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The dawning of the age of Pass Kit: virtual ID on the iPhone
As iOS 6 gets ready for its Autumn debut, many users look forward to Passbook, Apple's "new way to organize boarding passes, tickets, gift cards, and loyalty cards." It promises to help empty your wallet of a multitude of small items, replacing them with a single iPhone interface. Just flash your phone at your favorite retailers, and you're ready to go. Or are you? A bunch of us were chatting this morning in the TUAW back channel about electronic ID and how it works in the real world-- or, more typically, doesn't work. Among us, we use a variety of loyalty and payment solutions including CardStar, Key Ring, Starbucks, Dunkin Donuts, etc. One theme holds true: we inevitably end up spending more time rather than less at the check out, as employees laboriously type in our numbers manually into the register. "They need a special barcode scanner to accept the iPhone payment -- and none of them in my neighborhood have it. They always get annoyed when I show up with my iPhone," one blogger explained. "I keep asking, 'When are you guys getting the scanner?' and they reply 'Sometime next year.' Great." This blogger's experience isn't true of everyone, of course. Those in big cities often find more retailers that are already equipped to accept electronic payments. "More", here, does not mean "all"; I write from the major metropolitan area of Denver with its inconsistent scattering of scanners. Those in rural areas are often left wanting, especially in name-brand retailers like the afore-mentioned Starbucks and Dunkin Donuts. My loyalty e-cards have caused no end of annoyance at King Soopers (Colorado grocery store chain), at Qdoba, at Panera, and so forth. I pull out my phone, and the cashier inevitably responds, "Why don't you just tell me your telephone number instead?" You'd think it'd be easy to add a scanner, but it apparently represents a major infrastructure change, one that's coming later rather than sooner. And that's just taking the major retailers into account. "But they promised that everyone at the Farmer's Market will have a reader!" a wiseacre TUAW editor pointed out. "But Square readers don't fit on stoneware jugs with 'XXX' across the front," replied another. All of us here deeply want Passbook to work. We're already invested in the idea of e-dentity. But somehow we can't help but feel that we're waiting for a feature that will offer a whole host of electronic identity and payment options we might not actually be able to use in the real world.
Stampt hopes to digitize local loyalty cards
Apps that digitize the plethora of shopper reward cards have been around since the App Store launched, and Auntie TUAW recommended a couple back in June. But, what about the paper or cardboard slips handed out by the local mom-and-pop businesses? The beloved, and quite often stained, cards that offer a free cup of coffee after we buy seven? Stampt aims to digitize those. With Stampt, if you go to a business that's signed up for the service, instead of hunting through your wallet for the right loyalty card, launch the app and scan a "Stampt Quick Scan" card that the business has. The app ties into your Facebook and Twitter accounts so your friends can see when and where you used the app. Like with FourSquare, businesses can enable special offers to customers who use Stampt. Basic services for merchants is free, and currently premium service fees are waived for the first 1,000 merchants to sign up with Stampt. For customers, download the free app from the App Store. When you launch the app, a map will pop up showing all businesses within a 100-mile radius that accept Stampt (unfortunately for me, there are none in Harrisburg, PA). I hope that local merchants will be drawn to Stampt, easing the clutter in my wallet. As fellow TUAW staffer Steve Sande lamented, he wished he had Stampt before reviewing BookBook for the iPhone.
5 (really useful) Apps for everyone
Some apps are almost universal. Chances are you may find a use for one of these apps in your daily goings-on, just as I have. All links are iTunes links. Flicktunes, $0.99 Remember our chat about driving and using your iPhone? Flicktunes makes controlling the iPod in your iPhone (or touch) much easier when you have to focus on other things -- like driving. Flick your finger left or right to navigate your playlist, up or down to start or stop the music. The album art is all you see, plus a speaker icon indicating playback. It's super easy, a simple app, but very useful if you're driving or otherwise occupied while jamming out. Army Knife, $1.99 If you need to measure something in a jiffy, Army Knife is a 9-in-1 tool with several measuring tools. There's a protractor, a caliper and a tape measure, plus a level and a "heart monitor" (you tap as your heart beats). There's a unit converter with distance, volume, weight and temperature conversions, and a flashlight and whistle. The flashlight, yes, is just a screen of white, but the whistle is kind of fun and will irritate your pets (please note: I do not condone irritating your pets, please do not flame me for hating animals). Todo, $9.99 If you use Remember the Milk or Toodledoo, you should know that Todo syncs with them. There's also a free sync app for your desktop, which is essentially a backup... except there's a way to sync Todo with The Hit List via iCal. Is it optimal? No, but until THL has an iPhone app (not criticizing the developer as I'd rather it be done right than fast) this does the trick to an extent. Todo even without sync is a beautiful thing to behold and full of flexibility. In fact, the flexibility of the app is a little shocking, given the lowly status of the "to do" genre of apps. If you need a listmaker/to do/checklist app with or without sync capabilities, this is one of the best out there. Worth the $9.99 for what you get. CardStar, free If you're tired of carrying around a dozen membership or discount cards, CardStar will help you out. There are templates for many retailers and discount systems (air miles and so forth), and you can choose from a variety of barcode types. I was able to experiment with the codes a bit and test things at each of my errand stops (Blockbuster, Kroger, etc.), eventually winnowing my keychain down to just 2 keys and a door opener. BigOven, free I've toyed around with a few cooking apps, but if you're out and about (and have a signal) BigOven is a great way to throw a dish together based on an ingredient. BigOven basically makes everyone an Iron Chef -- at least as far as cool recipes goes. It can't help you cook things, and the text rendering could be a little more clear, but you can favorite stuff (with a BigOven free account), and copy an entire recipe for emailing. I'm not saying the interface is great, but the BigOven database is huge and stocked with what looks like good recipes.
