Filed under: Handhelds

C’mon, we’ve all done it. Standing vigilantly in front of the DVD section, our mind races to remember whether or not we already own Land Before Time 11: Invasion of the Tinysauruses, and in a fit of frustration, we make the purchase anyway only to come home and find it sitting peacefully in one of the thirteen movie racks. If that hits home, you should definitely take a peek at Groqit — a handheld barcode scanner that prefers to be called a “personal inventory management system.” Owners simply scan in every book, CD and DVD they own, take it along for any future shopping sprees and use it to tell whether or not they’ve already purchased a given title. It should be noted, however, that it doesn’t play nice with jewel cases, but apparently, the manufacturer thinks the $95 price tag more than compensates. Honestly, is the return process that much of a hassle?

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Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

At this point we’ve seen so many variations on the “smart shopping cart” concept bubble up and fail we’re pretty jaded, but the latest version, from Electronic Data Systems, seems like it almost maybe has a chance. Unlike previous concepts, the EDS model is built around the humble bar code: swiping items as you place them in your cart lets you keep a running tally of nutritional information, ethical sourcing, and environmental impact, letting you modify your purchasing decisions simply and quickly. Keeping it simple might be the winning strategy here, but we’re not going to be convinced until the carts at our local can do more than just veer straight left.

[Via Vegetarian Organic Blog]

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