Vendo Vavoom – Text
Published on 6 Oct 2005 at 7:51 am.
12 Comments.
Filed under Mobile, Wireless.
My first encounter with a vendo machine was in John Hay, circa 1980. They had Dr. Pepper in can in exchange for a dime.
Fast forward 25 years where I have three vendo stories to share. First is the Vendo text. Second is the vendo internet kiosks in Singapore. Third is the GSM vendo pay phone.
Vendo Text
I saw it at the Science and Technology Week exhibit at the world trade center a few months ago. The unassuming vendo machine gathered crowds, especially from the high school students. Expected.
It was a school project, a thesis, I think, of a student from TUP (or is it PUP)? It had a wooden casing like that of a videoke machine, it had a coin slot like that of a videoke machine, it had a green monitor unlike those videoke machines (for some reason, I’m seeing bikini clad women as I write this article) and lastly it had a keyboard.
The interface was so retro: DOS! Instructions are shown on screen. Slip in two pesos, type your message, type the cellphone number of your friend then press enter.
There’s just a little (low cost) phone inside that vendo casing. The phone is connected to the PC. It’s a modest consolidation of technologies by a university student.
What could be the applications of this prototype?
First I imagine is at airports. In Singapore, there were free internet terminals and free public phone kiosks open for use by visitors who just arrived. We can do that for NAIA, offering SMS services for balikbayans or first-time foreigner visitors.
Second I imagine is at the barrio. Install this vendo machine so people can walk up to it and text. Thing is, the machine is difficult to maintain when it’s out at far-flung areas. It still needs electricity, it still needs some tech support every so often.
Third I imagine … wala na. The fact is, cellphone access in the Philippines is so high already. Maybe I’m just sleepy, but my mind couldn’t think of other applications for this technology at the moment.
Any wild ideas from my readers? The wilder the better. We like wild ideas!
Ka edong
Wild and half sleepy
Abangan: Vendo Internet, GSM Vendo pay phone
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Fred on 10 Jan 2006 at 5:14 pm: 1
Ka Edong,
Just wanted to ask about the topic u’ve posted on text vendo machine…
You’d said that you saw the text vendo machine at Science and Technology Week exhibit at the World Trade Center..
May we ask if the text vendo machine that was built by a TUP or a PUP student has a SMS capability. And what other features does the text vendo machine had.
I’d love to hear more about your ideas on text vendo machine.
Thank You. Waiting for your reply..
Fr: Fred Garbin
Tarlac State Univesity (4th Yr. Student)
BS in Information Technology
Contact No: 09207353663
frd918@yahoo.com
frd on 10 Jan 2006 at 5:28 pm: 2
Ka Edong,
Just wanted to ask about the topic u’ve posted on text vendo machine…
You’d said that you saw the text vendo machine at Science and Technology Week exhibit at the World Trade Center..
May we ask if the text vendo machine that was built by a TUP or a PUP student has a SMS capability. And what other features does the text vendo machine had.
I’d love to hear more about your ideas on text vendo machine.
Thank You. Waiting for your reply..
Fr: Fred Garbin
Tarlac State Univesity (4th Yr. Student)
BS in Information Technology
Contact No: 09207353663
frd918@yahoo.com
ka edong on 11 Jan 2006 at 6:42 am: 3
Hi Fred (I almost called you Fr.) …
I re-read my article and realized I didn’t explicitly say what the machine does.
Yes, the text vendo machine *does* send text. Put in your 2 pesos in a slot, type your 160 character message using a keyboard, (you’ll see your message displayed on a computer monitor), and then press enter to send.
Try contacting the organizer of the fair to track down the creator of the machine.
Goodluck!
ka edong
b boy
Fred on 12 Jan 2006 at 3:46 pm: 4
Ka Edong, just wanted to know more about the text vendo machine u’ve seen on Science and Technology Week Exhibit done by a PUP or TUP student..PLSSSSSS…..
ka edong on 12 Jan 2006 at 3:48 pm: 5
Fred,
Send me your specific questions and perhaps we’ll make some progress.
ka edong
FRED on 12 Jan 2006 at 5:06 pm: 6
ka edong,
Is the text vendo machine has SMS capability? Will that machine receives a reply from the receipient of the text message from the texter?
ka edong on 13 Jan 2006 at 7:35 am: 7
Fred,
Yes, the machine can theoretically receive replies (there is a cellphone w/ SIM inside the blackbox).
But I did not see it *display* any replies on the computer monitor.
Fred, be more responsible in posting comments. I have deleted your multiple identical comments.
ka edong
stephen buslon on 15 Jun 2006 at 2:57 pm: 8
kuya edz
pde hmingi po ng tulong? we are planning to propose a project similar to the vendo text.. we would like to know kung sno po gumwa nan, for our related literature.. tska kung may pics po kayo ng said machine pls pls pls send it to my email..
hoping for your reply.. tnx!!
kaezie cuasay on 28 Aug 2006 at 9:53 am: 9
sir pde po b mlman kung cno n nkagwa ng gnung thesis s mga ngacomments s inyo…yun dn po kc ung gusto nming ipropose n thesis eh..thank you po
Mr. Banker on 13 Feb 2007 at 1:49 pm: 10
Sir phingi po ako ng kopya ng mga related topics about Text Vendo MAchine po.. urgently needed lng po.. pkisend nlng po sa emailad ko.. dlar07hanc@yahoo.com tnx po…
cris on 30 Jul 2007 at 2:54 pm: 11
pwede po band pahingi ang related studies about text vendo machine…. thn
ka edong on 30 Jul 2007 at 4:21 pm: 12
Sorry, I don’t have the creator’s contact info. See this comment. Thanks