Hasta La Gadget!

“You know, that pallet of overpriced skin cream isn’t going to stock itself. Maybe if you’d stop playing Bingo Bonanza you’d have done that already. Oh, you say you’re scanning their RFIDs to add them to our system? Whatever, you’re fired.” It’s a scenario we see playing itself out at warehouses all around the world thanks to the iCarte from Wireless Dynamics, a device enabling iPods and iPhones to read from and write to RFID tags. It clips on the bottom and sports a mini-USB port so that you can still sync, but can also use the phone’s wireless mechanisms to communicate with various systems, updating inventory or tracking purchases. As far as we know it will not prevent your phone from playing games, but we won’t tell your boss about that. Nor will we tell him how much these will cost or when he can order them, since we don’t know ourselves.

Update: Wireless Dynamics asked that we clarify that this device is indeed consumer-oriented, able to scan the RFID tags in your credit cards, transport badges, and probably even that chip you had implanted into your dog’s head. So, this means you would be able to make MasterCard PayPass and similar RFID transactions without even reaching for your wallet — which sounds as convenient as it does disconcerting. Being able to verify that your dog hasn’t been replaced by an evil clone while you were at work? Priceless.

Wireless Dynamics brings the joys of inventory management to the iPhone with the iCarte RFID reader originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 19 Nov 2009 08:36:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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How many apps do you have on your iPhone? Yeah, we figured it was a lot. Being able to re-arrange items now is mighty helpful, but not so helpful as this little hack from Steve Troughton-Smith that adds Exposé-like functionality to the mix. Just press the Home button and up pops a view of all the application pages; tap one and you’re taken straight there, as shown in the video after the break. Nice and simple — and at this point not available even to jailbroken handsets. We’re sure that’ll change soon, but it’s anybody’s guess if or when Apple will add something like this to the official OS. Yet another reason to go ahead and roll your own.

Continue reading Jailbroken iPhone gets Expose-like view, you retail users just keep on scrollin’ (video)

Filed under: Cellphones

Jailbroken iPhone gets Expose-like view, you retail users just keep on scrollin’ (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 15 Oct 2009 08:33:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Market research firm Interpret recently made some discoveries about public perception of smartphones that should shock, surprise, and amaze you. The just released report, dubbed “Signature Smartphones: Gaining Mindshare in Order to Gain Market Share,” reveals that despite being massively disadvantaged in the marketplace, Palm managed to nab a huge chunk of mindshare with the Pre — in fact, the report suggests that the Pre is number two only to the iPhone 3GS in the metric. The study looks at the driving factors behind purchaser’s decisions to buy a smartphone, narrowing down the list to three major components: belief that the phone is “smart,” belief that the phone is “hip / cool,” and belief that the phone will make them more productive. Rating a swath of phones (BlackBerry Curve and Storm, G1, iPhone), the report found that only the iPhone and Pre balanced the three factors in a way in which consumers felt the higher price tags were warranted. More to the point, only the Pre and the iPhone 3GS managed to strike that balance at all; offerings such as the two BlackBerrys were lopsided. There’s not much more meat to the study, though it does shed some interesting light on just how Palm managed to squeeze its way back into the limelight (of course, it doesn’t hurt to have a product that’s actually kind of cool). Check out the whole PDF for yourself over at that read link.

Disclosure: Engadget columnist Michael Gartenberg is an employee of Interpret, and worked on the study cited above.

Filed under: Cellphones

New study says Palm Pre second only to iPhone 3GS in mindshare originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 24 Sep 2009 08:48:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The XY technique of placing two mics together, pointing in contrasting directions, gives excellent field separation while eliminating phase problems — and it also looks pretty cool. Exactly which of those benefits Logitec had in mind when developing the LIC-WMREC03P (for Sony’s Walkman) and LIC-iREC03P (for the iPod/iPhone) microphone attachments is unknown to us, but it certainly looks a fair bit more impressive than last year’s LIC-iREC01. The devices have a frequency response of 20Hz to 16kHz, sport a pair of simple toggles for adjusting sound levels, offer 3.5mm and USB inputs, and come with a pair of wind socks if things get breezy — or if they just don’t look pudgy enough for you. Both are expected to hit Japan in January, each at an expected price of ¥7,980 (or about $84).

[Via Akihabara News]

Read – LIC-WMREC03P for Sony Walkman
Read – LIC-iREC03P for Apple iPod/iPhone

Filed under: Portable Audio

Logitec introduces cross-eyed XY stereo microphones for your Walkman or iPod recording pleasures originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 30 Jul 2009 13:54:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Looking to enjoy all those fancy augmented reality apps on your iPhone, like for finding nearby stores or subway stops? Apparently what’s standing in your way from enjoying a life more akin to “gargoyles” from Snow Crash is Apple’s next update to its touchscreen devices, OS 3.1, and according to Nearest Tube developer Acrossair, that’ll be arriving sometime in September. Something we heard whispered at the time of the beta 2 release. We wouldn’t be surprised to see that release window fluctuate, but if that’s our estimate, there’s still plenty of time for someone to prep an AR zombie shooter.

[Thanks, Peter S]

Filed under: Cellphones

iPhone’s augmented reality apps coming with September OS 3.1 launch? originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 24 Jul 2009 21:32:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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