Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Sorry, we replaced that old technology, “see-through glass”

twitter.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

311–320 of 397 posts

Re: Sorry, we replaced that old technology, “see-through glass”

#311

Post by chakhs »

sillysaurusx wrote: post #153
ergot_vacation wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a rough estimate, what percent of US economic activity is large piles of money being tossed into a flaming dumpster for the sake of someone's ego? Because every year it seems higher.

Eh, that’s also how projects happen at all, though. The failed ones seem like it was for the sake of someone’s ego. But you need a bit of ego, in a big corporate setting. I think TFRC was an ego project, rather than an egoless project. Yet TFRC was a wonderful project that happened to work; if it failed, it might seem like an ego project with no point. I don’t like saying “you need ego,” but it also seems true that y…

What is TFRC?

Re: Sorry, we replaced that old technology, “see-through glass”

#312

Post by rightbyte »

14 wrote: post #53
tantalor wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> will be replaced with an ad I'm not sure what that means. These already are ads. They are directly advertising the products literally inside the case.

Yes but a short video of a person eating a delicious slice of that frozen Delicio Pizza surely will get your mouth watering. And if they can also tell you soap is on sale you may buy that before you leave. They know you need soap because the last time you bought some on your loyalty card was 2 months ago.

Sure but why not just have ordinary TVs in the roof proclaiming sales?

Now that I think about it, I have not seen those TVs since the 90s. Maybe they drove the retail workers mad.

Re: Sorry, we replaced that old technology, “see-through glass”

#313

Post by rswail »

monkeydreams wrote: post #91

Solutions always breed more problems. The trick is to have a solution that, on balance, solves a more costly problem than it creates. These doors do not feel like they solve any customer problems (I have never needed an electronic UI to see through glass) and instead give birth to a huge maintenance burden that the retailer will not be willing to meet.

You're making the assumption that retailers want solutions for their customers. They don't. They want customers to buy their stock.

This is about selling more stock. It's also about selling the attention of their customers to manufacturers of their stock. A customer at the store is two things, one is a buyer of the store's stock, the other is inventory to be sold to manufacturers.

Grocery stores are self-service warehouses that sell access to their shelves to manufacturers.

That's why manufacturers pay the stores for shelf access (eg middle vs upper/lower) and why staples like milk are at the back of the store, while good looking fruit and vegetables are at the front.

Re: Sorry, we replaced that old technology, “see-through glass”

#314

Post by Freak_NL »

ptx wrote: post #290
dvtrn wrote: post #189

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A link to an exerpt: https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2020/01/unauthorized-bread-a-...

(The excerpt contains the story in its entirety. It's excerpted from a book that consists of multiple stories.)

Radicalized (2019). Four novellas, including the bread one. I just happened to have read it last week; it's a solid collection of stories. Model Minority from that collection is a good story as well.

Re: Sorry, we replaced that old technology, “see-through glass”

#315

Post by npteljes »

ivegotnoaccount wrote: post #239
makeitdouble wrote: post #206

I’m lost in these comments. It’s been years that opaque vending machines representing pictures of the content at eye level are out in the world [0] and there’s so many people reacting as if that is the rubicon that should never be crossed. I’m not in favor of more animated shinny ads shoved into our eyeballs, but we already had the screens everywhere and there already seemed to be no way to go back without town regul…

There are several differences between the two: - Vending machines don't stop displaying what they sell to show ads - Vending machines that were not designed by monsters show you things that are not in stock anymore, this thing does - Vending machines often aim at impulse buying in locations where you don't really have alternative. Here, we're talking about actual stores, to which people often go several times a week.…

I encountered plenty of vending machines where the stock is completely out of sight, and your only choice is buttons. The friendlier of these would display "out of stock" when you press a button and the item is out of stock, the less friendly would just make your coffee without sugar if it's out of sugar, or even sugary creamer water if it's out of coffee.

Re: Sorry, we replaced that old technology, “see-through glass”

#316

Post by scollet »

quicklime wrote: post #117

Everyone's complaining about ads. But just like on the web, ads aren't the problem, tracking is. https://twitter.com/RunDaltonRun/status/1408578486046887939 This thing is for tracking what you look at, and is supposed to help the store figure out how to "optimize" their shelf.

Ads are one part of the problem. And they are a major problem. And they are one of the easier problems to tackle.

Re: Sorry, we replaced that old technology, “see-through glass”

#317

Post by Matheus28 »

bjterry wrote: post #89
fpgaminer wrote: post #60

This is obviously a comically idiotic idea, but ... hmm ... If someone had taken this and put it in a museum as an art installation, I would love it. Thinking about it like that ... it tickles something in my brain. Using those absolutely huge, gorgeous screens, using our most sophisticated technology ... just to display a flat, bland, skeuomorphic representation of a completely mundane part of the human experience:…

There is an art installation in Las Vegas[0] which is basically a grocery store from an alternate, mildly dystopian, dimension. This would fit in perfectly there. 0: https://www.travelandleisure.com/culture-design/visual-arts/...

That place looks amazing, thanks for the link.

Re: Sorry, we replaced that old technology, “see-through glass”

#318

Post by oort-cloud9 »

bcrosby95 wrote: post #170
burnt_toast wrote: post #127

The 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…

2 years later, Amazon discontinues updates on the toaster. No one notices, but it still toasts. 8 years later, people hack them and cause them to burn down some houses. Of course, it was the owner's fault - they were running a discontinued toaster that wasn't receiving software updates anymore.

The jacked toaster locks all your smart doors and windows and demands ransom to open them and let you out. Your update-less hacked smart TV is on it as well.

Re: Sorry, we replaced that old technology, “see-through glass”

#319

Post by oort-cloud9 »

burnt_toast wrote: post #127

The 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…

Seriously though, I love my smart lights so far. I tell Google to turn them on /off, and it does almost without a hitch.

Re: Sorry, we replaced that old technology, “see-through glass”

#320

Post by arvinsim »

burnt_toast wrote: post #127

The 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…

This sounds like one of Cory Doctorow’s short stories in his Radicalized book.
Post reply on HN