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The Telecom Digest for November 10, 2011
Volume 30 : Issue 286 : "text" Format
Messages in this Issue:
Scan on a mission / Stop & Shop's new smartphone app works as a super-fast self-checkout (Monty Solomon)
Nortel Orbitor: The iPhone Killer that was a Decade Ahead of its Time(Bill Horne)
Bell Labs still kicking (Bill Horne)

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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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