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More on Talking Shopping Carts
ThosLives writes "CNN.com is reporting a story about Talking Shopping Carts. (I rue the day when viruses attack these carts, telling everyone to go buy Brand X). This article also has some interesting comments about possible (and likely inevitable) uses of RFID. I wonder, in the future, will I be able to buy anything with our new funny colored cash dollars?" We've mentioned these before.
Great idea... ...as long as I know where the mute button is.
Hi, I'm a shopping cart!
Ha ha he ho ha huh!
This will have about as much impact as the talking coke machines and verbal notifications in cars: they will be vandalized or torn out. I can see some modest value in a display that shows where related items are, being a guy who doesn't go shopping often. I might actually use it. My wife who seems to have memorized the incoherent ordering would be annoyed I suspect. (Who is it who decides that bread and tortilla products are unrelated? That whipped cream *isn't* a dessert topping, fit to be displayed with all the others.)
Sig under construction since 1998.
In a decade we would've redefined privacy.
I rue the day when viruses attack these carts, telling everyone to go buy Brand X.
I, on the other hand, eagerly anticipate the day when viruses attack these carts, plastering the goatse dude on the screen while blaring "HEY EVERYBODY! I'M LOOKING AT GAY PORN!" out of the speakers. Can you imagine the reaction?
An even better one would be doing this to only one cart in every market... ;-)
"Hi! I notice you haven't bought contraceptives in the past couple weeks. We have some excellent weight loss products on aisle 4, and our deorderant is on aisle 6", says a bright and chipper voice as I make my way to the chips and snacks aisle.
Mod me down with all of your hatred and your journey towards the dark side will be complete!
"and, by the way, it's been six weeks since you bought toilet paper"
I just read a security report saying everyone stole it from their workplace. Surely this technology could be used to lock up all the inconsiderate bog roll thieves.
My cart had a virus and crashed my wallet.
I'd really like to be able to download the information myself. Maybe they could add a MMC slot to the cart (or USB drive, smart card, etc.). I don't think it would be that hard, heck, they could probally do it now at the cash registers. Load that info into a program at home (maybe even a custom program for the chain) and there you got your shopping list. On a simular note, they could have the information tie into a website which you could create a "usual" list, plus a couple of items that were featured on the website.
As I see it the real problem with the carts is the expense to wire (and upkeep) for each cart (besides, those thing get trashed quickly).
The grass is only greener, if you don't take care of your own lawn.
I rue the day when viruses attack these carts, telling everyone to go buy Brand X.
I rued the day once. Didn't get much else done.
Viruses?
You think it's going to take viruses for this to happen?
-- james
Before we thought the homeless talking to their shopping carts were simply insane. NOW the carts are talking back.
If me hearing voices from my shopping cart is normal, how am I to tell when the rutabega is upset?
I'm still looking for the day when I can plug my PDA into my shopping cart, have it download my shopping list, and pick the groceries up FOR me.
~D
This sig has been enciphered with a one-time pad. It could say almost anything.
Here comes michael again, with his trolling-remarks-in-the-department-subtitle:
from the don't-forget-the-oreos dept.
Look, michael, keep your damn opinions to yourself. Nobody cares about your pro-cookie agenda, no one cookie is superior to another, they are all delicious and have their strong points and weaknesses. I think as a Slashdot editor michael should conduct himself more professionally and keep his opinions about snack treats out of the article summaries, and save it for the comments section, if he even has the balls to post a logged-in comment, as he surely trolls as AC often. I really think the Slashdot crew should consider removing michael from his position as a Slashdot editor if he cannot be responsible in his duties.
For now, cash doesn't have RFID chips, and as long as you don't use frequent shopper cards or credit cards, the "talking cart" won't be able to identify you. While it'll still give you some generic advice, more personalized (and potentially embarrassing) advice won't be available.
"This is a very sensitive topic. I may not want the store to be broadcasting what I bought last time I was in here. You're getting closer and closer to being inside my home."
/paranoid mode off.
No kidding.
We all worried about the privacy of cookies... Now they know what I am buying, eating, and drinking.
I don't want anybody to know that I drink big "foties" of malt liquor. I don't want anybody to know I eat fat-ass hot dogs... and survive on captain cruch cereral.
When do they start feeding all of this into a huge database? Big "foties" + hot dogs + shopping at 1:30 am = terrorist?
Hmmm... I don't suppose the store is going to leave these outside overnight? I could use a few touch screen LCDs around my apartment, would make a nice front end for my MP3 Jukebox...
-- If god wanted me to have a sig, he'd have given me a sense of humor.
