Earlier quoted context omitted.
The toaster is free, subsidized by burning advertisements into your toast.
Animated ads where the skip button doesn't work.
Unless you apply Skippy™ Brand peanut butter to the toast.
Sorry, we replaced that old technology, “see-through glass”
211–220 of 397 posts
Re: Sorry, we replaced that old technology, “see-through glass”
#212Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think I would go to another store due to this. I think that non-HN type people like my dad or my mom would probably go to another store due to this. Not being able to see what's behind the glass makes it take longer to shop. People abandon webpages that don't load quickly enough - why wouldn't they abandon stores where you have to open each door on an aisle of refrigerators just to see what's available?
Because changing stores is not as easy as clicking away from websites. This could be due to choice of items that are available, price, distance from home/office and so on. And, not to forget inertia/habits. Also, what’s behind those doors is only a part of the shopping list. I think most people will be annoyed, curse it, and then get used to it. I would love to be proven wrong since this is not the direction we shoul…
I probably wouldn’t change stores. But these drinks are impulse buys. I’d be a lot less likely to impulse buy one if I can’t actually see the product.
Re: Sorry, we replaced that old technology, “see-through glass”
#213There's way too much cynicism here and a lack of insight as to how consumer retail works. 'Privacy invasion' aside there's a lot of obvious benefits to this. 1) Impactful Displays - this will increase sales. In your local coffee shop, going from the static nice pictures, to 'active displays' unambiguously generates more attention. It's a little bit like having 'nice photo' menus vs 'empty menus' for regular dining. O…
> generates more attention
Fuck you.
That's really all I have to say about that. I'm sorry this comment doesn't pass the general HN guidelines, but I hope someday you realize why you should feel ashamed for even thinking that this is a good idea.
Re: Sorry, we replaced that old technology, “see-through glass”
#214This concept could actually be nice to present a pretty interface for products wrapped in plain, cheap packages (or no packages at all and served to customers in reusable containers).
Or easy overview and access for nutritional labels, allergy info, price/g, etc.
The technology could improve the customer experience, but of course customer experience is secondary to insights, tracking, and ads.
Re: Sorry, we replaced that old technology, “see-through glass”
#215The year is 2050 and your dingy old toaster has finally given up it's last crumbs. You hop onto Amazon in hopes of finding a suitable replacement as there's no longer any box stores you can travel to. Dumb appliances have been phased out and newer internet connected appliances have taken over. It's better for the consumer they claim. Not wanting an overtly fancy contraption you pick a no frills unit that includes a t…
Later, when it's discovered that the toaster occasionally catches on fire, users are encouraged to pay $9.99 per month for "Toaster Plus," which causes an alarm to play before the fire starts, so that you know to get the extinguisher. Then they let you customize the alarm noise, so that you can choose how to be alerted of the future house fire. Soon, companies get rich selling $3 "toaster fire ringtones." Eventually,…
Toaster plus is 5.99 if you subject yourself to an add prior to toasting.
Re: Sorry, we replaced that old technology, “see-through glass”
#216Off topic but I see one of the cases advertising "organic seltzer". WTF is organic seltzer?!
Is it vegan and gluten-free, though?
Re: Sorry, we replaced that old technology, “see-through glass”
#217There's way too much cynicism here and a lack of insight as to how consumer retail works. 'Privacy invasion' aside there's a lot of obvious benefits to this. 1) Impactful Displays - this will increase sales. In your local coffee shop, going from the static nice pictures, to 'active displays' unambiguously generates more attention. It's a little bit like having 'nice photo' menus vs 'empty menus' for regular dining. O…
There's too much cynicism everywhere nowadays. It seems that modern society has become full-on technophobic. Even HN discussions, which you'd think would be a bunch of technophiles. However, the headline and original twitter thread do especially tend to attract such a crowd. If it was a thread titled ""look at this amazing high-tech convenience store in Tokyo" or something, the discussion may hove gone completely differently.
Though in fairness there's also a more wonkish HN-specific mockery of an over-engineered product failing to perform as well as a cheap pane of glass. I got a tablet PC in the relatively early days and people would joke how their 99 cent notepad graphically outperformed my $2000 fujitsu. But obviously my clunky early tablet PC could do far more other things even then.
Re: Sorry, we replaced that old technology, “see-through glass”
#218Minority report.
Re: Sorry, we replaced that old technology, “see-through glass”
#219Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's not a crazy idea and this likely a prototype and prone to bugs. Transparent displays have been a hot item for a while. The tech has been around for years but it's expensive and has had issues with brightness. They also need to tune the UX to be valuable and not too distracting. I think these will become ubiquitous in 10 years.
This is not a transparent display as far as I can tell. It just renders images of what the inventory system thinks is behind it.
You are correct. I've seen transparent versions of this which are pretty cool. These are just big dumb screens.
Re: Sorry, we replaced that old technology, “see-through glass”
#220Earlier quoted context omitted.
In a land with true capitalism these wouldn't exist because every single store with them would instantly lose all their customers. The only reason this exists is because America doesn't have a true free market or capitalism (because that's impossible) and stores are using their market position to force customers to shop there even though they would prefer not to. What are customers going to do? Go to the other massiv…
Call it what you want, I just called it future because it's already reality for some, clearly. I don't know about you, but for me the amount of ads I see decreased compared to some points in the past. I don't watch TV, I listen to music using a streaming service with a paid subscription, I actively look for interesting stuff to buy, but not because I've seen an ad. Probably because I haven't seen any recently, becaus…
Then why is it that influencers are raking in the dough? Is Madison Avenue just desperately seeking any product placement? Someone's definitely spending ad revenue on TikTok, YouTube, and Facebook.
My media consumption is similar to yours, but I think we're the outliers, or maybe we just slipped between the generational cracks of an evolving but still very consumerist society.