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Walmart Wants To Put Sensors On Everything So It Can Automatically Order You Stuff (theverge.com)
According to a recently published patent spotted by CB Insights, Walmart "describes a system of connected sensors that could monitor customers' product consumption," reports The Verge. "The sensors would be attached to products and rely on a variety of technology, like radio frequencies, Bluetooth, conventional barcodes, and RFID tags." From the report: Walmart doesn't suggest that any one sensor type would work best; rather, it lays out its options. Apparently it has a lot of ideas: these tags would all track how often a product is used and where it's located in a home. They could also help Walmart figure out what other products it could market to users based off their purchases. A tag reader installed on a fridge, for example, could scan every item that goes inside. This reader could then track when food is going bad or needs to be reordered. On the other hand, an RFID system could figure out when a person is picking up their toothbrush and use that information to estimate how much toothpaste is left. It could then be automatically reordered.
Uh, no.
So... I eat a banana, they want a sensor to know when it comes back out again?
This is the most valuable information the world has ever seen!!! EVERYONE SIGN UP NOW!!! WOOHOO!!!
I mean, if im out of something, maybe i don't want more of it. And when I want more of something I'm somewhat brand and price sensitive -- i'll buy whichever of 2 preferred brands of yogurt is cheaper a given week, i might try a new brand if it is on sale, and 4th brand i wouldn't take if they were paying me.
And while I have favorite flavors sometimes i mix it up; or i'll buy 2 flavors of the smaller containers if they're on sale or 1 bigger container if that's the better deal...
And if I'm going on vacation in a couple weeks, i want to start winding my fridge down -- so I won't buy replacement yogurt until i get back.
And that's just yogurt. I do that for everything... don't most people? who just wants the same shit in their fridge all the time, rain or shine, whether they are home or not...
... 93 Escort Wagon begins putting all purchases in the microwave for a few seconds the moment he brings them home.
#DeleteChrome
We want to track EVERYTHING YOU DO IN YOUR HOME
Memo to Walmart: Go to hell!!!
I do not shop at Walmart, ever, for a variety of reasons. Even suggesting such a thing ensures that I will never set foot in a Walmart, EVER. Seriously, who the hell do they think they are!?
How much discount do you get from them gathering information? And if the price increases does it automatically reorder? Is that increase just for you (a la amazon) or for everyone? Does it automatically price compare? Lots of fails here...
Twinstiq, game news
Technology is supposed to make capitalism obsolete.. not magnify it.
Amazon is trying this, what these retailers would like to train you to do is ignore shopping for lowest price and just buy from them. Makes clear sense why they invest in this technology, or a Alexa or apps, or any kind of tool that makes you think less about where your buying stuff. I think WalMart is a dreadful place to shop anymore. Never enough checkouts, self checkout is always a struggle, and takes longer then it should. Gee, the person monitoring self check could be operating a manual checkout. What will kill off WalMart is the obsessive bean counters at WalMart who make poor decisions based on inaccurate data. Amazon succeeds because it still values customer service, and people accept paying a bit more for good service. WalMart is absolutely one of the poorest run retail giants right now.
they think they're going to wire MY house with THEIR sensors?
funniest thing i've heard all day.
This kind of invasive bullshit will be welcomed by the young, ignorant generation who fucking love [latest hipster tech], and will ignore anything Common F. Sense might have to say about privacy.
Those who ignorantly dismiss an Orwellian prediction are doomed to create it.
It says this was being done to reduce employee shrinkage, customer shrinkage, and lastly talked about tracking for reordering.
But, hey, it's not like we believe you.
You do know Google allows us to translate from the original Chinese text, right, Wal*Mart?
-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
This reader could then track when food is going bad or needs to be reordered.
Other than "expiration" or "sell by" date, how would an tag or RFID sensor/reader track when something is going bad? Those dates are almost always very conservative and relying solely on them would lead to a LOT of food waste.
As for "or needs to be reordered", how would it know when to do that? For example, how would the system know how much (say) milk was left in the container? I know I don't always pour an exact cup every time I pull the container.
It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
How long before some bright spark starts up WallyWorld Whacker, The WallyWorld Sensor Detector and Annihilator. Step right up folks, don't let WallyWorld lead you buy the nose. Buy this handy detector which will ferret out WallyWorlds sensors. Touch the sensor to the PowerDot in the center of the Destructo-Wand and knacker that sensor until you hear its death throes. Disposal of sensor can be done at your convenience.
I shop at Wal-Mart. Ever. I don't even like going there with friends/relatives.
The only way they're going to monitor what I do is if their competitors end up selling products tooled for Wal-Mart and Wal-Mart captures the data without my permission.
This looks like a copycat version of Amazon's buttons to reorder crap for you.
I don't really want those, either.
I'm no fan of Walmart. And not to side with the retailers, but––
Most stores already have RFID chips added to the packaging for theft prevention.
There are already stores where you walk in, pick up a cart and scanner, and scan each item as you put it in the cart. Then you walk through the checkout line and tap your credit card and you're out of the store in a minute.
I can also see it being a big win for commercial purchasers. Office managers that want coffee K-Cup and PostIt Note refills to arrive (semi-)automatically without having to go look in the kitchen or the supply cabinet every day to see if they're running low.
