Vending Touchscreen

As I mentioned in an earlier post about touchscreen technologies we saw at CES, touchscreens were being applied from cell phones to computers and netbooks. However, there was one application I failed to mention – retail vending. As seen in the photo here, Coke worked with touchscreen technology to create a vending machine for their products. As you can see in the photo, it was anactual working Coke machine (dispensing drinks for free at CES to attract more attention). The touchscreen on the front allowed them to run promotions attracting attention (when someone wasn’t buying a coke). The user interface with the screen to select your drink and make a purchase was extremely easy. I couldn’t tell if it worked like the Microsoft Surface (where you can just put your credit card up against it to pay), or allowed you to connect to an online bank (i.e. Paypal) to pay for your coke, but if it doesn’t I’m sure they’ll get there soon.

News via Social Media

Well, I just found out – via a friend’s status update on Facebook – that there was a U.S. Air plane that crash landed in the Hudson River (about an hour ago). I first turned to the usual places, CNN, NBC, etc. and thought I’d see if there was anything on Twitter. Sure enough, I found a person on twitter who was actually on one of the Ferry boats going out to rescue people(http://twitter.com/JKrums) and had taken a picture with his (I assume) cellphone and also posted it to Twitter. Not only did “JKrums” photo posting to twitpic.com seemingly shut down the site (due to heavy traffic), but I watched as his Twitter “followers” grew from around 500 to nearly 1000 in the last 15 minutes or so (that guy’s email must be insane with Twitter notifications of new followers… although he seems to be responding as the number of people he’s “following” seems to be growing almost as fast). It’s a sign of the rise of citizen journalism and by being in the right place, at the right time, with the right equipment can make you an instant “journalist.”

UPDATE: In the time it took for me to write this, JKrums added an additional 150 followers (he’s up to around 1100) and is now following that many more people as well.

UPDATE 1/16/09: JKrums is up to over 2700 followers now and twits that he’s making appearances on Good Morning America and other shows.

UPDATE 1/16/09 approx. Midnight: JKrums now has over 3100 followers.

Touchscreens and Movement

One of the prevolent technologies at this year’s CES was touchscreens and new ways of movement/navigation – from phones and displays to videogames, there was a big focus on this interactive element. Take a cue from the iPhone, many of the cell phone makers at CES were eager to show off their own touch-screen models, from the Blackberry Bold to the new Palm Pre, the new standard for cell phones is touch screen. However, this touch-screen revolution isn’t just for phones, many computers, tablet PCs, and netbooks featured touch screen technology as a way to replace the mouse. Most of what we saw was pretty good, but (more…)

CES 2009

I’m getting ready to head to the 2009 International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. All of the new technology toys, tools, and gadgets will be on display there – too bad Christmas is over. I’ll try and give some updates on the stuff I see and do while there. Vegas baby, Vegas.

Loving Skype

I’ve had Skype for a while now, but could never find anyone else I knew on their search tool. Finally, over the holidays my brother-in-law mentioned he had it as well. We used it to video conference with his family a few times over the holidays. It was great to be able to see them and chat face to face. Now I only wish my parents were able to get a high-speed connection out where they live… I know they’d enjoy video chatting with the kids.