Troy Research snaps up Mind Spin

TROY RESEARCH, INC. has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire MIND SPIN RESEARCH LLC, a GRAND RAPIDS MI-based internet music research company.

World’s Most Advanced Intelligence Software for Digital Signage

Amy Freeland

Jason Sosa is the founder and CEO at Immersive Labs, which has been featured by CNNMoney, The New York Times, The Huffington Post, Fortune, Mashable, and Business Insider. For the last few years, he has been researching digital signage and HCI (human computer interaction) with a focus on bridging the gap between the virtual (online) world and physical world through intelligent content.

Immersive Labs builds the world’s most advanced intelligence software for digital signage. Our backgrounds include advertising, artificial intelligence, media research, digital signage and human computer interaction.

Scroll Down to listen to the audio version of this interview.

Jason Sosa by Amy Freeland

The 25 Hot New York City Startups You Need To Watch

Immersive Labs makes ads relevant through facial-recognition technology

Date Founded: December 2010

Concept: Brings Minority Report to life by using facial recognition technology to make OOH ads relevant to passerbys. The smart ads will be able to estimate a user’s age and sex to display a relevant message (like beer or tampons).

Location: New York, NY and Boulder, CO

Funding: Raising $740,000. Techstars is an investor.

Why You Should Care: Immersive Labs garnered a lot of attention as a TechStars NYC startup that’s tapping into a big market.

“Digital signs and OOH is a $3.5 billion business,” Sosa says. It’s the fastest growing advertising opportunity next to internet advertising. By 2016, OOH advertising spending is expected to reach $6 billion.

A company that can minimize waste has the potential to own the industry. Also, Immersive seems to work. Sosa says the technology has been store tested, and it increases the time viewers spend looking at digital signs by 60%.

This Is The Best Blog Post We've Ever Read By An Entrepreneur

startups

Touchscreen Prototype Provides Electric Feedback

The Next Generation Of Touchscreens Will Shock You (Literally)

Some Japanese manufacturers have come up with a new touchscreen prototype that provides feedback for every touch gesture.

When you touch the panel, it provides a slight electric jolt, mimicking the feel of tapping an actual button.

If it’s as good as it sounds, this could be a big help when it comes to typos on your touchscreen device.

Check out the video of the panel in action:

Boulder Startup Week - 1 year later

Intrigued by the idea of meeting entrepreneurs and seeing Boulder — a city quickly accumulating accolades for being a startup haven — Jason Sosa last May departed his home and a rough economy in Grand Rapids, Mich., and unknowingly embarked on a life-altering adventure.

Sosa came to Boulder to attend the first-ever Boulder Startup Week, an event designed to build community among startups, entrepreneurs and software engineers. Between the couch-surfing, the meetups with local entrepreneurs and the climbing of Mount Sanitas, Sosa phoned his wife to tell her to sell most of their items, pack up the house and the kids and move to Boulder.

“I came out here and, man, I just fell in love with the scene, the culture, the town,” said Sosa, who since co-founded Immersive Labs, a digital advertising company that recently captured the interest of investors and multibillion-dollar clients.

Immersive Labs discussed live on CNN

immersive labs

Minority Report meet…Minority Report

“Hey, it’s like that one movie…what’s it called…Oh Yeah, Minority Report”

There probably isn’t a day that goes by that someone doesn’t mention the 2002 Steven Spielberg film Minority Report in connection to Immersive Labs. While at times being helpful to quickly explain what it is what we do, it can also be mistaken by some, for a 1984 Orwellian precursor to SkyNet…go figure.

Immersive Is The Google AdWords Of Intelligent Digital Signage

Picture a digital advertisement that is able to recognize your gender and display products that your peer group would wear for that time of day, and that day’s weather. You and your friends are able to pick the items you like and move them to the shopping cart using the ad’s touchscreen interface. While this may sound a lot like Minority Report, companies are in fact working on delivering intelligent, multi-touch, multi-user digital signs in high traffic environments like retail stores, airports and hotels. One such company is Immersive Labs, who unveiled their technology at TechStars NYC ‘s Demo Day.

Amy Freeland

The Next Generation Of Touchscreens Will Shock You (Literally)

Noted elsewhere