Connected Experiences in Your Venues
The beacon life cycle has evolved. That’s right, technology moves fast, and what’s next is uBeacons. Whereas iBeacons speak at you (or more specifically, your phone), uBeacons converse with you. Consider it the Web. 2.0 of beacons.
VentureBeat writer Barry Levine offers a good, informative article on the new development. Here’s a taste:
Unlike standard beacons, Ubudu’s uBeacons — which also support the iBeacon standard — can receive a few kilobits per second of data back from customers’ smartphones without pairing, and they can each talk via Bluetooth to other mesh beacons. If one of the mesh beacons is connected to the Internet, the mesh network can communicate with the cloud.
This means, for instance, that a customer standing in an aisle could send a very brief message via her smartphone app to the store, asking for assistance. Customer phones would need to have Bluetooth 4.0, which is supported by a majority of phones.
uBeacons aren’t relegated to retail; they can be implemented in large venues, too.
“uBeacon Mesh can also power large venues,” Ubudu said in the video below. “In a stadium, you could broadcast a hot dog flash promotion to all fans at once.”
For more information about uBeacons, please read VentureBeat’s article.
(Image: Ubudu)
German Company Creates a Sideways Elevator System
Our long, 160-year nightmare of rope-dependent elevators is now over, claims a German elevator company.
“Now, the long-pursued dream of operating multiple cabins in the same elevator shaft is made possible by applying the linear motor technology of the magnetic levitation train Transrapid to the elevator industry,” the company, ThyssenKrupp, said in a statement. “MULTI will transform how people move inside buildings.”
The MULTI design can include different self-propelled elevator cabins per shaft running in a loop. Through this, a 50 percent reduction in the elevator footprint in a building can be achieved.
“Using no cables at all, a multi-level brake system, and inductive power transfers from shaft to cabin, MULTI requires smaller shafts than conventional elevators, and can increase a building’s usable area by up to 25 percent,” the company said. “The overall increase in efficiency also translates into a lower requirement for escalators and additional elevator shafts, resulting in significant construction cost savings as well as a multiplication of rent revenues from increased usable space.”
A test tower will be completed in Rottweil, Germany, in 2016.
“As the nature of building constructions evolve, it is also necessary to adapt elevator systems to better suit the requirements of buildings and high volumes of passengers,” said Andreas Schierenbeck, CEO of ThyssenKrupp Elevator AG. “From the one-dimensional vertical arrangement to a two-dimensional horizontal/vertical arrangement with more than one or two cabins operating in each shaft, MULTI represents a proud moment in ThyssenKrupp’s history of presenting cutting-edge transport technologies that best serve current mobility needs.”
(Image: ThyssenKrupp)
Congrats to Saint Paul RiverCentre and Xcel Energy Center
Congratulations to the Saint Paul RiverCentre and the Xcel Energy Center Complex in Minnesota for achieving LEED, Green Globes, and APEX/ASTM certifications.
Each certification requires a comprehensive auditing of organizational environmental practices and procedures and compliance with a stringent set of preset standards. The Xcel Energy Center is the only National Hockey League arena in the U.S. (second in league) that is LEED Certified as an existing building. It’s the first in the world to be certified Green Globes and APEX/ASTM. The Saint Paul RiverCentre is one of less than 20 U.S. convention centers to be LEED Certified as an existing building. It’s the world’s first to be certified Green Globes, and 11th worldwide to receive APEX/ASTM certification.
“To have all of these venues certified by three respected, independent environmental organizations feels truly incredible,” said IAVM member Jim Ibister, vice president of administration for the Minnesota Wild and general manager of the Saint Paul RiverCentre. “It’s certainly not the finish line; we want to continue making progress and share what we’ve learned to help others.”
The achievements are the result of an overall goal originally set in 2009 by the Saint Paul RiverCentre to become a regional leader in sustainability. When the program began, the annual recycling rate was 15 percent. Today, the entire complex is recycling 60 percent of the two million pounds of waste generated on average each year.
“This is an amazing accomplishment for the Saint Paul RiverCentre and Xcel Energy Center,” said Saint Paul Mayor Chris Coleman. “These changes are not only conserving water and energy and reducing waste—they are setting an example for the millions of visitors that experience this sustainability firsthand.”
(Images: From Facebook—Saint Paul RiverCentre and Xcel Energy Center)
Member Venues Featured in Instagram’s Year-End List
It’s that time of the year that list lovers crave the most: Top 10 [fill in the blank] of 2014! For this blank, let’s look at Instagram’s Top 10 Most-tagged Locations of 2014. Some IAVM member venues made the list (and Instagram examples are included with their names).
1. Disneyland, Anaheim, California
2. Dodger Stadium, Los Angeles, California
3. Times Square, New York, New York
4. Siam Paragon (สยามพารากอน) shopping mall, Bangkok, Thailand
5. ЦПКиО им. Горького / Gorky Park, Moscow, Russia
6. Musée du Louvre, Paris, France
7. Красная площадь / Red Square, Moscow, Russia
8. Madison Square Garden, New York, New York
Not bad seats for my first ever hockey game, thanks to @kattdizzle! #GoRangersIGuess A photo posted by John Sears (@johnsearsmedia) on
9. Yankee Stadium, New York, New York
10. The Dubai Mall, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
IAVM is also on Instagram. If you’re on it, please follow us!
Announcing Manchester’s New Performing Arts Center
Factory Records was a Manchester, England-based, music label that was home to such iconic acts as Joy Division, The Smiths, and Happy Mondays. While its heyday is no more, its legacy will live on in a new theatre and arts venue called The Factory Manchester, which plans to open in 2019 on the former site of Granada Studios in the city.
The £78 million (US$122 million) space will be the home of the Manchester International Festival (MIF), and will accommodate up to 5,000 people standing and 2,200 sitting.
“The Factory Manchester will be a new kind of large-scale venue comparable in scale to London’s Coliseum connected to one side of a Tate Modern Turbine Hall-type structure,” said MIF Chair Tom Bloxham. “As well as providing a new home base for MIF, it will commission and welcome innovative works from companies and artists around the world.”
Part of this development is a new creative village called St. John’s, which will be located in the city center.
“The Factory Manchester will play a powerful part in the creation of St John’s,” said Michael Ingall, CEO of Allied London, which is leading the village’s creation. “There will be several important complementary parts to this new neighborhood, and all these parts will come together to create a purpose and a soul, with culture, art, and performance mixed with enterprise to create a very exciting place to be and to live and work.”
The Manchester City Council estimates that within 10 years, the venue will create, either directly or indirectly, 2,300 full-time jobs and add £134 million (US$210 million) to the economy.
“Manchester has a thriving creative industries sector, and culture plays a central role in our growth strategy,” said Sir Richard Leese, leader of the Manchester City Council. “The arts are not just a major employer in their own right but help us to develop, attract, and keep talented people and is a fundamental element of a city where people choose to live and work. The Factory Manchester will also feed the increasing demand for arts as the city continues to grow and provide a Northern base for those wanting to work in the creative industries to grow their skills.”
Further details will be announced in early 2015.
(Image: Fac.Dance)