Post by dangrossman »

Someone wrote: post #12

"Are there privacy issues since the cards use analytics and tracking? No, swivelCard uses the same sort of analytics and tracking that you would encounter with virtually any website." I would replace that "No" by a "Yes". Also, educate me: does "virtually any website" do tracking?

> Also, educate me: does "virtually any website" do tracking?

Yes. All web hosting comes with web stats as part of the standard service. Web servers come with logging enabled by default. To have a website with no tracking of its traffic, you'd have to build your own server/instance, and edit the web server software configuration to disable the logging.

Third-party tracking like Google Analytics also has more than 50% penetration on the top 100K websites. More sites than not are not only tracking you themselves, but sending every visit to third parties.

Re: SwivelCard uses regular paper and has a USB drive embedded

#39

Post by K2h »

Someone wrote: post #12

"Are there privacy issues since the cards use analytics and tracking? No, swivelCard uses the same sort of analytics and tracking that you would encounter with virtually any website." I would replace that "No" by a "Yes". Also, educate me: does "virtually any website" do tracking?

It all depends how you program the chip. If you didn't want to link to a website from the intelliPaper device, I'm sure you could load it with static content. I think it is a fair assessment that it is the same tracking as what could be applied to any web link, including a QR code.

Re: SwivelCard uses regular paper and has a USB drive embedded

#40

Post by kevin_iP »

bravo22 wrote: post #27
cix wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also what type of cost will be associated with these type of NFC chips, I can't assume a mass production of these would be inexpensive with those chips. Wouldn't just keeping the USB with the printed metallic ink and a QR code be more economical for mass production? Or will you have two separate models perhaps?

Given that at the end of the day even their USB link is basically a unique code that goes to a website -- thus you can change the content whenever you want -- I don't see why this couldn't be done with a $0.05 NFC sticker and a QR code? Why the USB part?

bravo22,

Kevin from intelliPaper here.

GREAT point. (and if you have a link the 5 cent NFC tags, I'd love to see it...)

"Why the USB part?"

Because it is ubiquitous, and easy to use.

While there are aspects of what SwivelCard offers that does do not rely on USB - Consider if an audience does not have a QR or NFC reader. Sure, you can print a unique URL on the artwork and encourage them to type it in...

Conversations will increase in value if there are easy ways of extending them in a meaningful way. This is what SwivelCard is about.

For a person looking to extend a valuable conversation, the ROI on SwivelCard is very high.

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