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MWSF 2010 iPhone: FloTV, Square, iV Plus, Mobile Navigator

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Apr 12, 2001
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If you've been missing a way to watch live television on your iPhone, Mophie and FloTV have teamed up to provide just that solution in the next couple of months. FloTV is a new wireless TV service that has been put in place across the U.S. It provides 18 channels of television service with broad coverage.

In order to achieve this on the iPhone, Mophie has integrated the FloTV chips into one of their iPhone battery packs (Juice Pack TV) (not pictured above). The FloTV application will be a free download from the App Store and will interface with the FloTV chips using Wi-Fi. The end result should be live TV viewing from your iPhone as well as additional battery power from the Juice Pack TV.

Square - Mobile Credit Card Processing


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Square UP was showing their new credit card processing solution for the iPhone. They are planning on offering a no-hassle way for individuals to start accepting credit card payments. Simply buy their $1 app from the App Store, sign up for service, and they will send you a small hardware dongle that will swipe credit cards (shown right). No individual merchant account is required as Square UP handles all the processing and payments and takes a 2.9% cut of all sales.

The Square service is currently in beta testing and should arrive later this year.

iV Plus - Universal Remote, Camera Flash and Battery Pack


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FastMac showed of their latest creation at Macworld. The iV Plus is a combination case, IR Remote, Flash LED, and Battery Pack. The enclosure wraps around the iPhone like a case much like the other battery solutions available, but the inclusion of the IR port and Flash LED add a significant amount of functionality.

FastMac will be providing free Universal Remote software to work in conjunction with the case. The software allows you to customize your remote settings and a more advanced paid version will include live TV guide with show searching support. Meanwhile, support for the Flash LED is also coming in the form of a free camera app that will snap a picture and also trigger the flash.

The iV Plus is expected to ship in Q2 for $130.

Navigon MobileNavigator 1.5 - Integration with Other Apps


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Panorama View (left), MyRoutes (right)
Navigon was out showing off its upcoming 1.5 update to its MobileNavigator turn-by-turn guidance software. The update is due in March and brings several new features:

- Panorama View 3D: NASA sourced elevation data to provide 3D views of the landscape
- MyRoutes: Gives you up to 3 alternative routes with different route recommendations based on current traffic conditions as well as your personal driving profile.
- Facebook and Twitter Integration: broadcast where you are and where you're going.

Also announced was a new OpenAPI "Appinteract" for Navigon's software that will allow other App Store developers to pass destinations directly to MobileNavigator. For example, if a restaurant is found within iPhone App Where To?, a single tap can launch and initiate routing within MobileNavigator. The actual data is simply passed as a specialized URL, so the implementation should be simple for developers, but is much more convenient to the end user. The 1.5 update to MobileNavigator should arrive in March.

Article Link: MWSF 2010 iPhone: FloTV, Square, iV Plus, Mobile Navigator
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2010/02/13/mwsf-2010-iphone-flotv-square-iv-plus-mobile-navigator/
I have the idea for the ultimate gaudy battery pack. It will be a live TV view, credit card reader,toaster, credit card reader, hd radio, and hand warmer. All at a weight of only 8 pounds.
 
ouimetnick said:
Very cool. I didn't know the headphone jack can accept credit cards though. I thought it had to go through the dock connector.
Click to expand...

Not sure what if any 'special' deals that Square might have cut with Apple, but the headphone jack is not, to the best of my knowledge, an Apple Made for iPod / Works with iPhone supported interface. I would be surprised if Square is permitted to use the Works with iPhone or Made for iPod logos in advertising or on printed materials. Square is bypassing the Apple hardware licensing model and also the Apple hardware certification process by using the headphone jack.
 
Come on... $130 for that remote slash case. That is way to much. I most I would pay is maybe $60!. Thats it!!
 
that square up thing is cool. The money you save on not paying for a merchant account is well worth it alone, but you also get "take anywhere" credit card processing, with or without the reader.

As far as the reader, that little box seems to encode the data into an audio signal, which is then uploaded to the square up server for processing. Very similar to the Data-to-D1 storage technique of the early 90's in the entertainment business. Ha ha. But very portable to any mobile device. These guys really thought about what they were doing.

Now my only worry is giving away my banking details to yet another company.
 
something odd about Square photo

The headphone jack is on the TOP of the phone. The photo seems to indicate that the device is plugged into the bottom of the phone. I wonder why they would stage that shot?
 
chelsel said:
The headphone jack is on the TOP of the phone. The photo seems to indicate that the device is plugged into the bottom of the phone. I wonder why they would stage that shot?
Click to expand...

the headphone jack of the iPod Touch is on the bottom.

arn
 
chelsel said:
The headphone jack is on the TOP of the phone. The photo seems to indicate that the device is plugged into the bottom of the phone. I wonder why they would stage that shot?
Click to expand...

It's an iPod touch, which has the jack on the bottom
 
So where exactly is this "broad coverage" supposed to be? I looked at the map, and I don't see any coverage at all.
 
SFStateStudent said:
^^^ +1 Square Up was definitely an eye-catcher for me. At only $1 for the app and they'll send you the adapter; and 2.9% fee per transaction is nothing....:cool:
Click to expand...

I'm guessing that wasn't actually meant as a reply to my post. Square UP does sound pretty interesting, though. If they're successful, it could be a great service.
 
Nice Remote :rolleyes:

I'll wait for a remote app that works off wifi rather than have to wrap my phone with a bunch of bulk and have to aim the phone to control the device.
I'm sure someone will figure out how to do this, eventually...... hopefully.
 
I hope the CC reader allows for BlackBerry users. Otherwise, that would be... what do you call it? A monopoly. :p Or is everyone in the free world expected to buy and carry an iPhone? lol I know... that would be Steve Jobs' wet dream. :D
 
rickdollar said:
I'll wait for a remote app that works off wifi rather than have to wrap my phone with a bunch of bulk and have to aim the phone to control the device.
I'm sure someone will figure out how to do this, eventually...... hopefully.
Click to expand...

There are dozen of wifi remote apps. The trick is, your DirecTV box or TV do not support WiFi because it doesn't even have it.
 
Colrath said:
There are dozen of wifi remote apps. The trick is, your DirecTV box or TV do not support WiFi because it doesn't even have it.
Click to expand...

Well a lot of directv boxes support ethernet, so you could potentially do something over that, if they built in such capability.
 
I don't think that remote wrapper thing is the right way to go. Plus it makes the iphone look like a zune. The iphone/ipod should communicate with an IR blaster hidden elsewhere. Even better, have the blaster controlled by a mac mini or some other HTPC so that the iphone/ipod doesn't need to knnow some ridiculously long sequence of IR codes. And finally, ****WHY**** are manufacturers out there still selling stuff that is only IR or RF remote controlled? What? They can't add the $2 worth of parts to incorporate a bluetooth or 802.11b/g/n capability?
 
Square Up's card reader looks promising. As a business owner, i would love to have something like that (save some $), on the other side, i can see it as a threat, customers might think that it's a card skimmer.
 
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