Researchers at IBM recently assembled several of the high-tech machines
Stupid Big Blue, one day I love them for the SCO hoopla and the next they make a shopping cart that blathers at me. I know what I want from the grocery store, it's in a list.
Imagine hacking one of these things...
Shopping Cart:: "Hey! One bag of Fritos is enough, fatty!"
Befuddled Shopper: "OK, Mr. Magic Shopping Cart, whatever you say..." (puts Fritos back)
Shopping Cart: "Now fix my damn squeaky wheel!"
And think of the hidden market of homeless people travelling around the city with their belongings in their talking cart.
RFIDs could be placed in:
- park benches: "Had a long day? Take a nap on a bench."
- phone booths: "There's a dime in my change slot!"
- public bathrooms: "c'mon in and freshen up!"
- bus shelters: "Don't even THINK of peeing here!"
Whatever happened to "News for nerds"? You know, interesting technology, computing industry developments, space flights, etc. Instead, we hear about talking shopping carts. Not to mention that Slashdot completely misses out on REAL news like the Java IDE Poll that turned the industry on its head and shocked developers worldwide. Instead, we hear stupid quotes like this:
> (I rue the day when viruses attack these carts, telling
> everyone to go buy Brand X)
How many computer viruses does your microwave have? Or your kid's Speek 'n Say? Or any other friggin' electronic device that we use on a daily basis? Someone hit these guys with a clue stick! You need an open platform to design and develop a virus. An embedded device would need to be taken apart and completely reprogrammed. I don't know where you guys are from, but around here, we call that vandalism.
(insert some swearing and grumbling)
Ok, I feel better now.
Javascript + Nintendo DSi = DSiCade
The only real use I can see is if it can tell me, accurately, where the hell the Golden Ghrams are. In-cart navigation!
Honestly though, the things would be so expensive (And prone to be stolen for parts), I doubt they'll ever really show up.
~D
This sig has been enciphered with a one-time pad. It could say almost anything.
I'd like to see some new inventions that actually help solve tasks instead of these creations that do everything possible to reduce the amount of thinking that we do. Are people really so lazy that we can't exert the neurological effort to figure out on our own whether or not there is toilet paper on the roll? Can we not look for ourselves to see what is on sale? Can we not figure out for ourselves what wine we like with salmon?
"I wonder, in the future, will I be able to buy anything with our new funny colored cash dollars?"
CNN has a story on automated machines rejecting the new money.
Despite the traditional concerns about privacy, I do kind of like the idea of target marketing. If companies are going to advertise to me, I would rather it be products I might actually buy than stuff I wouldn't. But all the opportunities seem to aimed at products I don't want. Amazon knows I buy mostly electronics from them, but I get a gold box full of kids toys and $100 pots. Credit card companies supposedly know my credit history, but all I get is secured cards aimed at people with no credit, or Amex Gold cards for buisness owners. Send me an application for a rewards card with no annual fee, and I might go for it.
Same with this talking cart. If it really usues the info for telling me about products I might like, or that are a good deal, I might like it. If it just tells me that products I would never buy are on sale, then forget it.
I have blog like everyone else
Seriously, grocery margins are as razor thin as they come, it doesn't take many stolen carts to make them uneconomically, not to mention that the wear and tear in a supermarket parking lot could cause the repair bills to be just as bad.
On the lighter side, I can already imagine the bum's stolen cart: "PLEASE take me back! I'll have them throw in a free stick of deodorant & a 40 for you!"
Children in the backseats don't cause accidents. Accidents in the back seats cause children.
of the display, i really hope they are drool proof. And no, not the drool when you walk past the pastry counter. I'm talking kids sitting in the cart.
So where is the news in this? What? No, no, I won't pick up the knife. I WON'T PICK UP THE KNIFE!
(Loud booming voice from shopping cart) "Might I suggest sensual lubricants to go with those Trojans?"
-- Thou hast strayed far from the path of the Avatar.
Ya, viruses. That's likely when the carts aren't on the internet.
And even if they did get a virus - by magic maybe? - I highly doubt it would alter the cart to compel you to buy a certain brand. I think it would do the most annoying thing possible - probably something involving expletives and extremely irritating noises. Think babies crying.
Just as long as they don't turn into a Were-cart.
This is a test. This is a test of the emergency sig system. This has been only a test.
I live in the south. There are people here wouldn't live anywhere else no matter how rich the opportunity, simply because it's a decade behind down here and they LIKE it that way. So, if you're sick of the nonsense move to a rural area and avoid the local wallyworld. Of course, in a small town you have to worry about the neighbors snooping and gossiping... so which is worse?
