The free Point Inside app maps your favorite malls, showing you both stores and services.
Shopping is supposed to be fun, dangit! But it's invariably a hassle-filled experience, especially at this time of year.
That's why I never walk into a store without these three iPhone apps at the ready. They're all free, and they make shopping faster, easier, and sometimes even a little less expensive.
CardStar Newly updated with an improved interface and support for 75 additional merchants, CardStar replaces various discount, reward, and membership cards in your wallet. To digitize a card, just enter a merchant name and your barcode number. When you get to the checkout, pull up the onscreen barcode and hand over your phone for scanning. Just don't toss your actual cards until you've done some trial runs, as some scanners have trouble recognizing the iPhone's screen.
pic2shop Suppose you're at Borders, about to plunk down your cash on Brendan Benson's "My Old, Familiar Friend" (good call--best album of 2009, IMHO), but then you wonder: Is this the best price? Find out fast with pic2shop, which scans product barcodes and quickly pulls up prices from thousands of online stores. The latest version offers vastly improved scanning, yet it's still a free app.
Point Inside I've been shopping at the same mall (Twelve Oaks in Novi, MI) since I was a kid, and I still get lost in the place. Where has Point Inside been all my life? This ingenious app provides maps for hundreds of U.S. malls and shopping centers. It can find the malls nearest you, list current mall events and promotions, and even remember where you parked. It's a little buggy, and missing a few major malls in my area, but definitely a great start and a must-have app for mallrats.
OK, shoppers: Those are my picks; now let's hear yours. Hit the comments and tell me about the apps that make your shopping life easier, cheaper, or just a little more fun.
The best part is...
(Credit: NilesZ/Etsy)I'm a sucker for geek nostalgia. If you're reading this, there's a good chance you are, too. Or you know someone who is.
Enterprising Etsy seller NilesZ repurposes old Atari cartridges into wallets. Yep, that's right. You just pop it open, and your stuff is inside. He estimates that each wallet--made almost entirely from the original cartridge--holds 6 to 8 credit cards and 15 to 20 bills.
He offers a fair variety of cartridges to choose from, with varying prices. I noticed that there aren't any wallets made from third-party games for sale, which is a bummer, because I would totally dig a River Raid wallet. Or Megamania. Or Seaquest.
...no one would ever think to steal an E.T. cartridge.
(Credit: NilesZ/Etsy)Or maybe a wallet made from a Squeeze Box cart. That was one of the crappiest games I owned for the Atari 2600, and it would be nice to finally find a use for it other than to balance a wobbly table.
I'm not sure exactly how comfortable it would be to sit down with one of these wallets in your back pocket, but if you're a geek who carries your wallet in your coat pocket, this should be perfect.
(Via Technabob)
(Credit:
OldGlory)
With guitar mania still going full bore and showing no sign of abatement, it may be only a matter of time before this kind of fashion item comes into vogue.
This Fender "Stacked Amp Wallet" is a miniature replica of the soundstage equipment, right down to an "amp cord" that connects to a belt loop (or wherever), as Gearfuse observes. This might actually be something to consider if it had a built-in MP3 player, but unfortunately it's just a billfold with a little attitude.
Don't despair, however, because there are still plenty of other loops left for the "Guitar Hero Carabiner."
(Credit:
Etsy)
You know those suitcases that are handcuffed to wrists in the movies? This is kind of an updated version of that for laptops.
The "Laptop Wallet" from Vienna-based Working Class Heroes (we don't often get to cite an Austrian company) is a slip cover with an invaluable feature for those of us who suffer the occasional lapse in basic motor skills--a leather wrist strap. As Gadget Grid notes, it's ideal for butterfingered students who might otherwise jeopardize their parental relationships by dropping their brand-new MacBook.
It's not a bad idea for some coordination-challenged adults as well, though we're not naming any names.
(Credit:
Brookstone)
There are plenty of ways to make acquaintances roll their eyes in anticipation of you whipping out photos of your excruciatingly cute progeny. But few can approach the theatrical effect of unfurling a snake of transparent plastic from your wallet.
Brookstone, however, has updated the concept with a "Women's Digital Wallet," a leather bi-fold that includes a detachable viewer with a 1.4-inch screen that holds up to 55 digital images. And the photos can be transferred and updated easily through a USB cable to a computer, according to Outblush, so co-workers will consistently avoid you in the hallway because they know you'll always be armed with a new batch.
The key question, though, is when will they make one of these wallets for men?
With storage devices getting smaller all the time, MP3 players have followed suit--and some have gotten so small that they look almost identical to flash cards themselves.
(Credit:
Krunker.com)
The credit-card size of a new wallet MP3 player by (who else?) Walletex, which integrates music into the company's similarly sized flash cards, is apparently limited only by the thickness of a USB plug. And Krunker.com notes that it has a "large double-sided branding area for high-quality printing"--a hint at their possible future use as promotional giveaways.
Maybe someday Walletex will do a deal to use Samsung's thinnest LCD so the player can include a screen too. But then again, it probably wouldn't be such a great idea to sit on one of those in your wallet.
(Credit:
Uncrate)
So you can't live without your smart phone, but even the smallest ones are still too bulky to carry comfortably in your pocket. And you refuse to relive the days when you had a calculator strapped to your belt. (We can't blame you.)
The "Koffski No. 1 Wallet" might be just the answer. No ordinary case, it looks like a shoulder holster that would have fit nicely under one of Eliot Ness' three-piece suits.
This is no cheap knockoff either: "Made from fine Rugato calfskin in Tuscany, the wallet-bag features a premium look with water repellant leather and polished nickel parts," as Uncrate says, which explains its $450 tag. But if it helps avoid painful childhood flashbacks, it's a small price to pay. Besides, it's the perfect complement to the cell phone garter belt.
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