BusinessCards
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This Arduino-powered business card looks like a Game Boy and runs Tetris (video)
Off-white business cards with Silian Rail lettering are so passé -- these days; it's all about creativity. This Game Boy look-alike, for instance, demonstrates its creator's skills in one fell swoop: It doesn't just display a résumé, it's also a simple gaming handheld that can play Tetris. The device was made by Oregon programmer Kevin Bates, who calls it the Arduboy, because it uses a barebones Arduino board (the tiny computer also found inside Kegbot and Fish on Wheels) connected to an OLED screen. To make the hand-held gaming experience as authentic as possible, he also equipped the card with capacitive touch buttons, a speaker and a replaceable battery that lasts up to nine hours.
Contact Snapper is an easy way to turn business cards into contacts
Contact Snapper for iPhone is the most clever app I've seen for the purpose of turning a business card into an editable digital contact. The app, which you can test for free, has several in-app purchase options I'll discuss later in this review. Contact Snapper is simple to use, and that is the most powerful aspect to the app. Hold a business card up to the iPhone camera while the app is running, touch the screen, a picture is snapped and the recognition engine goes to work. If the app is confused about any of the words they appear in red text that you can correct. Then poof -- the card is in your Contacts database. Contact Snapper handles double-sided cards, and depending on the version of the app you purchase, it can grab a photo of the card and add it to to your contacts. The app recognizes the usual contact info, plus websites, email and SMS info. Contact Snapper can even provide geolocation of your contact addresses and also recognizes QR codes. It does not require a data connection, as the text recognition engine is built into the app. I gave Contact Snapper some tough assignments in my testing: vertically oriented cards, a card with a dark green background and orange text and one with a photo. In each case, the recognition was perfect. In one instance, Contact Snapper missed a letter, but it turned out the card wasn't fully centered in the camera view and the letter had been inadvertently cropped. There are other apps that recognize business cards, but I haven't seen one with such a wide feature set, such accurate recognition and such perfect linking of text to the correct contact fields. Contact Snapper also supports LinkedIn integration and works in 200 countries, allowing for differing regional contact formats. %Gallery-184530% The one negative of the app is its confusing pricing structure. You can try Contact Snapper for free and save up to three contacts. After that, you need to spend some money, and I think there are just too many available options. There are six in-app purchase options, including photo and text at US$5.99, picture and text with unlimited country coverage at $7.99, text only for $2.99 and other variations on that theme. This should, in my view, be simplified dramatically. There are also an assortment of upgrades from one level to another for a total of 10 options. Most people will probably choose a price option between $2.99 and $5.99. Contact Snapper is a terrific app. It does what it claims to do quickly and accurately. I'd like to see the in-app purchasing simplified, but don't let that stop you from grabbing this app if you are constantly being handed business cards and are tired of typing them manually into your iPhone. Contact Snapper requires iOS 5 or greater. If you'd like to try something free, check out the ad-supported CamCard. It gets good reviews from users, but has some limitations on the number of cards you can scan. SamCard is also free and gets positive reviews.
RE/MAX Regional Services using Passbook for business cards
We've already seen Apple's Passbook app used for sports tickets, gift cards and boarding passes, but leave it to the real estate industry to embrace one of its more interesting uses: business cards. RE/MAX is partnering with digital business card provider Vizibility to offer virtual, Passbook-compatible cards for all 4,500 of its real estate agents. The digital IDs include details like basic contact information and links to public profiles on sites such as LinkedIn. There's even a feature that allows you to see which contacts you share with whoever's card you are viewing. As the official press release notes, Vizibility's joint venture with RE/MAX marks the biggest consolidated push for Passbook-enabled business cards yet. But whether the functionality will become a major trend in the business world remains to be seen.
Moo.com working on NFC-equipped business cards, kicks off limited beta program today
Do you recall those fancy business cards that took a design cue straight out of your adored Facebook Timeline? Well, the company behind such neat idea is now working on bringing cards equipped with NFC technology, which will allow folks to add things like email address, URLs and even pinpoint locations for easy access via any maps application. Of course, most of this information can already be shared using typical business cards, but one of the biggest pros with the Near Field Communication method will be the ability to change this info at any given time without having to purchase a whole new set. Moo plans on having the NFC-ready cards available to the masses by 2013 -- that said, the startup's currently running a beta program where it will allow 150,000 lucky folks get a complimentary card with their order of a traditional sheet. There's a video demo down below for you to check out, and you should probably act fast if you're looking to get one for yourself ahead of the extensive rollout.