To those who say "tchnology will redefine privacy" I say get over your jingoistic self. No matter which side of the fence you ride on this issue, the fact is there's a lot more to the world (and to the notions of privacy) than lies within North America. Don't you think the people of N. Korea or Singapore already have a very different notion of "privacy" than we in the US?
Did anyone say fifty years ago that "communism will redefine privacy as we know it?" And, even with all the handwaving and the witch hunts, did any of it really make a difference in the end? Communism crashed to the ground under its own immense weight... just as corporatism eventually will... just as any tyranical system eventually does.
I guess I'm not saying "love it or leave it" but I am saying if you don't like the game, you can still find another field to play in. There's a whole world of them out there.
There was a little more news about the carts. Note the subject. Saying "we mentioned these before" is probably just to shut up all the fags who are all the time like "OMFG THIS IS A REPEAT! SLASHDOT SUX NOW AND THE EDITORS EAT BALLS!" but I guess it doesn't really matter because you people find some other petty shit to bitch about anyways.
That rfid in currency will be a pain. ATMs will start recording rfids in dispensed cash, and banks will starting selling that information. And that information will be pretty reliable. After all, how many of us only use ATMs and if 20s are the largest bill dispensed, how likely will we get 20s in our change. Meaning most 20s spent will have come from an ATM.
Because you KNOW that the grocery industry is interested in selling low profit vegetables over high profit junk food. :P
(I rue the day when viruses attack these carts, telling everyone to go buy Brand X).
It makes sense to initially program them to do that.
A more realistic virus attack would cause the carts to do what annoying cash-register droids do: "price check on Fleet enema! Hey EVERYBODY! - Price check on Fleet enema!", even though the price sticker is right there...
...is tell me where I can find things.
A few years back, a major supermarket in my area had kiosks that one could use to find out where certain items are located. Aparently, they were only there as a test, because they are not there anymore. Something like this would be GREAT-- I could ask where something is, and it would tell me.
If they wanted to list the various vendors for that item, the respective prices (sales, etc), that's fine. I don't want it to talk to me. It's nobody's business when the last time was that I bought Happy Paper, and I think I am quite safe in saying that there aren't many women that want it advertized that they are looking for tampons or sanitary napkins.
When politicians are involved, everyone loses.
Once people start buying more of these, raise the prices.
Aerosol whipped cream is a fashion accessory.
//Information does not want to be free; it wants to breed.
Dave Bowman: Hello, HAL do you read me, HAL?
HAL: Affirmative, Dave, I read you.
Dave Bowman: Open the pod bay doors, HAL.
HAL: I'm sorry Dave, I'm afraid I can't do that.
Dave Bowman: What's the problem?
HAL: I think you know what the problem is just as well as I do.
Dave Bowman: What are you talking about, HAL?
HAL: You haven't looked at any of the sale items Dave. I have the utmost confidence you will purchase one.
A shopping cart costs about $300 each, these new computerized shopping carts, if adopted, should run $400 or so each.
Add to that the fact that they'll have a higher rate of theft (Supermarkets lose a lot of money in stolen carts as it is) and they are bound to be much more fragile than a "dumb" cart (Ever see anyone baby a shopping cart?)leading to a much shorter service life, then we are all bound to end up paying more for our groceries to offset the now much higher costs of running a supermarket.
Progress indeed.
I notice you haven't bought contraceptives in the past couple weeks.
I didn't read the article (of course) but I don't think I'd object too much to these carts unless they were actually keeping track of my purchases over "the past couple weeks" as you imply. If it's just making suggestions based on what's currently in my cart (and it doesn't know who I am) I don't see this as too different my TiVo taking it upon itself to record programs it thinks I might like. Hell, it's not really an invasion of privacy just to point out what's clearly in my shopping cart anyhow. The voice thing is annoying but I'm not sure it's going to be too different from those people who use their cell phones in the grocery stores to carry on irrelevant conversations out of boredom.
GMD
watch this
Gone will be the days of being able to roll the shopping cart out to your car... expect to see those same metal barriers found at the local Ghettomart(r) placed three feet apart from each other at the front of the store.
There was an earlier thread about this with a link to a Boston Globe Article
30% Troll, 50% Underrated, 10% Interesting
Score:5, Troll
Great idea... ...as long as I know where the mute button is
I can easily see stores providing a mute button but rewarding you for keeping it on in the form of a 1% discount at the register or accumulation of "BonusBux" or something like that. Kinda like ad-supported software. If they put a mute button on there (and I'm sure people will demand it), they're going to have to give us some incentive to make sure we don't all automatically engage that function.
