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The Telecom Digest for November 10, 2011
Volume 30 : Issue 286 : "text" Format
====== 30 years of TELECOM Digest -- Founded August 21, 1981 ======
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Date: Wed, 9 Nov 2011 09:05:29 -0500
From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Scan on a mission / Stop & Shop's new smartphone app works as a super-fast self-checkout
Message-ID: <p06240852cae027b83917@[10.0.1.3]>
Scan on a mission
Stop & Shop's new smartphone app works as a super-fast self-checkout
By Jane Dornbusch
Globe Correspondent / November 9, 2011
BRAINTREE - Self-checkouts are so yesterday. And with consumers
complaining about them and some companies eliminating them,
supermarkets are seeking new ways to lure in shoppers who want to get
in and out quickly.
[Moderator snip]
The app is designed to work on an iPhone or Android. Download it -
it's linked to your loyalty card - and you're good to go.
...
http://www.boston.com/lifestyle/articles/2011/11/09/scan_it_mobile_is_a_supermarket_smartphone_app_that_works_as_a_super_fast_self_checkout/
***** Moderator's Note *****
The problem with "time saving" apps on "smart" phones is that they
can't save you any time. Since those who use a "scanning" app to
scan barcodes via a "smatrt" phone would have to do the same thing at a
checkout aisle, there's no time savings. There is, however, the
perception of time savings, since those who use their "smart" phones
for such things feel like they're saving time because they don't have
to spend as much time in the checkout aisle.
Of course, you have to checkout: the store wants to be paid. Of
course, you still have to type in a code for any produce you buy, and
you have to have cellular and data service, and of course the whole
thing adds up to another toy for those with more money than brains.
This reminds me of the "instant" gas tokens that various oil companies
hyped a few years ago. Some people loved them, until they realized
that they still had to put the nozzle in the tank and wait for the
pump to deliver the product their "instant" token had cleared them to
buy.
Bill Horne
Moderator
Date: Wed, 09 Nov 2011 20:05:13 -0500
From: Bill Horne <bill@horneQRM.net>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Nortel Orbitor: The iPhone Killer that was a Decade Ahead of its Time
Message-ID: <1320887112.2983.8.camel@Thinkpad>
I came across this piece on Nortel, and it mentions a "might have been"
cellphone covered by Nortel's patents.
When the final pieces of Nortel's patent portfolio were sold off
this past summer, the $4.5 billion price tag surprised many
observers. The collection of more than 6,000 patents covered au
courant areas of wireless and LTE, optical, voice and internet.
http://www.cantechletter.com/2011/10/nortels-orbitor-the-iphone-killer-that-was-a-decade-early/
--
Bill Horne
(Remove QRM from my email address to write to me directly)
A thousand other boys could never reach you
How could I have been the one
I saw the world spin beneath you
And scatter like ice from the spoon
That was your womb
- Goo Goo Dolls
Date: Wed, 09 Nov 2011 20:40:33 -0500
From: Bill Horne <bill@horneQRM.net>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Bell Labs still kicking
Message-ID: <1320889233.2983.9.camel@Thinkpad>
This is from ZDNET:
By Stilgherrian
Bell Labs may have been absorbed into Alcatel-Lucent and ditched basic
physics research, but it's still producing breakthroughs in optics,
quantum computing and social computing.
http://www.zdnet.com.au/bell-labs-high-bandwidth-future-339325633.htm
--
Bill Horne
(Filter QRM from my email address to write to me directly)
Because the people got fat and grew lazy
Now their vote is a meaningless joke
They babble about 'law', about 'order'
But it's all just an echo of what they've been told
- John Kay
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