The only question is: should there be a ping locator for the diamond on the finger (it is best rejected as an oppressive symbol of patriarchy, also it costs too much).
…..
A startup called Mingleton is introducing a new mobile dating application that
uses iBeacon technology to help you connect only with people you can
see around you, or, as one of the founders puts it, it’s like Tinder
“for the people in your immediate vicinity.” The app doesn’t actually
require venues to have iBeacon or Bluetooth Low-Energy (BLE) devices
installed in order for this to work, to be clear, but rather leverages
Core Bluetooth and Core Location technology in the iPhone itself to help
its users find one another out the real world.
The idea of tapping into BLE flips the idea of mobile dating apps on
its head. Instead of seeing someone’s picture in the app before trying
to find them in the room (damn those group photo shots!), you’re more
likely to see them in the flesh first, and then you turn to the app to find their profile and indicate your interest.
Mingleton actually started out as a side project created by 24-year
old Harvard grads, Obi Ekekezie and Joel Ayala. Ekekezie was pre-med at
Harvard, but went to work in management consulting with Bain &
Company in San Francisco after graduation, before returning to interview
for medical school and pursue his longtime interest in programming.
Ayala’s background is in finance, and he’s worked at Goldman Sachs and
Citigroup in the past, and is now doing corporate strategy and finance
in the ad tech space.
Asked to explain how the technology works in more detail, Ekekezie
said users would sign up with Facebook before being assigned a unique
beacon configuration. “When another user detects your beacon configuration and then taps
‘See Who’s Nearby’ to see who it is, he or she pings our server to
figure out who you are and if you’re relevant to him or her based on
both of your stated preferences – for now just gender and age range,” he
says. In other words, Mingleton is still showing relevant users based
on Facebook data, at least for now. If a potential match, the app then
allows the user to view your mutual friends and the hashtags on their
profile.
“From there, he or she can decide whether to ask you to mingle,”
says Ekekezie. “If and only if you both express interest in mingling, we
let you both know.”
Mingleton is a free download here on iTunes.
….
regards