GMD
watch this
Who talks like that?
With computers tracking every grocery item purchased, I thought it would be really cool if they would give you a sum total of nutritional value of your grocery purchases. Assuming that you actually eat what you purchase, this would give you an idea if you are getting the RDA of the different nutrients you need. Technology could actually help us eat a balanced diet. Imagine how cool it would be if the grocery cart told you that it looked like you were getting too many carbs and not enough protein...
Unfortunately, all of this technology is being used to make the quick short term gain of tricking people into more and more impulse buys and having the overall effect of decreasing the quality of the modern diet.
I suspect the talking cart will be a grocery store annoyance on par with screaming kids in the playland carts that are the current fad.
I rue the day when viruses attack these carts, telling everyone to go buy Brand X
You mean, like, my shopping cart might spam me to buy *actual Spam*?!
do not read this line twice.
"We'll see more change in the next five years in the way people shop than in the last 20," said Dan Hopping, a consulting manager with IBM who specializes in store operations and merchandising.
Did anyone tell this guy about the internet? Somehow I don't find talking shopping carts to be more of a revolution in shopping then internet sales. Talk to me when this talking shopping cart leaves from my house, picks up the items I want, then returns with my purchases. Now that's a revolution!
Because, like me, you know that if you have it, you'll over use it and get neck-deep in debt.
College loans give me more than enough debt, thank you very much.
If a shopping cart starts talking to me, trying to sell me something, I'm going to have to pull out old painless and blow the cart off of this planet.
This is taking marketing too far.
- Zav - Imagine a Beowulf cluster of insensitive clods...
Simply being a slashbot is, for all practical purposes, the same as declaring celebacy.
Should read: "Moron Talking Shopping Carts"
"A great democracy must be progressive or it will soon cease to be a great democracy." --Theodore Roosevelt
Beyond being bandwidth hogs for everyone, stupid multimedia features interfere with accessibility tools like voice dictation. CNN started doing multimedia ads recently. I expect that nonsense from a gaming site but news sites need to shut the hell up. I'm against frivolous lawsuits but this violates the biggest crime in the United States:
Interfering with economic activity.
I sense a class action lawsuit against these punks if they don't make it easy to shut it off by *default*.
Laws are for people with no friends.
====
---- "Excuse me. Where's the children's gun section?"
Does anybody really feel that they are being more accurately targetted these days?
My friend in an apartment got a telephone soliciation selling vinyl siding; I am constantly bombarded with inappropriate solicitations. It seems the promise of technology was to allow more astute use of the tools and information at hand to tailor advertisement to those who have an interest, but has anyone actually experienced this?
My experience has indicated that while the data and technology is available to allow for more targeted marketing, people in the industry feel that the indiscriminate "bulk approach" is more productive. This would be consistent with the realization that we are becoming more and more desensitized to suggestion, and more suggestion and promotional invasion is needed to transmit the same message nowadays. So is the use of technology and information truly beneficial in the future of marketing?
...but really, isn't this just yet another scheme to get us to buy more crap that we don't need? wow, those smart guys found *another* place to bombard us with advertising and suggestions in order to profit and make us spend spend spend.
it's not like its gonna look at my cart and say "how about some macaroni and cheese to go with your hotdogs". it's gonna say "don't forget to pick up a box or three of Kraft brand macaroni and cheese. it's the cheesiest! it'll go great with your Oscar Meyer weieners...and don't forget about the great deals you'll find on Bush's baked beans - from a generations old family secret", and on and on and on.
i can make my own decisions (albeit very slowly) about what to buy in the grocery store. so this thing needs an off switch.
Well, if you eliminate chrisd, Cliff, CmdrTaco, CowboyNeal, Hemos, HeUnique, jamie /.
krow, michael, Nik, OctobrX, pudge, Roblimo, simoniker and timothy... you'll be left with Katz-only
Would you be happy with that? See below for your alternative...
well if they have the extra cash to play with a system like this then why don't they just lower the prices to compete with walmart and such? with a limited budget for food clothing and so on i think the walmart (whatever store) experience is probaly chosen becuase it meets these needs. people that already have money to burn or arent on a budget as tightly as smoe would probally already be going to these other types of stores.
i wonder if someone is actually trying to skirt the real issue or if they really don't see it. wich could be one of the reasons someone is worying about it in the first place.
anynways keeping this much information is dangerous. how long before you buy a combination of house hold cleanig product and they alreat the authorities you could potebtially have enough unrefine chemicals to create an explosive or something? or could you spouce obtain these records to see if you bought contraceptives or creams to traet vanerial diseases so it could be used as amunition in a divorce case. i guess the possabilities are endless when having this much information availible at places that really don't need it.
