Phone Apps

As I was reading about the taxi app for phones it reminded me of, when, my fiance and I, were staying with my sister and brother-in-law, in Auckland, at the start of the year.
My brother-in-law was really enthusiastic about his new iPhone (which he resisted buying for ages as he didn't believe it was any better than an ordinary cellphone) but after being loaned one, from a friend, he realised, with the type of work he does, it was really very useful.
He basically spent all weekend talking up the iPhone, so much so that I wondered whether he was getting some sort of commission everytime one sells!
Anyway, what the taxi app reminded me was that my brother-in-law was trying, for all of us to put our heads together to come up with a phone app idea as this could potentially, if you had the right idea, would make a lot of money. I agree that coming up with an app, which would make heaps of peoples lives easier, would be a fantastic idea.

Andrew Campbell and Ned Moorfield taxi app is a fantastic phone app idea. Sure the taxi companies are fighting it now but it won't be long before they are all using it. For one it would save them money, it would save their clients money and it would save time for both parties. The taxi companies who do not jump on board, with this app, now are likely to see themselves losing business as other taxi companies embrace it.

Time and Money are two things people like to save on. Its common sense that anything that would save people time, money and make life easier people are going to want to do it.

Is EFTPOS in decline?

As modern systems become more popular are we to see the end of the EFTPOS card?

Years ago, when the EFTPOS card first came out, not many people were willing to give it a go. They considered it more convenient and safer to use cash or cheque. These days we would consider it more convenient to use EFTPOS than using cash or writing a cheque. In fact you probably wouldn't come across many who do write cheques these days and as for buying in cash - this is something you would hardly ever find in my wallet as I usually have to make a special effort to get cash out for my daughters school activities.
I came across an article, while researching the decline in EFTPOS, which was written in June last year. The article suggests that, in Australia, EFTPOS is definately on the way out as Australians make use of more modern systems like the Debit card, credit cards and shopping online, but they also believe that in New Zealand it is unlikely that the EFTPOS card would be ditched anytime soon.
As online shopping becomes more popular it inevitable that modern systems, such as the Debit Card, will become the more popular choice which will result in the decline of the EFTPOS card.

Some Interesting Reading

Over the last two days some friends of mine have posted a couple of links on Facebook which relate to what we are learning and researching about with this course so I thought I would share them on this blog.

First one was an article called Invest in immortality: billionaire.
In Russia, Dmitry Itskov, a 31-year-old media mogul, has come up with a plan to make himself and others live forever by transferring human consciousness into a robot body.



His prediction is :
1. By 2025, scientists will be able to transfer the human brain into a robotic skeleton.
2. By 2035, an avatar brain will be created and your personality inserted within.
3. By 2045, humans will walk around in holographic avatars that will never die.

Could his plan come true? Or is he just an avid Avatar fan?

The second article a friend posted was about Kuratas a giant, gun toting, robot designed and made in Japan. It has been designed to be piloted by humans. On their website they say:
"THE MOST ADVANCED CONTROL SYSTEM

Kuratas has the AE "V-Sido", the control system of the computer technology is watched by all world with interest. Not only operating by boarding the pilot’s seat, but also enabling you to control and interact Kuratas with Kinect. Moreover, without taking a professional training such as a combat plane, people can operate it easily. Furthermore, you can control Kuratas via the mobile 3G Internet access."

 

I wonder if Kuratas would be any good for the army?

Siri

I got rather excited reading information on and watching the video link, about Siri.
It looked like fun!
Siri lets you use your voice to send messages, schedule meetings, place phone calls, and more. You can ssk Siri to do things just by talking the way you talk and Siri understands what you say, knows what you mean, and even talks back. Siri is so easy to use and does so much, you’ll keep finding more and more ways to use it.



As I mentioned in my previous post, my fiance has an iPhone 4S and we are always discovering new things that it is capable of doing so I couldn't wait for him to come home so I could play with Siri.
Have to report that I am somewhat disappointed with it, maybe its that we are not doing it correctly but every time we try it decides to dial someones phone!
Are we doing it wrong?
Anyone else played with Siri and gotten results?

iPhone

Only this year, when my fiance got given one for work, did I become a big fan of the iPhone. All the stuff it can do, continues to amaze me and we are still stumbling across ways we can use it. I can no longer look at all phones in the same way.

So to find out how much it costs to make stunned me at first and then I found the following chart on How Much does it Cost to Make and iPhone?


and then I became stunned at how much they were able to buy an iPhone for in the US as here, for a 16GB iPhone 4S, we pay $1,029 (I am now thinking I need to get someone who is going to America to pick me up one).
They are obviuosly making a profit by selling to an overseas market as it costs them $196 U.S. Dollars to make a 16GB iPhone but they retail at $199 U.S. Dollars making a profit of only $3 U.S. Dollars.

The Technology Life Cycle

Its not surprising to know that technology has a life cycle.
Pretty much as soon as you go and buy something new, whether its a phone, tv or car, its guaranteed that there is already something new being thought of and created.
It can be very expensive trying to keep up to date with all the latest technology that comes out.
So it is very important that organizations examine the life cycle, of any new technology, to help them predict how it will progress. These findings can help them decide if they need to take advantage of the new, emerging technology and also whether the technology may be nearing the end of its life cycle.
If an organization makes a small mistake it could cost the big time. But on ther other hand if they read the life cylce correctly the organization would be ahead of its competition.

Will NFC or RFID replace QR?

It seems New Zealand is only just starting to use the QR (Quick Resonse) codes on their smartphones. We have all seen the funny looking barcode for the past few years but have never really known what it was for untill recently. They are now on just about everything, from magazines to dvds and even at  Napier's National Aquarium of New Zealand as snippets of information or a virtual guide and  NZSO has used them on concert posters for more than a year, so people can link to sound files to be able to preview their music. The possibilities and potential for using QR are endless.

But now that New Zealanders are only just clicking on to, and know how, of QR is it about to change and be replaced by NFC (Near Feild Communication) or RFID (Radio Frequency ID)?

NFC is already being tested by New Zealand banks as a way of making payments by using a phone.
The benefits of using NFC consumers and businesses:

• Intuitive: NFC interactions require no more than a simple touch
• Versatile: NFC is ideally suited to the broadest range of industries, environments, and uses
• Open and standards-based: The underlying layers of NFC technology follow universally implemented ISO, ECMA, and ETSI standards
• Technology-enabling: NFC facilitates fast and simple setup of wireless technologies, such as Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, etc.)
• Inherently secure: NFC transmissions are short range (from a touch to a few centimeters)
• Interoperable: NFC works with existing contactless card technologies
• Security-ready: NFC has built-in capabilities to support secure applications

The RFID tag can be affixed to an object and used to track and manage inventory, assets, people, etc. and offers advantages the use of bar codes. The tag can be read if passed near a reader, even if it is not visible. For example, if it was inside a case, carton, box or other container, and unlike barcodes, RFID tags can be read hundreds at a time. Bar codes can only be read one at a time.
RFID can be used in a variety of applications such as airport baggage tracking logistics, tracking of goods, people or animals and even to track sporting memorabilia to verify authenticity.

Or will NFC, RFID and QR be used along side each other?