A while ago I talked about The Internet of Things at Webcamp Ljubljana. One of the most interesting “things” according to the crowd were Pokens. I first saw one of those devices around Torgo‘s neck at Over the Air and got intrigued immediately.

What is a Poken?

Poken is a technology that utilizes a proprietary Near Field Communication technology to allow the exchange of online social networking data between two keychain accessories.

Source: Wikipedia

In less wikipedish words – Pokens are small devices (the size of a USB key) that serve as a handshaking object that

connects two Poken owners’ social network accounts. Once you get home, you just plug your Ninja or Gorilla in your computer and the contact info is automatically synced to the beautifully designed Poken Hub.

Where to use them?

It is great to have at conferences and on other occasions where you expect some heavy networking to occur. Pokens are still fairly new, but they are becoming quite popular with geeks, so I guess they will become a must have gadget for tech and mobile conferences. If you ask me Pokens can be a great addition for the goodie bags at events in the next year. Once Pokens become ubiquitous, exchanging business cards will be an obsolete ritual.

The Hub

Pokens have a really well designed (and useful) web application to complement the hardware. All the exchanged contacts get transferred automatically every time you plug your Poken in the USB of your computer. You can see contact’s cards and their social networking profiles.

Of course you can set up what you want to exchange with others. You can create a personal card that is linked to your devices (yes, more than one).

Where can I get one?

You can get your Poken online from one of the resellers. They finally available in Slovenija, Srbija, Bosna, and Makedonija from the cool folks at Poken Slovenija.

Happy Pokening ;)