they alreay have cards you swipe at krogers, myers, walmart and stuff that gives you dicounts on inflated pricing to track some of this. this stuff seems to put more to it and maybe open more posabilities. like what happens when it is wrong and sugest you buy something that incinuates wrong doing and your spouse uses the cards? now they get a verbal reminder to buy stuff they don't use making you think that your spouse has been shopping for some other family (secrete lover) and you think this is why money is so tight.
on the other hand it would be nice to know some of this information like i'm out of toilet papaer because i can't manage the invetory of my own house. and maybe sales on stuff i regularly buy, but then i would probally be buying it anyways and see that already. iguess i will still save money and just goto walmart.
Jump in one and roll uncontrollably towards a curb... would it scream? "Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! Get off me you freak!" or.... Put the baby in the seat and... "Your child just shat his pants" Take the cart off site "heeeeeeeeelp! help! Amber alert!"
A few years ago, I went to a Somerfieild (A UK supermarket chain) that had calculators on the trolley (what we call "carts" in the UK) handle. They didn't last long though, since they were easily vandalised.
maybe a useful (non advertising) implementation would be something like this:
...just a thought
say you have a limited budget to spend on food, and you need to make it thru x number of days. if the computer knows your likes/dislikes and the general eating habits (once again, this might be giving out too much info) of yourself (and family), then it could possibly make meal suggestions that would allow someone to be certain that they have enough food to last the week or whatever and stay within budget.
i'm not embarassed to say that i've been very broke before and have receieved food stamps (not now), and at other times just didn't make a whole lot, but still had to be very careful about budgeting my food money to make sure everyone ate and i could still put gas in the car, etc. something like this would have been helpful, i suppose. i guess the same thing could be put in a PDA or even a cell phone now, but most people who are scraping by don't have either of those.
for example:
"since you enjoy potato chips and eat 1-2 bags per week, you'll be glad to know that you can buy two bags for the price of one in aisle six. you have $34.32 left in your food budget."
"if you buy the large bag of french fries for x dollars, according to your programmed meal habits you will have enough for an extra side of them later in the week, possibly with your hamburgers."
etc, etc...
"'Rue the day'? Who talks like that?"
..."
----------------
Stomp stomp.
Whirrr.
"Pleased to be of service."
"Shut up."
"Thank you."
Stomp stomp stomp stomp stomp.
Whirrr.
"Thank you for making a simple door very happy."
"Hope your diodes rot."
"Thank you. Have a nice day."
Stomp stomp stomp stomp.
Whirrr.
"It is my pleasure to open for you
"Zark off."
"... and my satisfaction to close again with the knowledge of a job well done."
"I said zark off."
"Thank you for listening to this message."
Stomp stomp stomp stomp.
"Wop."
"I can't give you a brain, so I'll give you a diploma" - The Great Oz (blatently stolen sig)
i liked your answer.
well cash WORKS for NOW. but it wont in the future.
so 5-10 years from now. "dont like it, pay in quarters, and other assorted change"
I wonder, in the future, will I be able to buy anything with our new funny colored cash dollars?
Boardwalk, Park Place, and definately a couple railroads.
Congratulations on joining the world of monopoly money!
By the way, what do the groceries do with that information?
now then... who needs to insert a virus? there'd be one vanilla comm standard, and likely, store personnel wouldn't have either the skills or motivation to change whatever out-of-the-box security comes with the system.
someone with a PDA could just walk around, and if they have a program that decrypts cart transmissions, it could simply send commands to carts it sees transmitting.
i agree with the other posters ... it'd simply be aggravating: bombing folks with a constant stream of beeps; sending repeated reminders ("buy Fruit Loops... buy Fruit Loops... buy Fruit Loops...").
sadly, it'd probably pretty easy to hack, if one had the inclination...
mmm... yeah... You see, we're putting the cover sheets on all TPS reports now before they go out...
Mod parent up for making the best of a bad situation!
Javascript + Nintendo DSi = DSiCade
I've never understood why people are willing to let the stores track all their purchases. All you are doing is providing the stores information that can be sold to all kinds of people. I get enough junk mail and telemarketing without providing information for even more.
"Ah, cucumbers, vaseline, and condoms. Planning a fun evening, huh?"
