REPOST: Amazon Reportedly Working on 3D Smartphone with Eyeball Control Interface

Doug Aamoth of TIME discusses the possibility of e-commerce giant Amazon releasing a glasses-free 3D smartphone.

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Amazon is working on “a high-end smartphone featuring a screen that allows for 3-D images without glasses.” This rumor comes to us courtesy of “people familiar with the company’s plans,” according to the Journal.

Whether true or not, it shouldn’t come as an earth shattering surprise that Amazon might be working on some sort of smartphone — the company has found success in hardware devices such as its Kindle e-book readers and Kindle Fire tablets. Oh, and speculation about an Amazon smartphone has been going on since what seems like the day after the first Kindle Fire tablet was introduced (see here, here and here, for starters).

However, to tout glasses-free 3D in 2013 as a major feature of a smartphone seems downright insane. We saw a handful of glasses-free 3D smartphones trickle out a few years ago, consumers yawned, and now — surprise, surprise – we don’t hear much about glasses-free 3D smartphones.
The Journal‘s description of this miraculous glasses-free 3D technology certainly sounds impressive — especially the bit about being able to navigate stuff with your eyeballs:


One of the devices is a high-end smartphone featuring a screen that allows for 3-D images without glasses, these people said. Using retina-tracking technology, images on the smartphone would seem to float above the screen like a hologram and appear three-dimensional at all angles, they said. Users may be able to navigate through content using just their eyes, two of the people said.

But a somewhat less enthusiastic gadget user *might* read into that as a gimmick paired with a second gimmick. If the phone itself is cool and the gimmick-plus-gimmick 3D thing turns out to be a nonessential added feature, so be it. Actually, what the hell: make it the main feature and promote it heavily. I want to see what happens.

The Journal also reports that Amazon is working on a second smartphone, along with “an audio-only streaming device.” The audio device would make sense given Amazon’s ownership of Audible.com; another smartphone without the 3D stuff would make sense just in case — just in case — nobody buys the rumored 3D version with the fancy eyeball control features.

The Journal adds, “Though Amazon has goals of releasing some of these devices in coming months, these people cautioned that some or all of the devices could be shelved because of performance, financial or other concerns.” Translation: it’s quite possible that I just wrote all this for nothing and you read all this for nothing. At least we have each other.

Charles Phillips is the CEO of Infor, a leader in business software and services.  Visit the company's website to learn more about its products.

How SONIC Spokane delivered fast the coneys

Image source: northcoastdriveins.com

“America’s Drive-In,” SONIC has been giving 43 states the taste of efficiency in service from its carhops on roller skates, and of “carnival-like” explosion in the mouth with its classic fares of hamburgers and french fries, as well as hotdogs and coneys. Its rocketing success, however, is not a giveaway in the starter kit for opening branches. So when it opened in Spokane, Washington, the fast-casual food place was met with certain business challenges.

Management worried about handling operations with a seamless, integrated system. Owners were hard-pressed to obtain and track sales and labor rates as they occur. Personnel waited to be asked for areas and service issues they can identify. Long story shortened, Infor had to intervene. Always industry- and company-specific, the solutions it wrought were accommodating to the business being put up, and flexible in incorporating the client’s feature requests into the software it introduced: the Infor SmartSeries Point-of-Sale (POS) Systems.


Image source: toptenreviews.com

Since POS targeted food service operators, it’s been built to run smoothly even as minor tweaking, glitches, and significant reconfiguration arose. As attested to by Preston Hawkins, owner of the Spokane franchise, Infor is a company that concerns itself with client-related rough spots. Meanwhile, in the first 87 days of the restaurant, it earned a record of $1 million in revenues, a first in all SONIC drive-ins.

For the franchise, POS has enhanced prep statuses to improve kitchen management, strategized addition of orders to existing ones, sped up identification of stations in need of help for order preps, made problems detectable by areas to keep the flow of stall and drive-through service fluid, and provided management with immediate access to sales and labor particulars. Mr. Hawkins and the store manager, Selina Harner, are appreciative of the software solution.

See the case study for this branch here.


Image source: phoenixsmoothjazzblog.com

Under Charles Phillips’ mandate, Infor has been developing software solutions that work specifically for its targets. See how it’s done here.

