I recently gave a talk on Google Beacons and the Physical Web at AnDevCon Boston. The abstract, recording and slides from my talk are below:
Bluetooth LE devices that broadcast information, commonly referred to as beacons, are a favorite among IoT enthusiasts. Building context into user applications based on their proximity is an exciting concept. Several specifications, such as iBeacon and AltBeacon, already exist to connect mobile devices to with beacons. Google has their own unique vision for unlocking the power of proximity-based smart devices called Eddystone.
Eddystone is an open standard that allows smart beacon devices to bind to either a specific application or the open Web using the most common of resource identifiers: the URI. The latter enables a new device interaction model known as The Physical Web. In this class, we will explore the Eddystone specification, and how it differs from these other protocols in the marketplace. We will discuss how this specification uniquely integrates with Android's intent framework for simple app interactions. You will also see examples of how to use the Bluetooth LE APIs to scan for beacon devices in your applications, or turn an Android device into a beacon all its own!