I recently had the opportunity to hear a leader in IBM's retail systems division talk about the advances in shopping. While he didn't say anything about talking shopping carts (what kind of a stupid idea is that anyway?), he did say that he expected RFID tags to be widely adopted and in use in the next 3-5 years. He compared resistance to RFIDs to the resistance initially present to giving your credit card number to some site on the internet. I think it was a good analogy and I imagine he's right.
I wonder, in the future, will I be able to buy anything with our new funny colored cash dollars?
It doesn't really matter anyway; we all know the only worthwhile currency on the grey market will be the New Yen specifically because it is not electronic.
I've noticed that you've selected Jergins hand lotion. May I suggest some selections from the magazine section?
Maybe if you go fast enough the cart voice will start sounding like when you talk into a fan.
"Look Lois, the two symbols of the Republican Party: an elephant, and a fat white guy who is threatened by change."
Does anyone remember reading about the Barbie Liberation Organization? How long until something like this pops up in a grogery store I wonder. Or perhaps wireless cart-hacking? I'm assuming that they'll have a central system to ease administration in case products are moved (which happens every other Thursday). Why not just save the trouble and throw all the food in a big pile in the center of the store?
The highest bidder gets the most prominent ads... and remember, in this case it's not a bug, it's a feature!
However, I could just see the fun that covert shopping-cart-mod hackers would have with these.
"Geeze, don't buy that brand of toilet paper, it's rip yer a**hole up."
or, more appropriately
"Extra large size condom eh? I'd suggest you go with the slim-fit there bub!"
You prepare a shopping list at home in some format, putting onto a micro floppy disk or some other easily transportable technology. You then plug that into the shopping cart when you arrive at the store and the shopping cart gives you the most optimum path to take through the aisles in order to pick up all the items on the list. A small LCD monitor would direct you to which aisle you needed to proceed to next.
I can't tell you how often I end up backtracking when I'm grocery shopping... it probably adds 50% to my overall time, maybe even more.
File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
I work for a major supermarket chain that uses the "Loyalty Cards". One thing about our company policy though is if you don't have your own card, no discounts for you. I actually had one customer yell at me (Im just a cashier mind you) because he couldn't get the discounts but didn't want me to track his purchases with his card. Is the infomation they actually get from you using the card worth the loss of profit over a dipute like that? Does the info "pay for itself" though the discounts? "Don't forget to use your card everytime you shop! Big brother needs to know what your buying!"
Would these talking carts scream for help when they're stolen by the homeless?
Quid festinatio swallonis est aetherfuga inonusti?
Africus aut Europaeus?
...for giving me something to intellectually punch. I'm in a much, much better mood now. Catch you all on a much more interesting story. :-)
Javascript + Nintendo DSi = DSiCade
I hate slashbots - especially when using a rail under water. We should kick all these bots from the server!
From excellent karma to terible karma with a single +5 funny post...
Marketing uses aside, this could be of use to blind people , it could tell the shopper which aisle they are in and what brand and product they are near to. It could even read out the shopping list they have prepared.
Wheelchair disabled users could have a touchscreen map linked to their motorised wheelchair, allowing their wheelchair to position them closer to the shelf they want instead of trying to manouver their feet out of the way.
Deaf users could have speech-to-text converters to talk with the shop attendants, etc.
just dreaming, move along...
BB
But is this going to utilize the broken front left wheel, to give the end-user the full effect of shopping?
And here I thought it meant that they'd added speech synthesis to Interchange!
...the Sirius Cybernetics Corporation!r s/guide/sirius cybernetics.shtml
http://www.bbc.co.uk/cult/hitchhike
(sorry the link isn't active, I'm kind of in a hurry)
Um, isn't that an apple macintosh?
That's where they mail the card to. You didn't actually think they'd just give you a card. Just do what I do. Separate out the discount card items and tell the cashier you "forgot" your card. They always seem to have a card of their own. I've never been able to tell them sorry I don't want them, please reshelve the items themselves.
Your postings are dwindling. Are you melting oh fake one?
BAHAHAHAHAHAH!
... you could select the thing you would like to buy on some touchscreen (or simply enter it, with a search function) and the car would lead you to the place where you can pick it up.
...
It might only be me, but I regularly get lost when I try to find something in those large supermarkets
Instead of making all kinds of noise about privacy, tracking, profiling, etc., consider this: I would think an awful lot of slashdot's readers are pretty savvy people in the technical arena. This includes networking, programming, electronics hardware, software, etc.
;-)
With all these smarts running around, consider all the different kinds of fun and mischief that could be had if said smarts were to be pooled into finding a way to broadcast one's own messages to these chatty carts.
Think about it: You're pushing a cart through the beer aisle, and all of a sudden its speaker emits this rip-roaring belch.
