Android Scan - A Practical Android Application

Android Scan is an application developed by Jeffery Sharkey for the Android Developers Challenge. The application was one of 50 winners of 1,700 total entries in the challenge and is a great example of the type of practical applications that can be developed with the emerging technology. Using a mobile phone's camera to scan a products barcode and then searching the Internet for data related to that product such as price, availability, product reviews, etc. Sharkey's Android Scan website has a great 3 minute video that describes some of the uses. This is the first application that I've seen using the Android platform and I'm impressed! Hope to see more.

Your cell phone as your boarding pass?

Continental Airlines is testing a system that allows passengers to use their cellphone or personal-digital assistant (PDA) instead of a regular boarding pass. During the test being conducted in Huston, Continental and the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) will allow passengers to present a code the airline has sent to their cellphone or PDA. According to USATODAY.com "The two-dimensional bar code, a jumble of squares and rectangles, stores the passenger's name and flight information. A TSA screener will confirm the bar code's authenticity with a handheld scanner. Passengers still need to show photo identification. The electronic boarding pass also works at airport gates."

I'm a good little homescanner

As reported in this post back in April, I am an ACNielsen Consumer Panelist in a program known as homescan. You can go back and read my original post if you like but the idea is that they provided me with a bar code scanner, I scan all of my household purchases and transmit results to them weekly along with the occasional survey. In return they provide me with points that I can redeem for gifts. Yesterday I was informed that my diligence over the past 6 months has paid off and my membership status has been changed to 'Silver'. This means more points! and this handy shopping bag. I love it when a plan comes together!

Personal scanners coming to grocery stores

Available in Europe for some time now, personal scanners are making their way into North American grocery stores. The devices allow the shopper to scan bar codes as they shop, keeps a running total of how much is in the cart and allowing for a quicker departure from the store, as there is no need to wait in line to be checked out. Depending on the systems manufacturer, the shopper either scans, pays, and is randomly audited upon departure, or in the more sophisticated systems the items are accounted for as they enter the cart. The stores who have employed the systems say that they are not taking the place of human cashiers but rather the systems allow them to put the employees in other areas of the store to provide better customer service. I like the idea of the technology and the time savings that it offers. I'm sure that most people will find the running total idea handy as well, but that little feature will take all the fun out of grocery shopping for my sons and I... we try to guess our total within the nearest dollar. This is a little game that I established with them when they were young in an attempt to keep them busy and, I hope, gives them some appreciation for what food costs the family. CNN has the story here.