Amazon Offers Solution To Long Checkout Lines

The cart, which Amazon unveiled on Tuesday, uses cameras, sensors and a scale to automatically detect what shoppers drop in. It keeps a tally and then charges their Amazon account when they leave the store. No cashier is needed.

The online shopping giant opened a cashier-less supermarket in Seattle that uses cameras and sensors in the ceiling to track what shoppers grab and charge them as they leave. Amazon.com Inc. also has roughly 25 cashier-less convenience stores with similar technology.

 

 The cart, called Amazon Dash Cart, will first show up at a new Los Angeles supermarket Amazon is opening later this year.

The questions here.

Does Amazon continue to open their own cashier-less stores and take on Costco? 

Does Amazon license this technology out to other stores?

Does Amazon ad a display and offer ads while browsing in the store?

Does Amazon create their OWN ad network with these carts?

Product Placement In Social Networking Games..Google's Investment In Zynga Makes More Sense

Product placement within online games..a huge advertising opportunity.

Now we know why Google just sunk a bunch of money into Zynga.

What happens when your online activity encourages you to visit/purchase from a brick and mortar retailer?

FaceBook has your profile, they can provide relevant ads to you, but online games don't have that dynamic ability..or do they?

What if there was a way an online game could change ads based on the user?

The Internet has shifted a majority of commerce from brick and mortar stores to e-commerce powerhouses. That trend may be changing.

Zynga (and their wildly successful FarmVille) have teamed up with Cascadian Farm, a subsidiary of General Mills, to drive online game players to purchase organic fruit.


Next week, FarmVille will, for the first time, offer its pretend farmers a specific food brand. Players will be able to plant an organic blueberry crop from Cascadian Farm, a subsidiary of General Mills.

The objective is for FarmVille users to learn about organic farming and green living, and at the same time, earn additional points to grow fruits and vegetables or raise animals on their virtual farms. Cascadian Farm executives say they hope that the company can expand its food niche and make itself better known by increasing awareness among FarmVille’s audience.





full story from IHT




The fastest growing site you've never heard of Little Clicks Add Up


Have a great idea? We Invest In Great Ideas

The Internet...The New Nielsen Rating?

Your set top box is getting ready to include millions of new "TV channels" and the advertising industry will once again be turned upside down.


Eric Schmidt spoke at the Abu Dhabi Media Summit and CNN lists his Top 5 Moments From Eric Schmidt.

The paragraph that caught my eye.

Similarly, he suggested that TV producers should soon begin releasing shows online before they appear on TV. Why? Not because the online audience is more lucrative than TV – it’s not – but because the Internet provides a test bed where content creators can find out what will resonate with an audience.

Kind of like fail fast, fail cheap.

Many popular TV shows have already started to do this with "webisodes".

The question I have is this.

What happens when every video capturing device is Internet enabled and bandwidth/Internet access is ubiquitous?

I discussed how Google could become the Dynamic Nielsen Rating Giant.

When Johnny's soccer game can be streamed live on the Net and Grandma can watch it, think of the disruptive effect it will have on advertising.

The Internet will eventually be one massive set top box with millions of new "TV channels".



Turn gadgets into royalties. We Invest In Great Ideas

Microsoft Buys Aquantive....Know What's Next?

A flurry of acquisitions in this space has me pondering.

WPP Group acquires online ad company 24/7 Real Media for $649m

Google buys Doubleclick for $3.1B

Today Microsoft buys online advertiser Aquantive for $6b cash.

The race to measure and deliver advertising via PC is picking up.

It has been said that "50 cents out of every advertising dollar is wasted, and we don't know what 50 cents is". Online ad clicks have increased the effiency of the advertising dollar.

Something to ponder.

What if there was a way to measure (in real time), eyeballs and the download activity on ALL DEVICES connected to the pipe coming in the home?

This would then allow advertisers to deliver relevant and timely ads to ALL of these devices.

How much would this be worth?

Thoughts comments?