At RACO Industries, we pride ourselves on using technology, information, and mobile devices to help save you money.  Now we’ve taken it to another level with  MobileCoupons.com.  With this application, you can access thousands of money-saving coupons on your mobile phone.  It’s a great idea that people are starting to talk about, including many news outlets.  WCPO-TV Reporter Larry Shields stopped by our offices to learn more about MobileCoupons.com and also one of the businesses using MobileCoupons.com to target dead times in their restaurants.

And WCPO isn’t the only one to notice.  News 9 in Oklahoma City also included us in a segment on the mobile coupons trend.  These are just the first of many as MobileCoupons.com is adding more businesses and more deals each and every day.  Consumers can find coupon offers easily on their iPhone, Mobile Web, Internet, and the Android and can even share the savings with social networking sites like Facebook & Twitter.  And for merchants, MobileCoupons.com is a great way to market and promote your business to consumers via specials & coupons.

Find out why MobileCoupons.com is a Phone Full Of Savings by downloading our iPhone app, going to the Android Market, visiting m.mobilecoupons.com on your cell phone, or going to our website http://www.mobilecoupons.com/.

Retransfer Technology has revolutionized card printing by allowing you to print full color, full bleed images with better quality and less wear and tear on your printer.  The process prints onto a laminate film instead of the card itself.  The old way would have the printhead come into direct contact with the card which would cut down on the printer’s  lifespan.  Instead, the laminate film is thermally bonded to the card so you get photo-quality results all the way to the edge of the card.
Retransfer Technology is ideal for:
• ID and access control cards
• Government-issued driver’s licenses
• National ID and voter registration cards
• ATM, credit, or smart cards
• Personalized gift, membership, and loyalty cards
• Smart cards in travel, gaming, and entertainment
Using Retransfer Technology can save you time and money while consistently producing high quality cards.
Call RACO Card Solutions today at 866-940-7226  to talk to a product specialist to learn more about Retransfer Technology and how it can be applied to your business

When the first commercial barcode scan in history occurred in the summer of 1974, probably no one expected that barcodes would one day be used not only as an invaluable tool for inventory management, but also to create art. Within the past several years, creative people all over the world have been using barcodes in their work. What was once a ubiquitous symbol for our consumer culture, has become a means of creative expression for anyone from starving artists to modern furniture designers.

Take the most famous person in the field of barcode art, Scott Blake, whose unique portraits of famous and historical figures made entirely out of barcodes have garnered massive attention from the creative community. His works include the portraits of Oprah, Bill Gates, and Ozzy Osbourne.  Many of Blake’s portraits are even constructed from barcodes relating to that person’s life or work. His likeness of Bruce Lee, for example, uses the barcodes from the DVDs of ten different movies starring the late martial artist. Blake even makes flipbooks of his portraits containing an animation that zooms in on the piece, allowing his audience to see the actual barcodes in detail. All of these portraits, among other works, can be found on Scott Blake’s website where prints of his works can be purchased, as well as personalized barcode t-shirts, patches, and even temporary tattoos.

The corporate world is also starting to take advantage of the barcode’s artistic potential. Japanese firm D-Barcode, for example, has been jazzing up grocery store products all over Japan with their interesting and creative new barcode designs, such as the ones pictured below.  As yo can see, the designs are simple in concept, but detailed and charming enough to prompt someone to go product hunting and start a collection.

Even modern Russian architects are realizing the creative possibilities that the barcode presents:

Truly, the appeal of the barcode is so widespread, its applications in the creative field are limitless.  As practical as the concept is to the business world, it is proving to be almost as handy to the art world.

For over half a century, the Walt Disney Company has used cutting-edge technology to create the best theme park experience possible.  Some recent rumors suggest RFID is at the center of current upgradesThe Disney Blog speculates that with the help of an RFID tag on a guest (or in their ticket), their Disney experience could be made even more unique.

In its most basic form it would be Winnie the Pooh saying your name in the attraction. But the technology allows Disney to do some really amazing things too. Fast Pass? A thing of the past. Via RFID Disney now knows exactly when you entered the queue, how many people are in the queue, and how fast the attraction is loading. Care to register your preferences? Disney can know if enough people who prefer a certain type of entertainment are in an area and dispatch that band to play. This just scratches the surface too.

RFID is currently being used at Disney parks to help you cut back on all the clutter you have to bring with you and be able to find everyone you came in with:

The versatility of RFID allows the guest experience to be significantly enhanced, providing an all-in-one solution. The cashless payment solution can be linked to the ticketless RFID device, along with hotel room access, lockers, guest demographics, and even a guest’s personal preferences.

RFID is also being employed at many locations for guest tracking and child locating. Using an external interface, parents, children, and groups can locate the members of their party via kiosks or handheld devices.And parkgoers overseas won’t miss out on the chance to use technology to improve their experience.  Disneyland Paris is planning on opening a portal of mobile information quickly and easily accessible with a mobile device.  By scanning a two-dimensional smart bar code, the parkgoer can get “up-to-date information in real-time throughout the visit for show times, special restaurant and gift shops offers, and more.”  To learn how RFID and barcode solutions can bring some magic to your business, contact RACO Industries at 1-800-446-1991 or visit us at www.racoindustries.com.

