Dear Developers in the Estimote Community,

Three years ago we kicked off the contextual computing era by shipping you the first Estimote Beacons. With our simple mobile SDKs, we enabled the creation of rich location-aware apps and experiences. One year later we followed up with Estimote Stickers, the world’s smallest beacons which also included built-in sensors. For the first time, apps that the developer community could build were truly contextualized—both presence to a nearby beacon as well as interaction with real world objects. More recently we released Estimote Location Beacons, which today are the most advanced beacons on the market. With a long-range radio, built-in NFC and a programmable GPIO slot, they enable you to control every-day devices just by approaching them.

The world’s first video beacon

Today we want to move contextual computing to a completely new level. We are happy to announce our newest product: Estimote Mirror. It’s the world’s first video-enabled beacon. Estimote Mirror can not only communicate with nearby phones and their corresponding apps, but also take content from these apps and display it on any digital screen around you.

How does Mirror work?

Mirror works with any standard video screen– it simply plugs into the HDMI and USB ports. When connected to a TV via HDMI, Mirror reads BLE signals from nearby compatible apps or Estimote Stickers to recieve content, and a programmable rendering engine decides what to display, while USB is used as an endless supply of power. And mobile developers don’t have to learn any new technology to control these large digital displays with Mirror. They can just embed our SDK into their apps so that users can trigger contextual and personalized content simply by approaching screens where Estimote Mirror is installed.

What are the applications?

We believe the best applications will be those that deliver great user experiences and remove friction from our daily lives. Imagine you have a connecting flight and have just landed at your first destination. You likely have your airline’s app installed on the phone in your pocket. Because you’re logged-in, your phone knows your flight time, departure gate and other relevant details, like whether your outbound flight is delayed. When you approach an airport flight monitoring screen, it will simply react to your presence. Personalized content will be mirrored directly from your airline app. It’s the mobile SDK which casts BLE instructions and content to the nearby video-enabled beacon.

Watch our video to see more use-cases.

Imagine magical experiences without mobile apps

Mirror can react not only to users with installed apps, but also by sensing for BLE signals from objects around it. Content can be displayed on-screen when nearby BLE signals are detected. For example, Estimote Stickers attached to objects will send contextual data when picked up or moved. Mirror will detect these interactions and display content tied to a particular object or gesture. This allows consumers in a retail store to experience magical interactive moments even if they don’t have the retailer’s app installed.

The technology inside Estimote Mirror

From an engineering perspective every Estimote Mirror is a tiny, powerful computer with a full-blown operating system. We embed a System-on-Chip with built-in video processing similar to the one installed in your modern smartphone. Responsive and delightful interactions are possible thanks to a uniquely optimized firmware which we built in to the most powerful BLE chip available on the market. And there’s also Wi-Fi onboard for developers who want to connect to the cloud, all powered by USB, so no additional wires are required. Mirror will be compatible with Estimote Cloud and the rest of our stack and will be shipped with SDKs, documentation, customizable app templates and demo apps exactly same way we ship our other products.

Pre-order your Mirror now

Today we’re excited to launch this product at TechCrunch Disrupt 2016 in San Francisco, so if you are nearby come visit our the booth to see live demos and grab a BLE-enabled T-shirt!

We’ll be shipping the first batches of devices this winter.

Be one of the first to develop contextual screen apps.