Engineer makes light-up business cards with 555 timer, proves PCB skills
Sure, there have been some pretty creative variations on the standard paper business card, but if you're looking to make a career in electronics engineering, card stock isn't necessarily the best option for material. Such was the case for one student, who had the canny idea to make a card that demonstrates his printed circuit board know-how. He used a 555 timer that outputs a clock to the LEDs on the biz card, and placing a nine-volt battery on the terminals sets off the mini light show. See for yourself in the video below.
Win a CardScan Executive for Mac
TUAW reported on the new CardScan Executive for Mac in late September, and now you have a chance to win one in an exclusive TUAW giveaway. It's the sweet little scanner seen at right. No, you don't get the iPhone along with it -- that's only in the picture to give you a sense of how small the CardScan really is.We have a nicely repackaged review unit all ready to ship to one lucky reader to be randomly selected via the comments. To enter, leave a comment and tell us approximately how many business cards (other than your own) you currently have stashed around your home / office / bedroom. Open to legal residents of the 50 United States, the District of Columbia and Canada (excluding Quebec) who are 18 and older. To enter leave a comment telling us how many business cards you currently have. The comment must be left before October 31, 11:59PM Eastern Time. You may enter only once. One winner will be selected in a random drawing. Prize: CardScan Executive for Mac ($259.99) Click Here for complete Official Rules. Good luck!
TUAW Review: CardScan Executive for Mac
If you're one of those people who maintains a huge collection of business cards, you're going to love this product. CardScan has come out with a Mac version of their CardScan Executive scanner and software, and it looks like a winner. The US$259.99 package includes the small (3.5" x 6.4" x 1.6") scanner seen above, a CD-ROM with Mac and Windows versions of CardScan's contact management software, and a USB cable. What? No power brick? Nope -- it's bus-powered so you can eliminate one more power plug. The scanner worked fine for me plugged into a USB 2.0 hub.Installation is simple -- put the CD-ROM into your drive, then drag the application file to the Applications folder. The final step? Plug the USB cable into the scanner and an available USB port on your Mac, and a light on the CardScan lets you know you're ready to start entering business cards. That light glows red when you first hook up the CardScan, then turns blue the first time you fire up the CardScan software. Read on to see how this all works.
WoW MOO cards!
I'm sure it comes as no surprise to anyone that aside from being a writer here, I'm also a devoted WoW Insider reader. So when all the news from Blizzcon came out, I was glued to it from here in my own office. However, as I also knew Dragon*Con was just around the corner, I was scouring the writing of my co-workers for tips for Dragon*Con. This led to a reminder by Robin that I needed to get business cards, as well as a mention of something called "Moo cards."Being a great big fan of things with completely silly and incongruous names, I clicked on the link and found the most interesting little culture had sprung up around these wee tiny little Moo cards. There are people leaving art Moos for others to find, Moo swaps where you mail your Moo card(s) in trade for other people's Moos, and even an around-the-world Moo. But as I was going to Dragon*Con, it struck me as a perfect time to check into these Moo cards and get some for myself!Over the course of planning, I linked the cards to Elizabeth H., who also ordered some for Dragon*Con. Almost as soon as I received my cards, the folks over on the Wonderland Blog posted pictures of a booklet of the coolest Moo stickers made entirely with WoW in-game icons. Thus the WoW Moo-vement began around here.While not as serious-looking as the official Weblogs, Inc. business card is, I really must admit, I love my WoW MOO cards. To me, they fit the overall spirit of WoW Insider (fun!) as well as finally giving me a use for the gigs of WoW screen-shots I have on my computer. I'd be willing to bet as Elizabeth and I hand them out at Dragon*Con to other folks we meet, our tiny World of Warcraft Moo cards won't soon be forgotten! %Gallery-6388%
E3 scavenger hunt update: 5 hours to go!
Today is the last day, and all E3 attendees hoping to snag two super-cool Joystiq T-shirts need to find at least 10 Joystiq bloggers and grab a business card as proof. Bring the cards to the AOL booth by 12:00PM PST to claim your prizes. Happy hunting, and see you soon!
E3 scavenger hunt: win a Joystiq t-shirt
Are you attending E3? Want to win a cool Joystiq T-shirt? Joystiq bloggers will be swarming the show floor every day this week, and it is up to you to hunt us down (figuratively speaking, of course).All staffers are wearing one of two shirts, pictured here and here; we will all be carrying business cards, as well. Your job is to come up, say hello, and take a card. If you collect at least 7 Joystiq business cards, then you are a Royal Crown Chinpoko master. All winners can stop by the AOL booth after 12:00PM (PST) to claim a shirt of their choice.Okay, you have your mission. Get to it!
