Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Sonar: How Whales Roll: Mike Arrington My Sonar Friend

National Geographic: Military Sonar May Give Whales the Bends, Study Says: Undersea noise from naval exercises appears to give beaked whales the bends, an ailment most commonly associated with scuba divers who rise to the ocean surface too quickly ...... Scientists for years have suspected a link between sonar activities and mass strandings of marine mammals—similar events have occurred recently in the Bahamas and Greece—but they are uncertain as to why sonar causes the animals to strand themselves. ....... They found gas bubbles in blood vessels and hemorrhaged vital organs. ..... Sonar technology, such as that used during the Cold War, was passive: essentially big microphones that listened for the distinctive sounds emitted by large submarines. ....... Environmentalists say incidences of marine mammal strandings have sharply increased since this mid-frequency sonar technology was deployed. Environmentalists are now actively opposing testing of a new technology, called low-frequency sonar, which they say would significantly expand the geographic range the sound travels. ...... the sonar likely either causes a behavioral change in the whales such as rising too rapidly, or there is a physical effect of the sonar on bubble precursors in nitrogen-saturated tissues. ...... low-frequency sound waves can rapidly compress and then expand microscopic bubbles of gas in the tissue. Each sound wave causes the bubble to absorb more and more of the gas dissolved in the bloodstream, eventually making the bubbles big enough to rupture tissues.
Standout App

Sonar was an app that stood out of the many that presented at the TechCrunch Disrupt. I am not saying that was the best app. I am not saying I watched all presentations. I did not. But Sonar is the one I remember.

Privacy Concerns

Sonar only uses your publicly available information. Your Twitter bio is public information. When you check into a venue, others who check is can see you are there. But still people should be given the option to opt out of Sonar. Not everyone is trying to say hello to everyone.

Feature Requests

You should have the option to send a gentle hello to someone in the room. And you should have the option to record a meeting Hashable style. As in, just met Cindy.

Hyperlocal

Sonar could end up a leading hyperlocal app. We are in fractal territory.

My Web Diagram

Getting Overwhelmed

Mike Arrington And I: Close
Mutual Friends: Cindy Gallop

Chris Hughes and I have 12 mutual friends on Facebook, Dave McClure and I have nine, Mike Arrington and I have eight mutual friends on Facebook. I have a feeling there are a lot of people out there who might have 10 mutual friends with Chris Hughes, Dave McClure and Mike Arrington. It might be worse for the likes of Ashton Kutcher and Fred Wilson. Fred gets mobbed at conferences by people who want to pitch him. And that was before Sonar. I think one challenge for Sonar is to see if it can become relevant also to people like Chris Hughes, Dave McClure, Mike Arrington, Ashton Kutcher, and Fred Wilson. Okay, maybe not Ashton Kutcher. The dude just released his own app. I think the app lets you be surrounded by all Ashton Kutcher all the time.

Sonar, in short, should not be that app that spoils public events for all mid level celebrity types. I thin Sonar should have this feature that allows you to say hello to them without them having to say hello back to you, or lets them say hello to everyone at once, the Sonar version of signing an autograph. Maybe there should be a Sonar badge. I was in the same room as _________. (Insert Chris Hughes)

Augmented Reality App

Sonar is hyperlocal, but it also feels like augmented reality.

Ajay Chainani

The iPhone developer for the app is an Indian who grew up in Japan. That's an interesting background to have.

Hashable

This app reminds me of Hashable.

Twitter ---> Instagram ---> FoodSpotting
VentureBeat: Sonar tells you why the people around you matter: I saw plenty of startups today at the TechCrunch Disrupt conference in New York City, but Sonar, a newly launched iPhone app, stood out from the crowd because it offered up a simple new way to take advantage of the social data we’re increasingly surrounded by. ...... Sonar lets you ping specific locations to show you who is there, and most importantly, it also tells you why certain people will be more relevant to you than others. The app relies on location data from check-in heavyweight Foursquare, but it also taps into your Facebook and Twitter accounts to get a decent sense of your tastes and friends. ....... founder Brett Martin describes the app like this: “It’s simple — you open up Sonar and we tell you that the guy sitting across from you is Facebook friends with your college roommate, the dude by the jukebox is a VC that you follow on Twitter, and the cute girl by the bar also likes the Arcade Fire and Hemingway.” ...... the app can easily generate a Twitter message to someone mentioning a particular friend you have in common. ..... amazing that it’s taken this long for an app like Sonar to appear ..... it’s sure to rile detractors who think it’s yet another app that’s killing face-to-face communication. I would argue that it supplements real world communication ..... Sonar was founded last year and so far has raised $200,000 in funding.
Time: Cool Or Creepy? Sonar App Introduces You To Nearby Strangers: Sonar is kind of like a good party host: It introduces you to whoever else is in the room by leveraging what you have in common...... one of the more practical applications of the hyperlocal craze we've seen. But we'll see if it reaches the threshold for usership it'll need to actually thrive.