Or how about this? You're pushing it down the deodorant aisle, and you hear a couple of sniffing noises from the speaker, followed by 'Eewww, what's that smell?'
As a final touch, imagine visiting the fish counter, and the speaker issues forth with the chorus from 'Fish Heads' (as heard on the Dr. Demento show).
People, the possibilities are endless. Companies are going to try and foist this stuff on the buying public whether we want it or not, so I figure we may as well have some fun with it.
Like Jimmy Buffett says in one of his more recent songs: "You've only got two options; Havin' fun or freakin' out!"
I vote to have fun.
Bruce Lane, KC7GR,
Blue Feather Technologies
What about privacy conerns regarding health insurance?
What would keep the grocery store from releasing this information to insurance companies so that people that eat too much of this or that are denied coverage?
I realize that it is optional now, and that legally something could be done, but why pass millions of privacy laws about things such as this. Why not just STOP COLLECTING THE DAMNED INFORMATION TO BEGIN WITH!
Information is not always a Good Thing [tm]. It is infinitely more often a way for those with power to manipulate those without. Everytime you allow someone to track something you do you are giving them power to use it against you in anyway they can dream of.
At some point there has to be some sort of revolt against this . . . I'm waiting.
".. says a bright and Clippy voice .."
One line blog. I hear that they're called Twitters now.
(I rue the day when viruses attack these carts, telling everyone to go buy Brand X).
Um, I don't think it is possible to rue an event which has not occurred...
Otherwise I rue the day SCO wins its law suit.
Yvan Eht Nioj!
If store owners are going to shell out for carts like this it tells me that the information they get in return must be very, very valuable.
http://www.rootstrikers.org/
WE had the LCD panel equipped carts at a "snobby" D&W store here... within weeks 1/2 of the carts were missing the LCD screen+electronics, most of the others did not work(make electronics handle 20 degrees F and being rained on hard enough to call it submurged!) because the designers made stupid mistakes... like who is going to charge the shopping carts?
They finally yanked them off all the carts within a 2 month period.
nope wont work, I dont care wh
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
Come on. How many times have looked up something on google and had the "Search for Linux on ebay." junk at the top?
i would love to get a virus into these things; imagine the possibilties;
"stop it, you're hurting me!"
"junk food is crap"
"ugh, are you *really* going to eat that?"
"sugar pops contain heroin!"
"more soda, cart needs more soda"
even a series of bloodcurdling screams or farting sounds would be entertaining. a talking shopping cart is a dumb idea; a hack into them would serve as a great reminder of that.
So, obviously this is going to target women, the elderly, or p-whipped men, 'cause I don't know a single bachelor that uses a grocery cart. At the very most I might grab one of those baskets "for your convenience". help us if they dink with those.
Sierra Tango Foxtrot Uniform
The problem is not the Carts themselves sweeping in on your local grocier to save them from Wal-Mart. After all, if I am annoyed by the carts at my local grocier, I'll leave - go somewhere else. Many of us will. But - if they help the grociers, then they will self-perpetuate. Wal-Mart (always quick on the up-take) and similar alternative stores will use them too.
Then there will be nowhere to turn, excapt to go to the farmer's market for all of your needs. But wait, once they have gone main-stream - why not include them at the farmer's market too? They could become a pervasive technology that no-one who wants to sell will be able to fathom selling without...
So the only answer for everyone who doesn't want these is to immediately vote with your money that you don't find this acceptable. The day you see these carts at a store, tell the manager that you will no longer be shopping there, and really go elsewhere. If the managers see that they are loosing customers, then the problem goes away.
If you do want these at your local grocier, I disagree with you, but let it be.
Remember when a talking shopping cart meant you'd forgotten your foil hat?
*walks into store, gets a cart, starts going down isle*
"Ya can't stop eatin' X brand potatoe chips. They are delicious. And don't forget our breads."
"SHUT UP!!!" *looks for mute button, finds no mute button*
"And don't forget to try some of our meats and veggie packed dinners! Their scrumdittlyupmtious!"
"MOTHERFUCKER!!! I'LL KILL YOU!!! AAAHHHH"
*picks up the cart by the front end, swings it down onto the handle where the device is smashing most of the cart and the device into bits, gets charged with a crapton of stuff, goes to prison for 10 years, never returns to the store again.*
Seriously, most people won't stand up for this kind of abuse. I know I won't. Although the first reaction will be to walk upto the manager and say
"Hi, yea, see this wallet full of money? Becuase your carts give me advertising, I'm not shopping here. I'll do my shopping else where, and go fuck yourself!"
