This afternoon I had lunch with Mickey Tachibana, Kensuke Joji and Hiroya Domon of Hakuhodo DY media partners. In addition to having built branded geolocation-based apps for a partnership between a historical Japanese soap opera and Toyota, the group built something called yume miru — a dream control app.



Of course I was skeptical to hear that 9 different ambient sound scenarios might actually have a hand in altering your dream cycle. Nevertheless, the app uses a timer, the Apple device microphone and the accelerometer to track a users movement and REM sleep cycle. From here the sound effects are altered depending on the user’s movements and sound. Some of the dream scenarios include flying, walking through the forest, being at the beach and spending time with a significant other.

While this is just an iPhone app now, this utilization of the accelerometer has great potential as a value-add to fitness-related services like BodyMedia, FitBit Ultra and the Nike + Fuel band. Plus, combined with music service APIs or voice tracks, this same motion tracking could also be used to trigger memories or set the tone for other aspects of life. Honestly, shouldn’t every proud strut be punctuated with amazing music or your mom’s encouraging words? I’m excited to see where this goes.