The Next Web: Interview with Sonar: The inside story on the hyperlocal, realtime networking app: a mobile application that uncovers the hidden connections that you share with everyone else around you. It works by aggregating and then ranking relevancy, pulling public data from Foursquare, Twitter and Facebook. Social connections, network affiliations, shared Likes, shared interests are all factored into Sonar’s relevance algorithm. ...... Using Sonar, you’re never more than one click away from a hyper-targeted introduction. In one check-in, Sonar bottles thousands of potential connections that you would’ve otherwise missed. ...... Future builds will include the ability to filter search results by room or type of person. For example, “Show me all the investors in the room.” ...... Brett Martin grew up in Ocean City, Maryland ...... Growing up in a resort town meant the gregarious surf shop employee turned entrepreneur was meeting new people everyday. But he felt unable to connect quickly and easily. Martin says, he’s spent the past several years simply waiting for the technology to catch up to reduce this chasm. ...... After attending Dartmouth, he entered the dry world of banking. It wasn’t long before he left to sail the world and live in Italy on a Fulbright scholarship. ...... Sonar’s lead mobile developer Ajay Chainani ..... The app works globally, but to use it at this time, you need to have a Foursquare account. ..... For power networkers, eager startup founders, freelance developers or those who believe a stranger is just a friend they haven’t met yet, Sonar is a long overdue app that presents potentially powerful connections at your fingertips. It’s an app that makes our world feel a little bit smaller, a little bit friendlier and a lot more connected.



Gizmodo: Sonar App Joylessly Friends The Friendless: It's yet another social networking app that you may briefly use before deleting, after its features have been sucked up by Facebook or Twitter or both or neither

@kdwilliams I disagree @brett1211 You could argue Google has no content of its own.less than a minute ago via web Favorite Retweet Reply


Sonar is simple function that the companies they mine data from could add in a day. That's not a business. #tcdisruptless than a minute ago via Power Twitter Favorite Retweet Reply


The Sonar app is the "peoplespotting" app I longed for months back http://bit.ly/izZUGr #tcdisrupt http://www.sonar.me @brett1211less than a minute ago via web Favorite Retweet Reply


The Sonar app is the "peoplespotting" app I longed for months back http://bit.ly/izZUGr #tcdisrupt http://www.sonar.me @sorayadarabiless than a minute ago via web Favorite Retweet Reply


Sonar Finds You The Most Relevant People In The Room http://t.co/D6fRG2Kless than a minute ago via Tweet Button Favorite Retweet Reply


@russell_hanson It is an app, I don't know the web address. Helps you connect with new people at a conference.less than a minute ago via web Favorite Retweet Reply


This gnome thing is going over my head. #tcdisrupt #locationless than a minute ago via web Favorite Retweet Reply



"I lived on a sailboat for seven months." - a Sonar founder #tcdisruptless than a minute ago via web Favorite Retweet Reply


@sorayadarabi: "I have looked for an app like Sonar a long time." #bigpraise #tcdisruptless than a minute ago via web Favorite Retweet Reply


Running out of business cards, even though I thought I brought way too many. Good think I've got a whole box back at the hotel. #tcdisruptless than a minute ago via web Favorite Retweet Reply


Um, there is a topless lady here in silver body paint and tiny nipple stickers. That reflects well on no one (ha, silver pun). #TCDisruptless than a minute ago via Twitter for iPad Favorite Retweet Reply


This is the only conference I have been at where the Men's room line is longer than the Women's room line...LOVE IT #TCDisruptless than a minute ago via web Favorite Retweet Reply



wish i could make it to #eg8 #tcdisrupt & elsewhere, but more excited about building product&team. since dadhood,more focused on my core jobless than a minute ago via web Favorite Retweet Reply



2 comments:

Brett said...

Hey brother, thanks for the really thoughtful write up. Looking forward to connecting at Internet Week.

Best,
Brett

Paramendra Kumar Bhagat said...

And on to becoming a leading hyperlocal app! Bon Voyage.