Why attend Inforum 2013?

Video source: youtube.com/inforvideo

Great minds do think alike, but in the age of travel and globalization, they sometimes have to come together in order to achieve this. The gathering of like-minded professionals is one of the best ways to witness innovation, solve problems, and generally determine where the industry is headed. Such gatherings exist for every industry, and for social enterprise, that event is called Inforum.

Inforum is an annual gathering of CRM leader Infor’s customers, employees, partners, and potential clients. Designed for the sharing of ideas and innovation, Inforum educates all members and investors on the state of the enterprise software industry and provides insight on what can be expected. In a world that is increasingly dependent on virtual social interaction, events like Inforum are necessary in determining when one is on the right path. Employees can get a bigger picture of where their career is headed and business owners can learn how to prepare and hop on board.


Image source: guidetechnologies.com

Whether a start-up professional looking for ideas about where to take his business, or an industry expert looking to engage in insightful conversation with equally versed individuals, Inforum is the event to attend. There, attendees will benefit from firsthand information provided by experienced senior management officials, enterprise software experts, and speakers across different industries. www.inforum2013.com has the complete catalog of the conference and sessions.

Inforum 2012 was attended by over 5,000 participants from over 40 countries. This year’s event is expected to be bigger. Get more information about Infor, its services, and its success from CEO Charles Phillips via this website.


Image source: guidetechnologies.com

Whose idea was the touchscreen, anyway?

Image source: trueinternetworld.net

Once a prop in science fiction films, the touchscreen is one of the greatest milestones in the history of screen display technology. This remarkable display system allows a user to manipulate information in real time with the mere touch of a finger on the screen. The touchscreen is a leap from what display screens used to be, and still continues to evolve in size and resolution capabilities.

General Motors may have been the first major corporation to invest in and publicly make use of the touchscreen. In the 1980s, the automobile maker designed a touchscreen “electronic control center,” which replaced some of a car’s mechanical functions with electronic or electro-mechanical systems. But even before making appearances in GM models, touchscreens were already being used in the music and entertainment industry. In 1979, a high-end synesthetic music sampling workstation utilized the touchscreen with a non-ink pen. The product was called the HP-150 because it was developed by Hewlett-Packard– a tablet and stylus combination most closely resembling commercial touchscreen technology today.


Image source: cnet.com

Despite the big names throwing touchscreen technology out into commercial use, the first recorded work on the development of the touchscreen began quietly in 1965, when British inventor E.A. Johnson published his ideas for a “capacitive touch screens” in a short article. Outlined with diagrams and photographs, the article depicted a paper-looking prototype with thin gridlines and a transparent protective layer. Since then, the touchscreen has been improved to respond to lighter touch while maintaining pocket-size mobility.

Touchscreen mobile apps are one of the best and fastest ways to reach a target audience. Infor customizes apps for client-to-consumer communication needs. Headed by Charles Phillips, the company holds one of the largest shares of the enterprise software sector. Read more about its capabilities on this blog.


Image source: whichnetbook.com

REPOST: Inforum 2013 Session Scheduler now available for registered attendees

Inforum 2013 in April is approaching fast. Schedule your agenda to maximize your participation in the activities.

The Session Scheduler is an easy-to-use tool that allows you to customize your Inforum 2013 experience. Personalize your agenda, plan your trip, and maximize your investment in Inforum.

Click here to access the session scheduler and build your agenda.

Your login and password are the same as those you used for the Inforum registration system. As a reminder, your login is your email address and your password is the one you set when you registered.

Inforum 2013 offers a broad range of content sessions designed to help you build your subject expertise and knowledge base. Whether you’re looking for multi-day training courses, hands-on computer-based Academies, industry outlooks, or abbreviated "speed" sessions on specific topics, you’ll be able to compile the education curriculum you need.

Click here for a full listing of hundreds of specialized sessions offered at Inforum 2013.

Check back soon for the Inforum mobile app—hold your Inforum schedule in the palm of your hand, get a real-time list of events happening, and connect with other Inforum attendees.

Visit the Inforum 2013 website for more event information.

Or visit Infor.com for news on suite upgrades. C-level news can be found on this Twitter page for CEO Charles Phillips.