Hasta La Gadget!

This marketing analysis tool, under development by Fujitsu, uses technology to sense people’s movement. By analyzing how customers behave in response to merchandise, entirely new kinds of marketing information will be obtainable.

“This exhibit is designed with retail stores in mind. The system determines how people choose products, whether they were interested in a product already, and what products they compare, using Kinect and a camera.”

With regular POS systems, the only information obtained is how much merchandise has been sold. But by using this system, it’s possible to find out how customers acted while contemplating the purchase of a product. This system could help with marketing by showing how customers behaved when they were thinking about buying a product, but didn’t complete the purchase.

“For example, we think this system will make it possible to analyze how a person considered two products, found it hard to decide between them, and finally chose one of them. It’ll enable analysis to go deeper, regarding whether a person who had difficulty deciding was a man or woman, and how old they were.”

“Rather than using this system by itself, we think it could be used in conjunction with RFID tags and other sensors. Also, rather than using Kinect to detect people coming and going, it could be combined with more specialized sensors. In fact, all this system does is collect data, so when it comes to analysis, it could be cross referenced with point of sale data and big data, or the system could be used to correlate information regarding the effectiveness of introducing customer loyalty points programs. So, we hope this system will be utilized in combination with Fujitsu’s all-round solutions.”

Event: Fujitsu Forum 2013

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Three years, three games. Skylanders Swap Force — the latest crossplatform entry in the mega-successful Skylanders game franchise — cements Activision’s annual approach to its “toys to life” series. The games merge toy figurines with RFID technology to allow in-game avatar representations of the toys to move from game console to game console, all the while storing unique information about that character. It’s essentially the equivalent of how fighting games work in Japanese arcades, albeit with children’s toys and a relatively simple action game: you level up your character, which is tied to your toy, and it can be used to continue earning experience on a variety of game consoles.

The second iteration brought Giants to the world of Skylanders. This year, Activision’s in-house studio Vicarious Visions (known for working on powerhouses like Guitar Hero and Tony Hawk Pro Skater previously) is taking the series in another direction, keeping original Skylanders, the second game’s Giants, and adding a new twist in swappable characters.

Yes, despite the image above of a half-octopus swashbuckler, this year’s innovation isn’t destructible characters. That sword in his right … hand and the water pistol in his left can be replaced on another swappable character’s bottom half — its motion component — creating an altogether new character. With 16 new characters, that means 256 combinations altogether; an enticing proposition to fans, and a potentially comforting thought to parents hounded by kids for new pieces every week. But it’s not just swappable characters that are new in Swap Force. Activision’s touting this entry as the first Skylanders entry to’ve been built from the ground up in HD. That’s a notable change for the franchise, marking Activision’s focus shifting from Nintendo’s Wii to the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, as well as Nintendo’s Wii U. Oh, and there’s jumping. You can jump in this one.

Filed under: Gaming, Peripherals, Software, HD

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Reports of an amazing story concerning a lost cat have turned up this week. A couple who owned a four-year-old cat named Holly took her on vacation, 200 miles from home. While they were there, the cat ran away and they couldn’t find her anywhere. The couple eventually gave up looking and had to return home, figuring they would never see their beloved kitty again.

You can imagine their surprise when a month later they received a call from their hometown vet that their cat had turned up there. That means that somehow Holly traveled 200 miles and found her way home.

Not Holly the Cat

The cat was found in a part of West Palm Beach, Florida where Jacob and Bonnie Richter reside. Some people on the other side of their town found Holly, and took her to the vet because she was weak and thin. The veterinarian discovered that Holly was implanted with a tracking chip and called the Richters to come pick her up. Apparently, some cats have integrated GPS. This is even more amazing because our cat won’t come to me from across the couch.

[via Science Recorder]

Nintendo’s Reggie Fils-Aime may have straddled a full-sized Mario Kart replica for publicity, but Waterloo Labs‘ DIY version goes several steps better with actual gameplay dragged out from the console to the race track. Taking four regular go-karts, and then strapping on RFID readers, pneumatic launchers, and various servo-controls of the steering and throttle, the real-life drivers can boost their performance by grabbing RFID-tagged boosters hanging over the course, and sabotage rivals by shooting at them.

Just as in the classic SNES racing game, different items around the track have different effects on the go-cart. Get a mushroom, for instance, and the speed of the Mario Kart is boosted for five seconds, having been artificially limited to 75-percent of full throttle.

However, the RFID-tagged plastic bananas cause the pneumatics to automatically lock up one side of the steering for three seconds, causing the go-cart to swerve uncontrollably. Since all of the carts are hooked up wirelessly, some items can apply a penalty to all the other drivers when collected, for instance automatically slamming on their brakes.

A 120psi cannon on the side of each of the carts can be used to blast other drivers, again causing their brakes to lock or their steering to go wonky. Unfortunately, the Mario Kart race track Waterloo Labs set up was only temporary, but the team has released the source code in case you have the space and inclination to build your own.

[via MAKE]

Forget mobile payments, real-life Mario Kart is the best use ever for RFID is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
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Some time soon, you’ll be able to go to Disney theme parks and pay for stuff using nothing but wireless bracelets. It’s magic! Or uh, is it laid-bare commercialism desensitizing visiting families from the wads of cash they’re spending? More »