Posts tagged as:

apple

NFC is not just mobile payment

by stephanlange on August 16, 2012

NFC or Near Field Communication is the big buzz word at the moment and everybody is talking about it. The truth is that the technology is nothing new and it has been around for a long time. Nokia had an NFC enabled phone in 2007, it was called the Nokia 6131.

Google has made the term mainstream with their announcement of Google Wallet and most people think of NFC as a way to pay with their mobile device. But that is not all.

imageAt Razorfish globally we have been exploring NFC for a long time. Just look at the examples that we released in the past: The NFC gumball machine, BrandTable or Razorfish Digital Wallet.

We actually have a wall of NFC to showcase all kinds of uses for the technology right in our office.

So what else can you do with NFC apart from using it for payments?

There are already plenty of examples out there.

Below you can find 6 examples on how NFC can be used right now.

1. Use your NFC enabled phone as the key to your hotel room

image

For the recent Olympics in London a Holiday Inn Hotel gave their VIP customers a Samsung Galaxy S3 as part of their 40 VIP rooms. The guests were able to check in and out of the hotel, as well as change the AC, control the TV, and unlock their rooms with the phone.

Using NFC in your phone as a key to open doors has been used in the Enterprise world as well. The phones were used to enable physical access systems in buildings and track employee time-clock check-ins and attendance, access staff parking areas or cafeterias and pay for services.

NFC tags could be placed inside meeting or conference rooms, and attendees could tap their compatible devices to silence them or to turn on Wi-Fi, for example.

2. Use it as your travel pass

[click to continue…]

{ 0 comments }

Disney’s Appmates – the future of iPad gaming

by stephanlange on September 28, 2011

If you have kids and a tablet you know that your kids love them and you hardly get any time with it yourself.

Disney is going to release their Appmates toys next month and then you won’t get your tablet back at all from your kids.

image

So what is Appmates? It seems to be a new iPad interface which lets the user (or small and big Kids) control a Cars-themed iPad games using the toys above.

The toy cars have special conductive pads that are recognized by the iPad and interpreted by the app.

image

As you drive around the virtual environment of Radiator Springs, you’ll hear the character’s voice react to each bump or jostle. Mirrors inside the toy car will reflect light from the iPad through the toy’s headlights, and Mater’s siren as well.

Check out the video after the break

[click to continue…]

{ 2 comments }

The biggest projected capacitive display in the world

by stephanlange on August 15, 2011

and I want one.

I finally had the time to read about this “little” screen at SIGGRAPH, the article has been open in my browser for about 6 days.

And it was well worth the wait.

image

A projected capacitive display is nothing new, multiple smartphones, including the iPhone has one, but having an 82 inch one is something very special.

check out the video below and dream about having one of these puppies in your living room some day.

Right now this kind of screen is still really expensive ($120 000) and even the  CEO said that consumers will see this in the market as soon as it is more affordable.

I am saving my pennies now.

@maniac13

{ 0 comments }

The Teminator doesn’t like Apple

by stephanlange on May 4, 2010

or has Microsoft paid him to destroy it?

Leon Wang created a story about a Terminator that needs energy to blow up an apple store

image

check out the really well done video after the break

[click to continue…]

{ 0 comments }

The issue of the iPad not being able to print solved

by stephanlange on April 15, 2010

Even though you can design and write things on your iPad, you can’t directly print. I have tried to find some alternatives for the iPad here.

In regards to the printing issue, the guys from engadget have found a solution.

image

{ 1 comment }

The future of touch includes a stylus

by stephanlange on April 10, 2010

Even though Apple’s Steve Jobs was very clear about not liking a stylus, it looks like Microsoft Research went back to it to combine it with touch input and give the user new tools that weren’t possible before.

Of course this comes from the research department and might never see the day of life, but it looks awesome and I can see this “addition of the past” bringing some useful things to the end user.

check out the video

@maniac13

{ 0 comments }

Should I buy an iPad?

by stephanlange on April 8, 2010

The hype about the iPad has been huge and Apple sold 300 000 devices on opening day and over 1 million applications have been downloaded already.

Even Amnesia jumped on the band wagon and we are having an internal competition and the first price is an iPad.

