T-Mobile started a viral YouTube video sensation in January with more than 6,000,000 views in the UK. The idea was simple – a simulated flash mob in Liverpool. Since then flash mob has been copied by Facebook users in the same Liverpool location and now other locations throughout London. Then T-Mobile created a ShopSavvy commercial (shorter) made for television tied into the viral YouTube video. Very cool. Check it out:
Now check out the ShopSavvy T-Mobile Commercial (UK only):
Want to try out the latest version of ShopSavvy? Our Gigan release is in open beta, feel free to give it a spin. Here is the sign up form: Gigan Beta. Gigan offers:
Skyhook integration (better and faster location)
Faster barcode scanning (new scanning library)
Stealth barcode scanning modes (beep, vibrate or silent)
Menu shortcuts (visual indicator to indicate Menu tab contains data)
Privacy settings (turn off location)
Sharing features including Twitter and Facebook
Gigan(????,Gaigan) is a daikaiju from the Godzilla series, introduced in the 1972 film Godzilla vs. Gigan. Gigan is a cybernetic monster sporting a buzzsaw weapon in its frontal abdominal region and large metallic hooks for hands. Gigan is sometimes considered Godzilla’s most brutal and violent opponent, and has a large fan following (including Godzilla: Final Wars director Ryuhei Kitamura) despite the generally perceived low quality of its first two films. Its new designs for the Millennium series was praised by many and ranked among fans as the best improvements to a daikaiju.
GS1 is a global organization respsonsible for UPC/EAN codes for manufacturers. We have been talking to various member organizations and there seems to be a desire for a standard for manufacturers to insert data into mobile applications like ShopSavvy based on barcodes. Here is our idea:
It is our feeling that manufacturers might want to insert additional product information for use in mobile applications like our own ShopSavvy application. We believe a simple API could be agreed on by all GS1 associations making it easy for all manufacturers to insert additional product data into mobile applications that return specific information about a particular product.
A REST API that could take a query with a UPC/EAN and return an XML formatted response. ShopSavvy, and similar applications could make a simple HTTP request to the remote service and then parse the XML response on the device.
<productinfo>
<partno>XX131</partno>
<title>Pink Widget</title>
<abstract/>The Pink Widget by ACME</abstract>
<text>This is some free form text. </text>
<url>http://www.acmecorp.com/</url>
<image> http://www.acmecorp.com/products/XX131/image.jpg</image>
<video>http://www.acmecorp.com/products/XX131/demo.mp4</video>
<audio>http://www.acmecorp.com/products/XX131/about.mp3</video>
<chat>http://jabber.acmecorp.com/products/XX131/chat</chat>
</productinfo>
In the case of the ShopSavvy application we would insert one or more of these NODES on our product information page. Here is an example of the page:
If you haven’t seen ShopSavvy in action this video might help:
We would love to help you implement this idea as a standard for your member companies. While it would be helpful to our application, we believe the entire industry would benefit from a standard XML format for manufacturer data relative to UPC information. Please let me know who I might work with to move this idea forward.
Regards,
Alexander Muse
1+214.550.2003 office
1+214.558.1079 cell
Michael Martin asked me last week what the name of the Android ‘guy’ was – I told him we called him Mike. He claimed the Google guys call him Droid or Bug Droid, but clearly he needs a name and since no one else came up with anything I am declaring his official name is now ‘Mike’. Say hello Mike:
Vodafone, the largest mobile network operator in the world (doing business in more than 25 countries), announced they will exclusively launch the G2 (now called HTC Magic). Very good news in deed! According to Michael Bettiol, “An exclusive to Vodafone in Europe, the Magic is of debatable sexyness when compared to the T-Mobile G1 (and looks very Sony Ericsson, does it not?) and just happens to be one those phones that we’re just dying to know more about. But for now we can safely say that the Magic will feature HSPA, WiFi and GPS connectivity along with a 3.2 megapixel camera — sans flash — and of course come with a healthy dose of that sweet, sweet Cupcake that so many of you G1 users are clamoring for. Now we can’t say with absolute certainty when this thing will released or even announced, but since MWC is going on and with CTIA just around the corner, now is as good a time as ever to steal the spotlight from those damn pesky competitors. Oh, one more thing… don’t be too shocked if the name Magic is replaced with Pioneer.”
Okay, so here is the problem: Some retailers (including Amazon) have multiple items for one UPC. In these cases their data is inaccurate. In other cases some people poison various UPC databases with BAD information. Today we take the results from ALL of our retailers for an item:
UPC: 733792422827
Buy.com thinks it is: Farstar – Broken Down and Wandering
Amazon.com thinks it is: Farstar – Broken Down and Wandering
Barnes & Noble thinks it is: Farstar – Broken Down and Wandering
Walmart thinks it is: Trojan Condoms – 500 pack
In our current version of ShopSavvy we assume retailers have accurate information. This assumption has prove to be wrong in a small number of well publicized cases. We will return the picture and description of the item from the source that responds first. So if Buy.com responded first we would get the correct item and result (Walmart’s item and price would be wrong if you clicked on it, but you might never notice this). If Walmart responds first we will think you scanned condoms (the other retailers listed would have the right item and right price, but you might not notice this either).
Our next version of ShopSavvy will average the results using ambient information. Ambient information is the info returned by retailers that includes a) title, b) supply chain data, c) picture and so on. In our next version we dump the results of the outliers. If 80% of the results for the UPC are Farstar we will assume anything else, including the condoms are delivered in error.
Our contacts at Google provided some information a few weeks ago RE how the GPS on the G1 doesn’t impact battery life. Several pretty informed people explained that the information we had was wrong. I tried to get to the bottom of it and here is what we learned (I am still waiting on more details):
The GPS ont he G1 is passive (it doesn’t transmit). ~ obviously…
Most of the power draw is just running the chip. ~ makes sense…
The GPS is running in the ‘radio baseband’ so its draw is incremental, i.e. not significant.
Comparing prices is cool, but once you find the best deal what if you could actually buy it without pulling out your wallet? Our new QuickPay feature will allow you to do just that in three quick and easy steps. Check it out:
