Kraft and Intel team up to build a kiosk that knows what food you want

This is a new idea from Intel and Kraft, and it is a kiosk that can apparently scan your face and tell what you want to eat.

What happens is that when the user passes by the kiosk, the digital signage with Anonymous Video Analytics technology can determine the gender and age group and guess what products would be right for you.

Shoppers can even swipe their local market’s loyalty card or their mobile phone, and the smart kiosk will make recommendations based on past purchasing history. It will even allow shoppers to add recipes, shopping lists, to smartphones with a barcode scanner. You can see a video of it after the jump.

I suppose this is good, as my Source says that most homes don’t have much variety in the way of meals. I know my house has dinners of spaghetti, Hamburger Helper, Gyros, chicken, and it gets shuffled around each week.

Of course, this does have an agenda, to sell more Kraft products. Something tells me that you’re going to get a lot of recommendations for Mac and Cheese.

I wonder if all businesses will be trying like this. Are we looking at a future where the front area of the grocery stores will be all kiosks? I just am trying hard to picture that without getting a dystopian image. Now, if there were a way of doing the kiosk from home with a webcam, this would be easier.

This is a new idea from Intel and Kraft, and it is a kiosk that can apparently scan your face and tell what you want to eat.

What happens is that when the user passes by the kiosk, the digital signage with Anonymous Video Analytics technology can determine the gender and age group and guess what products would be right for you.

Shoppers can even swipe their local market’s loyalty card or their mobile phone, and the smart kiosk will make recommendations based on past purchasing history. It will even allow shoppers to add recipes, shopping lists, to smartphones with a barcode scanner. You can see a video of it after the jump.

I suppose this is good, as my Source says that most homes don’t have much variety in the way of meals. I know my house has dinners of spaghetti, Hamburger Helper, Gyros, chicken, and it gets shuffled around each week.

Of course, this does have an agenda, to sell more Kraft products. Something tells me that you’re going to get a lot of recommendations for Mac and Cheese.

I wonder if all businesses will be trying like this. Are we looking at a future where the front area of the grocery stores will be all kiosks? I just am trying hard to picture that without getting a dystopian image. Now, if there were a way of doing the kiosk from home with a webcam, this would be easier.

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How to unlock an iPhone with a ring

I’ve recently got a Motorola Droid X phone (which I will probably review later on this site), and I found that getting yourself a smartphone with a pure touchscreen interface can lead a user to all kinds of security issues.

After all, the screen will activate with any touch, and so anyone with a finger can access my e-mail and possibly the important information available there.

A man named Michael Knuepel has come up with a way to make an iPhone screen accessible with a secret ring. It sounds like something from a spy movie (a bad one) but he’s perfected the proof of concept, as seen in the video after the jump.

I’m not certain how the ring works. Perhaps there is some sort of chip in there that sends a message to the iPhone that the “key is in the lock” so to speak. It reminds me of the days when messages had to be sealed with wax and a specially molded ring.

Granted, the ring in the video looks like something that only Green Lantern would wear, but if it could be put on a normal-sized ring, like a wedding ring or class ring, then we have a marketable iPhone accessory with the bonus of some added mobile phone security!

I’ve recently got a Motorola Droid X phone (which I will probably review later on this site), and I found that getting yourself a smartphone with a pure touchscreen interface can lead a user to all kinds of security issues.

After all, the screen will activate with any touch, and so anyone with a finger can access my e-mail and possibly the important information available there.

A man named Michael Knuepel has come up with a way to make an iPhone screen accessible with a secret ring. It sounds like something from a spy movie (a bad one) but he’s perfected the proof of concept, as seen in the video after the jump.

I’m not certain how the ring works. Perhaps there is some sort of chip in there that sends a message to the iPhone that the “key is in the lock” so to speak. It reminds me of the days when messages had to be sealed with wax and a specially molded ring.

Granted, the ring in the video looks like something that only Green Lantern would wear, but if it could be put on a normal-sized ring, like a wedding ring or class ring, then we have a marketable iPhone accessory with the bonus of some added mobile phone security!

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Skype’s updated app one-ups Apple with mobile video chat

Skype has launched a video chat feature for their iPhone app which adds 3G capability, as well as being able to chat with iPhone 3GS users in a limited one way video basis.

Users who have the iPhone 4 or 4th generation iPod Touch can initiate video calls with friends who use the iPhone 3GS, iPad, and 3rd Generation iPod Touch, while 3rd Gen Apple device users can only receive the video chat and while talking audio only. Mac Desktop users can also jump into the fray using the Skype client.

But what’s really challenging to Apple’s Facetime dominance is that Skype can video chat over 3G, not just WiFi only. And according to Red Ferret, the data usage isn’t too bad, chiming in at about 1.3MB per minute.

Frankly, I’m amazed that Apple approved this update, but it may be that they’ll be announcing a “one more thing” update next month that will do the same.

The Skype App update is free can is available right now at the App Store.

Skype has launched a video chat feature for their iPhone app which adds 3G capability, as well as being able to chat with iPhone 3GS users in a limited one way video basis.

Users who have the iPhone 4 or 4th generation iPod Touch can initiate video calls with friends who use the iPhone 3GS, iPad, and 3rd Generation iPod Touch, while 3rd Gen Apple device users can only receive the video chat and while talking audio only. Mac Desktop users can also jump into the fray using the Skype client.

But what’s really challenging to Apple’s Facetime dominance is that Skype can video chat over 3G, not just WiFi only. And according to Red Ferret, the data usage isn’t too bad, chiming in at about 1.3MB per minute.

Frankly, I’m amazed that Apple approved this update, but it may be that they’ll be announcing a “one more thing” update next month that will do the same.

The Skype App update is free can is available right now at the App Store.

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