Filed under: Robots

Shopping robots aren’t totally unheard of from a global perspective, but we certainly haven’t seen too many out and about in NY boutiques. Reportedly, that’s about to change — UNIQLO SoHo will soon be home to Mitsubishi’s Wakamaru, a humanoid that can look you in the eye, communicate on a very basic level and somehow help you decide between this dress or that other one over there. Word on the street has it arriving sometime next week, so if any of you regulars happen to see it, let us know just how convincing it is / isn’t.

[Via TokyoMango]

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Filed under: Home Entertainment

Back in May, TiVo’s VP of product marketing got all of our hopes up that the next announcement involving it and Amazon would include HD Unbox content. As you can very clearly see, this is most certainly not the case. Instead, we have the immense pleasure of informing internet-connected Series2, Series3 and TiVo HD owners that they can now buy wares from Amazon without leaving their couch. If browsing through Amazon’s extraordinarily huge store with just a remote sounds appealing to you, you’re in luck (and mildly insane). Also of note, the new Product Purchase feature will enable advertisers to “market products sold through Amazon on any broadcast or cable network, any TV show, or via any of TiVo’s extensive interactive advertising features.” In other words, next time you see Dwight using that iconic shredder, you can buy that bad boy right then and there. Take that, Staples.

[Via Zatz Not Funny]

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Filed under: Cellphones, Robots

Tmsuk is back with even more crazy humanoid antics, this time demonstrating a shopping robot that can be controlled from far, far away. The modified TMSUK-4 humanoid showcased in Kitakyushu, Japan was actually being controlled by an elderly lady in her home via an NTT DoCoMo video-capable cellphone. Essentially, the technology enabled her to see through the eyes of the robot and presumably control its movements via the keypad. We are told that she was able to successfully browse the hat section and finally make a purchase, but who knows how many innocent bystanders were unknowingly mauled in the process.

[Via Pink Tentacle]

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Filed under: Cellphones

It’s been a long, long time since we’ve heard from Germany’s “Future Store” — the ultra-futuristic German grocery store that might have sprung directly from the Sprawl trilogy — but they’ve got a new feature we thought you might be interested in. Shoppers in the store can now use camera-equipped cellphones (i.e., cellphones) to snap pictures of item barcodes, and then download the information at the checkout when they’re finished shopping. The system totals all of your purchases into one big, nasty barcode which you then scan and pony up cash (or cards, or fingerprints, or magical rainbow juice) for. It’s unclear how to store handles shoppers who don’t scan everything they’ve got in their cart, but if it’s anything like our favorite books, it’s not pretty.

[Via PHONE Magazine]

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Filed under: Wireless

Although Wal-Mart is traditionally viewed as a logistics leader and a pioneer in RFID adoption, only 975 of its stores currently utilize the technology. Frustrated by losing sales due to misplaced inventory, the firm is now dead set on rolling out RFID gear into every single North American store, and soon. When complete, over 4,000 locales will be fitted with the equipment, which could net Wally World over $287 million in extra sales by simply having the technology in place to quickly track down wares before a customer heads elsewhere. Of course, it seems but a matter of time before these tags actually make it beyond the crate and onto individual items / shelves, but hey, it’s not like you actually expected Wal-Mart to turn away Big Brother, right?

[Image courtesy of Weka]

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

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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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!