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Amazon Go

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Re: Amazon Go

#161

Post by mabbo »

gech wrote: post #120
jtcond13 wrote: post #100

Your periodic reminder that 'retail salesperson' is the most common job in America (~4.5 million). http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2013/04/the-10-m...

It's just a starter job, people shouldn't rely on them as a career, it's their fault, bootstraps, etc. etc.

For the large percentage of Americans who don't have a degree or maybe not even a high school diploma, there is no such thing as a 'starter job'- there's just 'a job'. Heck, for a growing proportion of the population the degree doesn't even help.

We in the tech industry would be wise to remember that we live in an incredibly privileged bubble where careers are real things, where it's easy to find new opportunities.

Re: Amazon Go

#162

Post by agentgt »

I know this is fairly impossible in urban areas but I find myself shopping much more frequently in what I call grocery farms. If you live in affluent suburbias I'm sure you have seen them. They are basically high end grocery stores that sells the produce they grow along with other things they buy from other local farms. Some of the produce is grown inside and seasonal things are grown outside.

Yeah some of them are just for show and an excuse to sell high end stonewall kitchen stuff but others actually grow their own stuff or sell other farms stuff.

The problem with local food (produce and meat) is that they are often not in plastic containers (which I prefer). It looks like Amazon Go requires very prepackaged stuff.

I really would love to see someway to have more farm+grocery stores (that is grow right in the store or very near by). Figuring out a way (even if it requires some GMO) to grow food right in the store would be an amazing thing for the environment, health, and food quality.

The other things is I know people are in a rush with everything but over the last few years I find grocery shopping rather cathartic and I think people used to enjoy grocery shopping (you know go to the butcher and then to the baker kind of european lifestyle). It is shame we have to make something even more "on the go" that I'm not sure needs to be.

Re: Amazon Go

#163

Post by Blue3Wheeler »

This encourages consumerism. It will be hard to take a count of what you're spending. While I wait in the line I always rethink about what I'm buying, sometimes I realize I'm buying something I don't need.

Re: Amazon Go

#164

Post by scrollaway »

strictnein wrote: post #85
scrollaway wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you simply watched the video instead of trying to find a range of shit to complain about in it, maybe you'd notice customers are not scanning anything. The difference between scanning and not scanning is pretty important. https://xkcd.com/1425/

The funny thing is that the bird identification isn't 5 years any more. It's just an API call away https://cloud.google.com/vision/

XKCD 1425 was in September 2014. Randall was a bit pessimistic but it roughly checks out :)

Re: Amazon Go

#165

Post by SCHiM »

TulliusCicero wrote: post #99
SCHiM wrote: post #59

Haha yes, hackers are going to have a field day with this!! I'm sure it's good enough for users which don't actively try to game the system through technical means, but I suspect it won't stand a chance against someone who's taken the time to understand and undermine the system. On another more on-topic note, what an awesome time to be alive! :) When I was younger concepts like this were usually paired with flying ca…

Ah yes, I'm sure there'll be legions of hackers stealing groceries in meatspace for kicks while being watched by multitudes of cameras.

Heh your definition of the word hacker is way too narrow if you think all we're doing to sitting around behind screens all day spouting 31337 sp34k on the interwebz.

No, you're wrong. If it can be done it will be done. It's just too much reward versus the risk. Stealing this way scales too well. In a normal shop the risk of detection is variable, and therefore higher on average. Sometimes people will be alert, sometimes not, sometimes there will be guards sometimes not. Now this is different, it's all down to following the correct number of steps to get the desired results.

If you replace these two stickers, now scan this then switch this...

It'll be down to a few bits in some chip somewhere that decides how much you need to be billed. I'm sure it won't hurt adoption or even lead to a significant increase in lost merchandise, but I'm equally sure it will happen.

Re: Amazon Go

#166

Post by swalsh »

vyrotek wrote: post #29

They will most certainly be tracking a lot more than just you picking up your item. The data they collect about shopping behavior will be interesting. Like, how long I hesitated before I picked up something, what I had already in my "cart" at the time, what deals I looked at but passed on, etc.

I did some contracting for a large retailer many years ago, back then we did some experiments embedding rfid in shopping carts so we could collect data. We learned A LOT from that (don't know if we did it, but we threw around the idea of different UPC codes on candy in the front vs candy in the back during holloween). I wouldn't be surprised if this is one more tool for Amazon to dominate the data collection game.

Re: Amazon Go

#167

Post by aembleton »

scrollaway wrote: post #73
TurboHaskal wrote: post #34

Do they really need "Computer Vision" and "Deep Learning Algorithms" just to scan a product and assoc it with your id? The AI meme is getting ridiculous. PS: I love how the video is based on the US and displays a multicultural, young and health conscious folk, yet not a single obese person is shown :) And how the protein section has chicken, beef and tofu, but no pork products :))

If you simply watched the video instead of trying to find a range of shit to complain about in it, maybe you'd notice customers are not scanning anything. The difference between scanning and not scanning is pretty important. https://xkcd.com/1425/

Funny how that cartoon hasn't aged. There are now APIs such as the Microsoft Computer Vision API that can handle the bird detection: https://www.microsoft.com/cognitive-services/en-us/computer-...

Re: Amazon Go

#168

Post by untog »

draw_down wrote: post #58
bbrks wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the UK, Tesco have been running a 'Scan as you Shop'[0] thing for a couple of years now. Customers pick up a scanner as they enter, scan their items as they go into their cart, and they have special checkouts which read your scanner. There's a random chance that your scanner will be audited by a human against the contents of your shopping cart. Usually the first time you use it, then it backs off. [0] http://www.t…

Sounds great if it's not as unbelievably user-hostile as the self checkout machines. Those things are just total crap, every one I've ever tried.

I had problems with early generations of self-checkout devices, but I have no such problems now. In fact, I will use them whenever I can.

I used to work in a grocery store many years ago though, so it's possible that I have some skills kicking around in my brain that make it easier for me to use them.

Re: Amazon Go

#169

Post by michaelt »

chao- wrote: post #80
draw_down wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sounds great if it's not as unbelievably user-hostile as the self checkout machines. Those things are just total crap, every one I've ever tried.

That's surprising to hear. I love them (at normal grocers, not Sam's Club) because I find I am faster at scanning and checking myself out than at least half of the cashiers I encounter.

Almost all cashiers in my country are under orders to scan things slowly enough that the customer doesn't feel rushed to put them away. There are discount stores (Aldi and Lidl) that don't do this, and the cashiers there scan things much faster.

Re: Amazon Go

#170

Post by Neliquat »

sndean wrote: post #132

Other interesting possible implications of this: 1) The inability to pay with cash (or debit, or check, etc..). 2) No need to carry any form of money in the store. Taken to an extreme where every store runs this way, will people have a need for cash, credit cards, or anything else? Why not just have your bank account attached to your Amazon (and every other account) and have money taken out directly?

As a security guy, that is terrifying.
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