Find your way with wonder chip

TECH INNOVATOR: Ms Goh Yiping is the co-founder of start-up Human Network Labs, which developed PixieEngine.

Co-developed by S'porean, new tech allows navigation without Web link.
A NEW technology that will allow mobile-phone users to befriend strangers or check out where the nearest coffee outlet is all without making a call, using GPS or logging on to the Internet has been co-developed by a Singaporean.

Expected to be released worldwide next year, the stick-on chip allows mobile- phone users to use their handsets to "visualise their surrounding environment".

The novel technology, known as PixieEngine, is co-developed by Singaporean technopreneur Goh Yiping.

Ms Goh, 27, co-founder of the Philadelphia and Singapore- based start-up Human Network Labs (HNL), told my paper that besides social networking, other uses of the chip include locating children, navigating your way to the nearest retail outlet, or finding out where you parked your car.

She said: "Though we use social networks such as Facebook, when we meet people (in real life), we can't see any of that information without the help of the Internet.

"Or, when I see a movie poster, I still need to switch on a laptop or use a mobile phone to log on to the Internet to book tickets. I should be able to do that immediately by clicking on the poster (which also has the chip on it)."

That is where PixieEngine comes in, she said.

Unlike other location-based friend-finders and GPS-based maps such as Loopt, Google's Latitude and Maps, PixieEngine does not require GPS, Internet access or mobile-service providers.

Ms Goh said: "This allows users to operate it anywhere and avoid incurring service fees."

The device, whose patent is still pending, can be used on Bluetooth-enabled mobile phones and has an indoor and outdoor range of around 50m and 200m respectively. It can differentiate between users as close as 1m apart, making it highly accurate, added Ms Goh.

She said HNL has yet to determine the price of the service but added that it would be affordable to "most of the consumer market".

"We provide a service different from that of GPS, which can't help you find your keys with high accuracy or know who the people in the room are," she added.

Pilot programmes are already in the works, involving organisations such as Friendster, Singapore Management University and local-welfare groups, which can use the chip to help the visually impaired navigate. The organisations can also use it to locate dementia patients.

National University of Singapore assistant professor Denisa Kera of the communications and new-media department said that such innovations open up new ways of interacting with "familiar strangers".

She said: "With an element of serendipity, we are increasingly able to connect and forge new relationships with people."

news by - dawnt@sph.com.sg

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Wednesday, April 01, 2009 at 7:30 PM