But yeah, I don't want anyone automatically sending me more peanut butter.. I might have decided I'm off peanut butter for a while. Or I might alternate between supermarket chains (sorry, I have zero loyalty to any supermarket chain and I can't imagine why anyone would) and I don't need anyone deciding for me that I'm due for a refill.
My friends, please don't lose sight of the fact that we're talking here about Walmart, the company that has raised corporate welfare to the status of "Art", and the people who shop there.
This isn't much different from a farmer chipping his cattle.
I've calculated my velocity with such exquisite precision that I have no idea where I am.
This isn't really shocking or invasive, they are simply conducting market research on their customers to see which products they prefer. They don't need to put sensors though, they should already have this data from the POS equipment showing the sale and item # attached to such. It seems like a waste of money for Walmart and an annoyance to customers.
The stores' computers ALREADY have the data on which items were purchased with which debit/credit card. They *already know* what we buy.
I know that at some stores, if you don't have your receipt handy for a return, they can look up the purchase by swiping your credit card. Which proves that they do store the data, they are *already* saving the data about who buys what. They already know that we buy two gallons of milk from them every week.
They know that we buy product X every 4-8 weeks. The only additional information they'd get is whether I need to restock this week or next. Given that fact, it might be useful if, when I walk into Walmart, their app popped a notification saying "don't forget milk."
Remember when Target marketed pregnancy products to a teenager before she told her family she was pregnant? Now imagine your browser/inbox/snail-mail filling with adverts/emails/brochures because you're running low on condoms, anal lube, hemorrhoid cream, AIDS medication: Your private issues concerning sex and health are now blaring from every medium you use.
When you're buying for a family, the savings can add up. I usually end up saving about $30/week using comparison pricing, and that is the low hanging fruit. The serious coupon shoppers save far more than that.
It's a wonderful technology but how in the world could it be contained? The IRS would love to track spending of people as sometimes they spend a lot more than they claim they earn. Health insurance companies would crave that data as would life insurance companies. And a man might have real problem explaining to his wife why he buys condoms when he never uses them at home. Law enforcement might take a keen interest in the amount of alcohol you use and compare that to your gasoline purchases. And your doctor or hospital might want a hard look at your food buying habits as well. So what percentage of the public wants to be that transparent?
This article is designed to inflame the emotions of the paranoid nerds who read Slashdot. And the fell for it hook, line and sinker.
There are JUST AS MANY middle aged and older people getting on this fucking data mining gravy train as young people, in my experience. The big difference is that the older generations attitude is 'who cares' or 'they wouldn't mistreat me like that!' 'or +++capitalism', whereas the millenial attitude is more of 'it's been like this my whole life' 'convenience, because privacy is dead anyways', or similiar justifications, which make sense after you watched their parents spend the past 15-25 years helicopter parenting them via pager, or cell phone, or dog tracker (ok the last is a BIT of an exaggeration, although I have heard of cars, bicycles, etc with tracking devices on them, in addtion to a cell phone, and active monitoring, especially when they are out with friends.)
What I want is *actuators*. To give those greedy goons feedback. A healthy, resounding smack in the face, for example.
A table type device near the bin in the kitchen, equipped with a barcode scanner.
Scan the barcode on a package as I'm throwing it out, and give me various options for re-ordering it, such as adding it to a shopping cart I can later finalise, creating a shopping list, or perhaps just ordering it straight up.
you could even design it to give you the ability to chose an alternative brand, size, or flavour.
Before this happens
Requiem for the American Dream
From.
Requiem for the American Dream
Argh. 168 percent. Html entities aren't allowed inside bold?
Requiem for the American Dream
Coming to your local Home Depot! Faraday House Wrap!
As if I needed another reason NOT to shop at Walmart...
There is just one special magic feature which should be added to a kitchen computer: a noncontact bar code scanner. That is enough to reorder products. If you notice something is getting low, or you run out, then you scan it to add it to a queue for review. Then you review the queue and hit "order" and bingo, Amazon sends it to your house. It's not like you would actually get it from Wal-Mart, would you?
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
Yet another reason not to trade there.
Your sig here!
I guess they think they're the brick and mortar version of Amazon
I would rather die.
If you purchase anonymously with cash, there's no data to track.
I'm not repeating myself
I'm an X window user; I'm an ex-Windows user
One thing this article is short on is information on HOW the fridge reader is going to get the information back to "home base", and HOW it will be able to order supplies in the fridge owner's name, yet not have the fridge owner's credit card on file.
Obviously this reader will have to have some kind of wi-fi access (and NOT on my personally purchased ISP account!). How soon after these readers are built into the fridge will some crafty hacker find a way to break into the wi-fi signal and use it for free internet access? How soon until they find a way to charge any purchases back to the company that built the fridge?
There is NO possible way something like this can be abused....
mmmhmmmm
"%" is an ASCII character. What did your editor fsck up to turn it into something non-ASCII? Here's a bold example: 168%.
20 January 2017: the End of an Error.
Percent: %
Percent inside blockquote:
Requiem for the American Dream
Interesting...
Requiem for the American Dream
Let's try to duplicate that:
Tried a few variations, but still couldn't break it. Are you editing HTML yourself, or are you using the editor /. provides? I've edited my posts in raw HTML here for the past 19 years, and as long as I stick to ASCII, there have been no surprises.
20 January 2017: the End of an Error.
Yeap, typing it in manually on my phone
Requiem for the American Dream