I love how marketers say "well, this is how this works" without saying the "supposed", not how it will work.
Candy-Coated Knowledge
This won't ever happen because it's well-documented that people spend more or less y dollars for every x minutes you spend in store. This leads to things like... Mushroom and tomato soups (most popular varieties) on the bottom shelf; thus, you are
a) more likely to walk past them, and have to come back later and
b) required to visually scan the other soup flavours in order to find what you're looking for, leading to more views of the branding on the can, and making you more likely to make an impulse purchase of a flavour that catches your eye.
Getting you out of the store more quickly is absolutely not going to be something grocery stores are going to want to work towards. If anything, they want you to enjoy your time so much that you'll want to be there longer.
The companies that think giving flashy stuff instead of lowering their prices, are going to get stomped by Walmart, who is delivering to the masses what they need.
how come this isn't in the resume of the human race article further down?
Contemplating these questions require thought. I don't have the energy to think for myself. Why would I strain my mind trying to figure out if I should think more?
Tom Reagan: Think about what protecting Bernie gets us. Think about what offending Caspar loses us.
Leo O'Bannion: Oh, come on, Tommy. You know I don't like to think.
Tom Reagan: Yeah. Well, think about whether you should start.
Miller's Crossing
You want a sig? I can get you a sig... Hell, I can get you a sig by 3 o'clock this afternoon... with nail polish.
McIntosh
Red Delicious
Macintosh
You are now informed.
If you don't want to repeat the past, stop living in it.
"Rue the day... who talks like that?"
-- Real Genius.
I am dyslexia of borg - your ass will be laminated.
I read Moron Shoppping Carts.
What we need are carts that will tell us when we ask for the Twinkie aisle that we are to fat and instead take us to the bananas. What better a dieting tool then ridiculing carts. But unfortunatly these things will likely feed on our inpulse buying habits and we'll all just get fatter and lazier still. *sigh*
Sig? No thanks, I don't smoke.
These shopping carts might work if they will actually help you to shop. I want to be able to scan almost all purchases on the cart. The cart would then wirelessly communicate the purchase information to the register. The register would print the receipt and handle payment options. Anything else the cart does is extra.
I don't need a cart that advertises stuff that is not on sale, that is sold-out, or "goes great with" the product I am purchasing. I also don't need the cart to talk to me, so a mute button is a requirement. Leave talking on by default (for the reading impaired), but make sure that mute button works.
"I rue the day..."
RUE THE DAY?!?!?!
Who says RUE THE DAY !?!?!
-- You can't idiot-proof anything, because they're always coming out with better idiots.
BAHAHAHAHAHAH!
Fool! I'm here, and ready to kill liberals.
Someone could create a handheld device for consumers that would read the RFID tags from items you put in your cart and automatically tell you if the price is better somewhere else or perhaps even print a legit coupon. Let's say you buy this device and a monthly service with it which allows you to use the device's built-in wireless (?) to reach the service site and pull the coupons, which it may have scanned from the web or newspaper for you already.
It could even tell you if the expiration date on the cheese you're buying is frighteningly close to the current date. Push a button and it will scan the nearby shelf for one that's in better shape.
Probably all thought of before, but it's something to think about.
Trolls lurk everywhere. Mod them down.
Do you want fries with that?
Very hard to get shortchanged. Make it out of plastic like us Australians, much harder to forge as well.
Yay me!
No Millcent would dare brosay a molodoy malchick in the ol Staja for crasting your precious Bog. Especially were that malchick your humble Narrator.
Yeah, I do think they just give me the card because...well...they DO. Otherwise, I'd never sign up. And I, too, provide false information. Though I can't remember right now just where my grocery store thinks I live...
Mark my words, it will happen.
shocking little old ladies in Pasadena no end.
"It is a greater offense to steal men's labor, than their clothes"
wasn't $100 *OF* pot? Now, *THAT* might be more in-line with your buying habits.
It's amazing how modern technology can make shopping carts talk but can't fix the one screwed up or non-functional wheel. Can they at least make them not run into cars first?
10 Bits= $.25
100 Bits= $.50
110 Bits= $.75
1000 Bits= 1 byte
when /. banners that are big and white that blend in with the background and you keep clicking on to maintain window focus so that you can scroll down to see the comments are dead and gone.
(Sorry for the moby dick sentence..)
These guys, MCRL and Metro, are doing a major trial in Europe that seems quite successful.
Actually, the stores around here seem to just give a card. If you forget one, you can ask them to use theirs, or just fill out a form on the spot for a new one. They scan the card in the store and never do anything else with it. (That's what I am told.)