Well, here’s one we can file away in the “Things I never would’ve guessed would exist” bin.
A company called Redpark Product Development has just announced plans to manufacture serial cables compatible with the iPhone, “Made for iPhone” certification and all. Yep, serial cables. Remember those?
What’s the point, you ask? Well, there’s a ton of equipment — point of sales machines, science equipment, and a bunch of of legacy networking gear — out there still in the field that rely on serial for all of their control/programming needs.
Here’s the catch, though: in order to snag that “Made for iPhone” label (and so that you don’t have to jailbreak before you can use it), the cable needs to be built with a specific purpose. With that in mind, the company plans on launching a bunch of different serial cables, each with their own reason for existence (and often under a different brand). First off the bat: the SkyWire, which allows you to hook your iPhone up to just about any telescope with a serial port. (Today I learned that there are telescopes with serial ports)
That’s cool and all, but will someone give me a shout when I can use my old Gravis Gamepad with my iPhone?