So let’s say I won’t be the lucky one winning the iPad, should I go out and buy one anyways?

image

if you read this blog on a regular basis you will know that I  like to look at some things from the funny angle, but at least you know now that the iPad is blendable and it is powered by an iPhone. :-)

We all know that the iPad is not the first tablet on the market and there have been alternatives around for some time now.

take the Modbook for example

image

you provide the unibody macbook to this company and for US$900 they will turn your 2500 dollar macbook into a tablet that runs full OSX with flash and multi-tasking support.

 

and then there is the Viliv X70 which has been around for over a year now

image 

it runs WindowsXP, has GPS, USB, SD card slot and 3G

 

but if those devices would be the only alternatives I wouldn’t think twice and go straight with the iPad

Fortunately new devices are basically introduced every day so there are more options.

 

so it looks like that all different Operating systems will have tablets coming out to I will show alternatives based on that.

Steve Balmer showed the HP Slate off and I was excited to see it and couldn’t wait to know more about it

image

so finally there are more details available and on paper it has some advantages over the iPad:

1.6Ghz CPU, 1080p playback, card reader, USB port, 2 cameras, supports flash and multi-tasking

another windows alternative would be the Archos 9 PC tablet

image

 

Next on the list is Linux and this time the tablet is coming out of Germany and is called WePad (how innovative)

image

coming out of Germany it should be a nice piece of equipment and it has again a few things to offer that the iPad can’t match

larger screen, 2 USB ports, supports all ebook formats, flash support, access to the Android market place

 

Speaking of Android my next choice is probably my favourite – ICDs Gemini

image

as i said it is running Android OS, has a 11 inch screen which can be resistive or capacitive, a 5 axis accelerometer, card reader, voice calls, SMS, MMS, Wireless N, FM radio, IR, USB port, 2 cameras, GPS, dual speakers and microphones, HD video. email support and flash support

unfortunately there is no release date or price yet, but this little gem looks pretty awesome – there is a great comparison on engadget here

another Android alternative that has been talked about is the Notion Ink Adam

image

 

Then there is the browser based OS tablet that was born out of controvercy called JooJoo

image

it has a bigger screen, 1 GB of Ram, USB port, flash support and camera, but everything else I read about it didn’t convince me at all – it seems to have early release issues, but hopefully they will be solved with software updates

 

There are plenty of rumours about Chrome tablets that are coming out – supposedly Google and HTC are working on a tablet based on Chromium

image

all you can really find online are concepts by Google so there are no hardware specs or release dates or prizes

 

So if I have to sum it up, there are plenty of alternatives to the iPad. For me the ICD Gemini is my favourite at the moment and I would love to get my hands on one to really give it a test drive (ICD if you are reading this, please send one my way)

 

But of course this is just my opinion and everybody should make up their own mind. I would love to read your opinions so please leave them in the comments below.

@maniac13

{ 0 comments }

The iPad has arrived

by stephanlange on April 6, 2010

and the question we all ask us straight away is:

Will it blend?

and here is the answer

{ 0 comments }

The Internet Built My Cable Organiser

by Brady on January 19, 2010

Something that has always bothered me about my MacBook Pro is the power cable. Sure, it has those nice little hook things to wrap the “small” end around, but what if you use the extra long power cable? You know, the other that it actually EARTHED so you don’t DIE? That can only be wrapped loosely around the power pack so it can later uncoil and suffocate the contents of your laptop bag.

Happily, I saw the PowerCurl on an Apple blog the other day and ordered it immediately.

Even more interesting than the product itself is the site that birthed it.

Quirky is a “social product development” community. Users can pay to submit an idea for a product which is then evaulated and refined by a larger community. If the product gets enough love, then it goes into manufacture with a percentage of profits going to all the users involved.

Check out  the “quirky in 30 seconds” video:

So I’d like to thank Jeff Scholen of Atlanta, Georgia (and a cast of several dozen others) for the PowerCurl.

{ 0 comments }

Apples new touch gestures for the tablet

by stephanlange on January 14, 2010

Ok Ok I don’t know anything about the tablet, but I read this article on crunchgear and FingerWorks, a company Apple bought a few years back, has an interesting patent about how to extend multitouch gestures.

image

Check out the video where some of them are explained – funnily enough with the help of a Microsoft Surface table.

It’s going to be even more confusing if all that gets implemented.

{ 0 comments }

← Previous Entries