Tag Archives: software

More On Camera Phones As Bar Scanners

By | November 24, 2011

Here’s more on a subject I looked at in December (and then promptly forgot about): Using your camera phone as a bar code scanner. Wired says there are at least four software companies that have released applications that let you take a photo of a bar code, which will then trigger the download of coupons,… Read More »

Some (Not So) Light Reading

By | November 24, 2011

For those of you easing back into work after the holidays, or stuck in the office before the New Year partying begins, here are some suggestions for Internet reading. The future of Microsoft: Is 2004 going to be Redmond’s swansong? Some people think so, including The Inquirer, which says that the company’s flat first quarter… Read More »

Zone Labs Snapped Up – Firewalls R Us?

By | November 24, 2011

My favourite firewall, Zone Alarm, is being bought by another firewall maker, Check Point Software Technologies [CNet News.com]. It looks to me as if there’s quite significant consolidation within the security software industry, not just from the point of view of big guys buying the smaller guys, but of companies trying to create products that… Read More »

Use Your Phone As A Barcode Scanner

By | November 24, 2011

infoSync World reports of new software that allows camera phone users to take a picture of a barcode and then, say, retrieve information about the product: whether it’s cheaper elsewhere, dietary information, or downloading music samples from a poster advertising a new album. The product, ScanZoom, is made by US-based software company Scanbuy. The article… Read More »

Update: Microsoft Goes Soft in Thailand

By | November 24, 2011

 It’d be too much to suggest that Bill Gates reads my column, but Microsoft seem to be buying my idea (well not mine, really) that prices of their software should be geared to what local people can afford. IDG News Service’s Taipei Bureau reports that the US software company has cut the price of its… Read More »