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Non-Tech : Binary Hodgepodge -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: ~digs who wrote (540)	1/16/2003 4:47:16 AM
From: ~digs	Respond to of 6763

The GlobalTuner InTune200 news.bbc.co.uk This unit uses a two-way wireless data link to send music and information from the computer to the radio. If the PC is connected to the internet, you can listen to one of the thousands of internet radio stations. Or you could simply play back any songs on the computer's hard drive. The InTune can also just be used as an FM radio set and has been deliberately designed to look and feel like a normal radio.

To: ~digs who wrote (540)	5/14/2003 12:05:58 PM
From: ~digs	Respond to of 6763

Retail future: painless checkout, knowing scanners By Paul Hoskins BERLIN, May 13 (Reuters) - Bean tins with radio transmitter chips, smart shelves that know when to restock and automatic checkout simply by pushing a loaded trolley past a sensor -- supermarket fantasy? No, it's German retail giant Metro AG's (MEOG) vision of the near future, already ringing up the tills in the sleepy northern town of Rheinberg. Metro's "Future Store Initiative," a collection of technology aimed at boosting store efficiency, micro-marketing and ending long checkout queues, is also on display here at the Efficient Consumer Response (ECR) conference, where Europe's major retailer and consumer brands are plotting the future of shopping. Metro and its partners, including chip giant Intel (INTC) and software group SAP (SAPG), are seeking to usher out the decades-long reign of the bar code in favour of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) chips, which can provide information passively and are now as small as half a grain of rice. When queried by a radio device, RFID chips respond by transmitting a unique ID code, often using energy from the initial radio signal to power their reply. As the RFID technology falls in cost -- to as little as three cents per chip in the next three years -- they are expected to appear on an ever-widening array of products. "This feels to me like a watershed," says John Davies, Intel's vice president for solutions channels. "It's going to change the way retailers do their business and, over time, the way people shop," he said, comparing it to the way that cash machines revolutionised retail banking. SMART COOKIES Nestled close to the Dutch border, the Rheinberg store looks much like other plain-box supermarkets blotting the outskirts of European provincial towns. But inside, consumers carrying loyalty "smart" cards are greeted by name on shopping cart computer screens, which, based on past shopping patterns, guides them to special offers, such as that elusive packet of vine ripened tomatoes. The screen displays a tally of the total cost of items in the cart. Scattered around the shop, dutiful computer displays stand ready with further assistance. Scanning a 3.89-euro bottle of Dornfelder Pfalz in front of one such machine tells the shopper that the medium-dry red wine should be drunk at between 12 and 18 degrees Celsius. A printout follows with the recipe for Chicken Snacks with Quick Dips as a serving suggestion to accompany the wine. RFID information sent to computer networked shelving will send an automatic signal when stock needs replenishing, enabling better store inventory control. The death of till queue misery could be at hand with sensors to ring up the total cost of items in the cart and automatically debit a bank or charge account. This tickled the fancy of local Rheinberg legend, supermodel Claudia Schiffer, who was on hand to open the store a fortnight ago and shared her former shopping gripes. "I always found standing in a queue at the till dreadful," she said. BIG BROTHER WORRIES But for all its convenience, civil liberties advocates claim the RFID technology behind the Future Store Concept could create an Orwellian world where every purchase can be easily traced and monitored. Sales clerks and law enforcement officials, with the wave of a wand, may soon be able to read the contents of a handbag. "The worry is that they could be trackable," said Maurice Wessling, co-director of information technology rights group Bits of Freedom. "Then it stops being a logistics tool and becomes a tracking device." Those running Metro's Future Store Initiative are anxious to allay such fears, insisting that technology to disable the chips at the point of purchase will soon be in place. "Shopping is about consumers. If it doesn't feel safe or right for them then they're not going to shop," Intel's Davies said. finance.myway.com