With push notifications and in-app messaging expected to be a core product function on any connected object going forward, Forrester Research pinpoints 10 emerging best practices marketers must adopt to ensure strong engagement rates. While the number of marketers adopting push notifications and in-application messaging continues to grow, engagement rates are low and decreasing in some cases due to unclear value and a lack of personalization, according to the report, Upgrade Your Marketing Plans with Push Notifications And In-App Messaging.

Brivo Mobile Pass is a smartphone application that lets users unlock doors using their smartphones. It’s part of the Internet of Things(IoT) company’s existing Brivo OnAir access control system. There are 6 million people who use the Brivo’s access control system across 100,000 access points, but they won’t all be waving smartphones right away to open sesame the doors. Brivo is encouraging its customers who are already using pass keys & other technologies on the Brivo OnAir access control system to switch over to the Mobile Pass system. The platform already provides administrators full accessibility to manage their system from …

The Internet of Things promises to give us information on-demand, but one of the downfalls of the first rush of connected devices—like watches, Google Glass, or even app-controlled thermostats—is that we still have our noses buried in displays. Startup smart-clothing company Lumenus could be considered part of the IoT's second wave: devices that give us the function we want but free us from the tyranny of the screen.

It knows where you live. It knows what car you drive. It knows who you’re meeting with today and how much sugar you take in your coffee. (At least it will, after the next software update.) This is the Edge, and it’s quite possibly the smartest office space ever constructed. A day at the Edge in Amsterdam starts with a smartphone app developed with the building’s main tenant, consulting firm Deloitte. From the minute you wake up, you’re connected. The app checks your schedule, and the building recognizes your car when you arrive and directs you to a parking spot.

Three years ago, General Electric CEO Jeffrey Immelt began touting the potential of the fledgling Internet of things (IoT) to enable GE to track the performance of aircraft engines as they were actually flying planes. Since then, GE has been doing just that: tapping the data flowing from its engines to monitor them for the most minor of indicators, with the hope of repairing malfunctions before they become serious. Other ambitious deployments have followed in other industries. Coca-Cola tapped the IoT to streamline its order processing and improve its supply chain and logistics.

The Internet of Things, a set of connected devices running on software and sensors that allow them to exchange data, is gaining traction in India through smartphones. A survey by the California-headquartered Peel Technologies, which deals in smart home control solutions, said 85 per cent of Indian consumers preferred a universal remote control feature in their smartphones. Smartphone companies are introducing devices that can control various consumer electronic products. Infrared and Wi-Fi enabled smartphones used to be available in mobiles priced above Rs 15,000. Of late, handset manufacturers have started introducing models in the sub-Rs 10,000 category to tap the growing demand.

The watch in my hands doesn't look like a smartwatch. I'm surprised. Maybe a bit confused. Pebble, a company that pioneered the modern wave of smartwatches in 2013, has already released two new watches over the past few months. And now, here is another. Round. Small and thin, too. I strapped an all-black model on my wrist. The screen almost seems too small. But it's also shockingly, impossibly thin. At the top floor of a midtown Manhattan office building, CEO Eric Migicovsky had all the previous Pebble watches laid out when I arrived.

Pizza Hut’s 1,471 locations in mainland China are augmenting in-store dining by enabling customers to receive movie ticket prizes in the WeChat messaging application, as well as special discounts and offers, as a reward for interacting with beacon technology via their smartphones. The pizza chain joined forces with beacon provider Sensoro to roll out the technology to Chinese consumers. 

Research firm eMarketer projects mobile advertising will account for 51% of the total digital ad market worldwide by 2016. With 2015 quickly coming to a close, you need to hop on the mobile train and look at the power of beacon technology. With Q4 in sight, the timing could not be more perfect. Whether you’re a small or large convenience-store retailer, beacon technology will make an impactful presence on your mobile-marketing strategy. Below are the top 5 revenue-producing tactics that use this type of technology.

FOR the past six years, Volkswagen has been advertising a lie: “top-notch clean diesel” cars — fuel efficient, powerful and compliant with emissions standards for pollutants. It turns out the cars weren’t so clean. They were cheating. The vehicles used software that cleverly put a lid on emissions during testing, but only then. The rest of the time, the cars spewed up to 40 times the legal limit of nitrogen oxide emissions. The federal government even paid up to $51 million in tax subsidies to some car owners on the false assumption of environmental friendliness.