NFC Gumball Machine

Nice idea.

Sonic Notify

This Sonic Notify thing is pretty interesting. No doubt in the slightest it'll get very messy before it gets good, but it certainly holds a lot of potential.

Basically, "SonicNotify is a platform that enables media to be delivered to a smartphone or tablet based on presence. [Media can be delievered to] a consumer standing in front of a shelf, television, or at a concert. The patent pending technology enables the communication of data in the ultra high-frequency inaudible range between any speaker and microphone." This all means that if you're watching, say, Dexter, and have your phone by you with the app on, you'll get pushed content from Dexter at certain points. This could be a sneak preview of the next episode, or facts, or anything really. 

Or, "With Sonic, we can unlock anything that your iPhone or Android can do, as long as the SonicNotify SDK is built into an app that’s running in the background on your phone,” explained Israel. “For example, some of the stuff we’re doing with Gaga is when she is performing, mid-set, everyone in the arena gets a notification which lets them choose which song she plays for her encore."

It's the product messaging, that I find a bit worrying. Man, that's going to be a mess. And who exactly will choose to accept these messages? I suppose there will be offers, freebies and the like, but after that? Time will tell.