If you have used an Intermec CK3 with WM6.1 you may notice that the Internet explorer (IE) works a little differently.  This applies to OS version 3.45.26.0031 and SSPB 6.20.33.0471.  There is a feature that is missing and has been an issue for at least one of our customers.  If you go into the menu on IE and then tap on view, you will notice the usual options have changed.  One that seems to be popular is the “Fit to Screen” option.  There is a registry key that can be edited to bring this feature back.

NOTE: edit the registry at your own risk.  You will need to use a mobile registry editor (you can find free ones on Google) and edit this registry key - HKLM\Security\Internet Explorer\MSHTML=0.  After you change this key to 0 the old view menu magically appears.

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Michigan Live is reporting that the National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAS) has had great success with a new system that allows college admission administrators to capture prospective student information from scanned barcodes, rather than requiring students to fill out information forms with pen and paper.  The system is similar to the barcoding applications that have been deployed at business trade shows and conferences, but has been tailored for college fairs.  The process is quite simple, a bar code is assigned to a student upon entry to the college fair.  This printable bar code is linked to the student's relevant personal information stored in a backend system database.  As the student visits each booth, recruiters can quickly scan the student's bar code to retrieve the student's contact information, allowing the recruiter to spend more time discussing the school's programs rather than waiting for students to complete tedious paperwork.
 

There are many advantages to replacing the college fair paper contact forms with a bar code solution.  First and foremost, the data that is exchanged is much more accurate.  With pen and paper, college recruiters often struggle to read a student's handwritten form.  Secondly, the system speeds up the data exchange process.  Recruiters can spend more time speaking with students.  And lastly, students don't have to drive home with a severe case of writer's cramp.

You may be surprised to hear that the system described above is not difficult to implement.  If you are interested in a similar application, please contact the bar code and data collection experts at RACO Industries.

RACO Industries is both a ZASP (Zebra Authorized Service Provider) and Zebra Premier Partner.  We specialize in bar code and data collection technologies and carry the full line of Zebra bar code label printers, supplies and accessories.

We were recently challenged to track several hundred uniforms and musical instruments for a major university’s marching band. The quantity was not the problem…. determining which student musician has what uniform and instrument was. The total value of the equipment is in excess of a million dollars and ‘were given out to 18 – 21 year old college students with no means, other than paper and pencil, to track the assets.’

We proposed Z-Space Technologies’ Check In/Check Out Solution Pack; a configurable software solution built upon a SQL database, Crystal Reports, and Z-Space’s ITScriptnet data collection and development/communications software application. This solution is basically designed to track any asset that is frequently in and out of the hands of people. With minor configurable adjustments, it can be used very effectively for the university’s purpose. When integrated, the software solution allows the user to manage the assets and answers the three fundamental questions of asset tracking – Who has it? What is it? and Where is it?

Once the solution is implemented, the process is very simple. Each student utilizes the university-provided ID card with a bar code associated with the student’s ID number. All of the uniforms have a bar code label inside each piece i.e. pants, jackets, hats, shoes as well as all of the instruments. The bar code contains the university’s asset and serial number for accounting and tracking purposes. Labeling the actual instrument proved a little difficult. However, since each instrument has a case, we bar coded the case instead. The band director is provided a handheld mobile computer, like the Motorola MC55 or Unitech PA968, with the application configured on the device.  Now all he needs to do is scan the labels and the student ID barcodes and the application does the rest. To further the cause, we added customized reports and configured the devices and wireless network to communicate in real-time to the host PC.

For more information about this or other Check In/Check Out applications, contact RACO Industries at 1-800-446-1991 or visit us at www.racoindustries.com

Instant Messaging(IM) on Windows Mobile(WM) seems like it would be simple to implement with four major IM providers offering solutions.   However, when it comes to WM, not all solutions are created equal. GoogleTalk and Yahoo! only offer web browser based IM.    AIM has an application client which looks and works very well.   However, the overall winner is the Windows Live Messenger (formally known as MSN Messenger) client.  A nice advantage of the Windows Live Messenger is that the application comes embedded into WM and a login is the only setup step required.  Live Messenger sets itself apart further by offering one other feature; let’s call it ‘Push-toTalk’ IM.   Any microphone equipped WM device can record a message with just a single click to record and another click to send.  The voice clips are transmitted nearly as fast as any IM message and can be replayed multiple times or saved.   I was very impressed with the sound quality through such a simple connection.  All IM conversations can be archived and viewed at a later date.

Alternatively there are several 3rd party IM programs such as Fring or Agile for example, which facilitate the use of multiple simultaneous  IM carriers.  www.fring.com    www.agilemobile.com
While researching the Google solution I did find an application that showed much potential - Google Latitude.  With this free and easy to use application you can see the current location of all your contacts.  In the mobile arena or DSD, it is a great way to be able to see the location of all mobile assets. 
And for headquarters there is an iGoogle plug-in that integrates easily and allows for asset tracking.  Tracking is accomplished via assisted GPS and is therefore accurate within 1600 meters.  A GPS enabled device is not required.