Turn Your iPhone into a Warehouse 13 Farnsworth for Ninety-Nine Cents


If you’re a Warehouse 13 fan you know that the Farnsworth is the steampunk-ish video communicator the agents use to contact each other. QMx Interactive has now launched an app to turn your iPhone into one of these awesome looking things – at least onscreen. But you can actually make – and send! – video and audio messages that look like they do on the show, and more! Here’s the press release:

QMx Interactive Launches Warehouse 13 Farnsworth Video Communicator App

LOS ANGELES – November 2, 2011 – QMx Interactive is bringing the latest Warehouse 13 technology to iPhone users! Keep in touch with friends, family and other agents with the Warehouse 13 Farnsworth Video Communicator App, which is officially licensed by NBCUniversal Television Consumer Products Group. Exchange video and audio messages, create and share your own missions – all in the signature interface of the steampunk communications device from the hit Syfy TV series.

With just a quick download from the iTunes App Store, users can send and receive video or audio-only messages over any Internet connection, communicating securely with other “agents” who are also using the application. There are even video messages from junior Warehouse agent Claudia Donovan and lead agent Artie Nielsen, who offer tips directly from the Warehouse (with more to come). The app’s lightning-fast message exchange is made possible by the QMxchange mobile messaging platform, which also allows users to install the Farnsworth Video Communicator on multiple devices and sync them all together. The app is compatible with most iDevices, including the iPhone GS and up, iPad/iPad 2 and the iPod G4.

The Farnsworth Video Communicator benefits from the knowledge and experience of Quantum Mechanix Inc. – QMx Interactive‘s sister company – which, in addition to making screen-accurate prop replicas, apparel, maquettes and novelties for Warehouse 13, also creates the actual Farnsworth prop seen on the popular series.

The most successful series in Syfy history, Warehouse 13 follows a team of government agents who work at a massive, top-secret storage facility in windswept South Dakota which houses every strange artifact, mysterious relic, fantastical object and preternatural souvenir ever collected by the U.S. government. The Warehouse’s caretaker Artie Nielsen (Saul Rubinek) charges Pete Lattimer (Eddie McClintock), Myka Bering (Joanne Kelly), young apprentice Claudia Donovan (Allison Scagliotti) and newcomer Steve Jinks (Aaron Ashmore) with chasing down reports of supernatural and paranormal activity in search of new objects to cache at the Warehouse, as well as helping him to control the Warehouse itself. CCH Pounder plays the Warehouse’s mysterious caretaker, Mrs. Frederic.

Here are the specs and other deets from the iTunes page:

ATTENTION: WAREHOUSE 13 AGENTS AND STEAMPUNK FANS!
Turn your iPhone into a working Farnsworth just like the agents use on Warehouse 13!
The Farnsworth Video Communicator – from the makers of the Super 8 app – lets you exchange video and audio messages in an interface that’s a spitting image of the steampunk device from Syfy‘s hit TV series. (We should know – QMx also makes the hero Farnsworth props seen on the show.)
Using the Farnsworth Video Communicator, you can record and send birthday greetings, update your friends and family, collaborate with a colleague and much more. The possibilities are infinite!
With this retro-cool app, you can send and receive video or audio-only messages super-fast over *any* Internet connection. All you need to do is invite (or be invited by) another Farnsworth user to exchange messages and you’re ready to go!
With the Warehouse 13 Farnsworth Video Communicator, you can:
• Send and receive videos from fellow agents that look exactly like the messages do on Warehouse 13.
• Send messages fast over *any* Internet connection: WiFi, 3G, CDMA and even EDGE.
• Under deep cover or have an iDevice without a camera? You can send audio-only messages with an oscilloscope effect on-screen that matches your voice!
• Post messages directly to Facebook – or email them directly from your Farnsworth.
• Communicate securely. Only those you invite or those who have invited you can exchange messages with you.
• Receive notifications of new messages – even if the Farnsworth app isn’t active.
• Install the Farnsworth app on multiple devices and your messages will be automatically copied via our server to all devices as you receive them.
• Use the app on most iDevices, including the iPhone GS and up, iPad and iPad 2 (pixel-doubled graphics) and the iPod G4.
• Check out the real-time shadow effects: They move as your iDevice moves.
• Get messages directly from Warehouse 13! Artie has been known to check up on new agents in the field. And you never know when you might get an assignment from Claudia. Don’t be hurt if she calls you a noob. That’s a term of endearment. No, really.
The Farnsworth Video Communicator is the first app to use our QMxchange mobile messaging platform. Your Farnsworth app will be able to exchange messages with any app that supports QMxchange.
The Farnsworth Video Communicator is an officially-licensed and approved Warehouse 13 app. Warehouse 13 is a registered trademark and copyright of Universal Network Television LLC. Licensed by NBCUniversal Television Consumer Products Group 2011.  All Rights Reserved.

In case you missed that link above, or are just too impatient to look again and MUST HAVE IT NOW, here’s the link to the app.

After checking out the extremely fun messages from Artie and Claudia that came on mine immediately – yes, Saul Rubinek and Allison Scagliotti, and it’s COOL – , I was in the mood for more Farnsworth goodness, so I checked out QMx’s site for more. Yes they have an authentic full-on Farnsworth replica for $399.95, but they also have a very accessibly-priced Farnsworth Replica Blueprint for only $9.95; as they say on the site, “because blueprints are cool.” Have fun, kids!


Erin Willard
Written by Erin Willard

Erin is the Editor In Chief and West Coast Correspondent for SciFiMafia.com