Online kiosk-like IRL shopping center

Imagine a mega mall filled with specialty type items like wearables, to expensive appliances, medical or technological devices, but the purpose is not to leave with any physical products. Once you find what you like, it would be shipped to you. The reason for not stocking product for immediate distribution is because this is only about the shopping selection process. The mall would only need to stock of one or two of each product in each size. Users come in to try-on, and physically handle products in niche categories, that would classify as "wish I could try it once first, but heck, I'll just order one of these 5 options online". Users would get a firsthand feeling before commiting to an expensive permanent purchase. Sure it would be annoying to have a to wait a few days for the purchases, but that's how it is when you order online anyway. At least this way, you can try several higher end models, whereas when shopping online that would be costly or impractical, and you would need to just pick one.

Type tone

Using alpha numeric keyboards or telephone number buttons - to transmit information instantaneously. So that in billing situations, you don't need to to shout out your personal details for 10 minutes. Rather I ought to be able to input and transmit this data with my telephone or PDA keyboard, in a non obtrusive way (no loud tone noise for the receiving party). The info should instantly appear in on their monitor. This sort of exists with automated phone ordering systems, but that's not as seamless as it could be.

Coinage currency condensed

Imagine a bus pass sized card which slips into either a credit card terminal or some special reader/interceptor to eliminate the purpose of coin change. Basically the card holds a maximum of $50 lets say, and its purpose is to replace change, and fit in the wallet. I dont think this needs much more explanation, it seems very simple.

Check Please

[this idea is currently under development in a major technology institute. Copyright 2005]

Imagine a standard electronic interface to be added to tables in restaurants. this would have only a few buttons, with basic icons similar to the icon for the stewardess in the airplane. The icons would be: (1) Need waiter (2) Urgently need waiter (3) Need check. This way you avoid a situation where your waiter is standing over you and you arent ready to order, or, you are engaged in a conversation, and similarly, when you want the check, it just as well prints out from your table (with the below extension)

Here is the spec I set up for our MBA team:

The problem: A waiter, poking his/her head around, looking anxiously to see if his customers have enough bread, and water, and if they are ready to order, or still conversing, or are ready to leave.

The solution: A merging of refurbished hardware and technological ingenuity geared for an efficiency promoting solution.

Refurb Palm Pilots are programmed to use their IR ports, which carry beams a distance of approx 30 feet, to a receiver. The palm pilots have a basic drawn map of the restaurant (tables and setting). The patron can press one of 3 basic button symbols on a controller on the side of the table, thinner and less than the size of a credit card.

Once the patron is ready to order he can click a button for such cause. Once ready to leave, or if they need to call upon their waiter to visit them for any reason, he should do so upon seeing their symbol light up.

Implications for other types of IR communication, as well as digitizing the written-out-check process are discussed in phase 2

A variety of possible applications ranging from airline style stewardess controls, to napkin holders embedded with a more powerful IR beamer are under development

Further implications of replacing the older demeaning ‘bell’, are a mood light which hangs slightly over the table with certain detections of anxiousness.

The overall purpose of this project is to increase productivity of a waiter- per-table and the connotations that can have on electronic dining of the future

Project Checkout Deliverables:
An actual marketable product based on appropriate research, data communication, technology applications, wireless applications, XML code.

long line at register

It baffles me how we can place barcodes on products, yet we cant build a gateway you walk the shopping cart through, to auto scan every item and simply give you a total price. This would enable you to:

Pack your groceries as you shop, and not need to repack and unpack them in the checkout line

No need to hire people to work the checkout register

harder to steal products by sneaking them past checkout operators eyesight if scan methodology improves