Shopping

It doesn't have quite the appeal of sending a robot to do your shopping, but this Smart Cart service being trialed by SK Telecom could definitely take some of the hassle out of trolling the supermarket aisles. Just launched at the Shanghai Lotus Supermarket in China, the system consists of WiFi-enabled, tablet PC-equipped shopping carts and a smartphone app that can be synchronized with the tablet. By utilizing indoor positioning technology and augmented reality, the shopping "Smart" cart becomes a virtual shopping aide. Read More

The Fits.me virtual fitting room is an online changing room where you simply enter your sizing statistics and a robotic mannequin models how various sizes will look on your torso - all from the comfort of your own home. Among a host of advantages, the virtual fitting room saves time - the one commodity destined to always be in short supply and solves the single biggest problem for online fashion retail - the lack of a fitting room.

When it was introduced for men last year, sales to new customers increased by 57%, and sales to international customers doubled. Now it's available for women too. Read More

Of the various cycling goodies that were on display last week at the 2011 International Taipei Bicycle Show, one that stood out for its ingenuity was the Amxma Simple One folding bike. Made by Taiwan’s Long Antelope Enterprise Company, the Simple One is for the most part just like any other folding bicycle – what makes it special is the fact that when it’s folded up, it can be wheeled into your local grocery store and used as a shopping cart. Read More

Window shopping of the future will be exactly that, with consumers able to make purchases from in front of the store, even after hours. Using 3D imaging technology, researchers in Germany are developing a system capable of recognizing facial gestures and hand position, so that shoppers can control a digital shop window display. The system allows for transactions, and can collect data on shopper trends without collecting personal data such as facial recognition. For those germ-conscious shopaholics who think public touchscreens are a conduit for nasties, this is the interactive shop window for you. Read More

If you’re like me, the idea of clothes shopping – let alone having to try on multiple sizes of shirts in a tiny dressing room – is downright tedious and a waste of my precious time. So you’ll understand my interest in the Fits.me virtual fitting room. It’s an online changing room where you simply enter your sizing statistics and a robotic mannequin models how various sizes will look on your torso – all from the comfort of your own home. Read More

For most of us here in Gizland, technology and gadgetry have become central to our very existence. Given the huge advances seen in recent years, where will be ten years from now? Frog Design has been doing some serious pondering on this very subject and has recently presented a vision of what our increasingly computer-centric lives might be like in the year 2020. Read More

They say money can't buy you happiness, but if your money is spent on 'experiential purchases' and not consumer goods, then perhaps it can. Research from Cornell University has found that spending money on material goods only brings short term happiness, while experiences provide greater satisfaction long term. Read More

The Sense concept designed by CD&I Associates is a wireless device that will, it's claimed, offer a "more emotional connection between users and experiences" through touch and smell. It aims to give users haptic, thermal and olfactory sensations while playing games, watching movies and shopping online via a tactile hand sheath and flavor-ink printed output. Read More

For some elderly citizens the simple act of shopping can prove daunting and an assistant or carer may be required to help out. Aiming to help increasingly (if sometimes reluctantly) tech-savvy seniors, is Robovie II - a robotic assistant that takes a pre-transmitted shopping list and follows the customer around the store, carrying their goods while communicating and even offering suggestions. Read More