Ep #21 Case Study: Cardign, a new way to capture contacts using face recognition

NOTE: Session begins at 7:00pm, please arrive 15 mins early for pizza!

Remember those times when you're at an event and people are trying to exchange contacts with you either with a business card, text, cell, email, or "just call me"? Well, imagine an easy and fast way to capture your new contact's information through a face recognition utility to the iPhone.

For episode #21, we have two amazing speakers Johnny Chauvet (Interactive designer of Digiflare) and Jean-Luc David (CTO of Spently and founder of Alertly) talking to us about a new kind of contact manager app, Cardign. Cardign is a product of Digiflare (http://www.digiflare.com/), the Toronto-based creative agency that designs apps for clients like Rogers, Bell, Shaw, MSN, Astral and many others.

Once you capture a picture of the person's face, Cardign retrieves their full contact information including Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and FourSquare profiles so that you can easily connect with them again!

As an explorer’s permit holder with Google Glass, Jean-Luc and the team are planning an integration that would allow users to photograph a contact with the Glass’ camera. It would connect to Cadign’s API and instantly pull up relevant information. Soon they’ll also be launching a second, refined iOS version of the product that will be available on Android as well.

In this session, we'll learn more about:

• Plans to integrate with Google Glass

• Design elements and development process

• Why the iOS platform was chosen (iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch with iOS 4.3 or later)

• What some people consider "Creepy Technology" and considerations relating to user experience

• App statistics & measurement

Suggested Readings/Downloads:

Learn more about Cardign: http://www.cardign.com

Download the Cardign app: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/cardign-contact-manager-using/id580620717?ls=1&mt=8

TechCrunch: http://techcrunch.com/2012/12/07/cardign-launches-a-new-way-to-network-with-the-iphone-via-image-recognition

CNN video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W6TwkWZzl68

Techvibes: http://www.techvibes.com/blog/cardign-captures-contacts-using-facial-recognition-2013-03-27

Background on our Case Study Series:

The presenting team will lead the discussion by sharing their experiences in mobile. The rest of us give feedback, ask questions and share lessons. Our general rules for peer discussion still apply: no props and no pitches.

Background for new attendees:

Mobile Startups TO is a monthly, cross-town meetup to discuss applications and implications of mobile technologies and strategies. Our meetings are best suited for (but not limited to):

• Mobile business founders
• Designers and creative directors
• Marketing professionals
• Independent and professional mobile app developers
• Anyone with an interest in helping to build the mobile revolution
• $5 fee goes towards securing your spot and food/non-alcoholic drinks for each attendee