Mobile POS in Retail

Technological advances are important in many aspects of the economy. A major concern is the jobs and employment opportunities it takes away from the public. A well-known advantage of how information technology reacts with the public is how it helps business better tailor to the customers. Information technology advances in businesses efficiently and effectively help decrease cost and improve managements power to regulate its business. For example, retail stores have used what is known as mobile point-of-sales (POS) technologies to help with the well known deficiencies of POS, or checkout, offices.

Point-of-sales offices are better known as the cash registers and cashiers which customers wait in line for to finish a transaction and pay for a good. This original idea is obviously wide spread in brick-and-mortar business. As these businesses try to keep up and compete with newer online businesses, they don't only try to move more products via internet, they are trying to use technology to help inside their physical store. It is possible to have even more than 10 customers in a line at a time and this can cause on out of ten of them to just leave. This can result in a decrease of sales. Also, even if a customer may not actually just leave the store, the experience of a long line might result in less of a desire to revisit the store, decreasing demand.

Mobile POS can be used to help improve in this area of a business. Mobile POS can help by having sales reps and mobile cashiers around the stores with POS machines (like the one in the picture shown above) and have customers checkout while in store, without having to reach the front of the store cashiers. It will print out a receipt, just as a regular register transaction. Also, these mobile POS cashiers can walk along the long lines at the register and help condense lines by checking out the customers on the spot, before even getting to the register. Information technology is helping the enterprise market by using wireless LAN technology to help businesses avoid problems dealing with customer satisfaction.


Sources:
http://www.arubanetworks.com/pdf/technology/whitepapers/wp_Retail_advances.pdf
http://www.mobileedgetech.com/site/images/device_mobilePOS2.JPG

Farms of the future.

Farmers might be some of the most old fashioned people around. Tricks of the trade are passed down from generation to generation  with no real variation from the norm. To stay competitive and try to optimize every harvest (and monitor livestock) the farmers of today are looking to technology for a competitive advantage. Precision agriculture has completely revolutionized how the farmers of today run their farms. Precision agriculture uses predictive analytics to allow farmers to see real time data pertaining to soil and air quality, weather conditions and even real time imaging of crops and livestock

What are the benefits? Well first and foremost it provides farmers with data on when and where to plant their crops to ensure an optimal harvest. It also allow farmers the ability to monitor livestock to avoid lost or stolen animals. The farms of the future are going to steer away from the tried and true turn to the shiny and new to  stay afloat in todays economy. What do you think will be the effects of these technological advances? What other advances do you think could advance the agricultural industry?

 

Source: http://www.theaustralian.com.au/technology/tracking-technology-is-helping-farmers-take-stock/story-e6frgakx-1226656458095#

 

 

3-D Printing: Future of Manufacturing?

So I was reading about this relatively still "new" technology: 3-D Printing.  It’s been around for around 30 years now, not perfected but its steadily transforming into something quite interesting.  Around the early 1980s Charles W. Hull, the man claimed to be the first to discover the idea, began with the Stereolithography (SLA) technique.

The First 3-D Printer

The basic definition: a technique or process for creating three-dimensional objects, in which a computer-controlled moving laser beam is used to build up the required structure, layer by layer, from a liquid polymer that hardens on contact with laser light.  Basically you can create a 3 dimensional prototype of almost any object that you can design through Computer Aided Design (CAD).

Since then, there have been hundreds of open source 3-D printers created.  Some of the materials used in these printers are common like plastic or metal.  This type of manufacturing is called "additive manufacturing" because instead of using regular industrial machines that drill, cut and shape, thus wasting material, it adds material layer by layer. 

Although these printers are not quite optimal for creating hefty or even stable objects such as car parts or household items like a coffee machine they are able to create parts of objects, toys, or even simple things like cups and plates.

There are concerns that 3-D printing will open up many possibilities, even unsafe ones.

I have included a documentary video about 3-D printing gun part.  It is interesting that only 30 years ago this was being created.  I am sure its not at its optimal state right now but as fast as technology is advancing, I will not be surprised if in a few years this will be even more mainstream.  How will this effect the manufacturing industry or even companies in general? How and where do you see these printers being used for in 5 or 10 years?  Do you think maybe one day they'll be used for heavy manufacturing?  What about safety?

Sources:

 http://www.pcmag.com/slideshow_viewer/0,3253,l=289174&a=289174&po=1,00.asp

 http://www.microsoftstore.com/store/msusa/en_US/pdp/productID.282577600&pid=DGF-00032?mr:trackingCode=0F6868AD-0705-E311-B773-BC305BF933C0&mr:referralID=NA&mr:adType=pla&mr:ad=15239889307&mr:keyword=&mr:match=&mr:filter=21844073347&tid=2iYORhOz_dc&cid=5250&pcrid=15239889307&WT.srch=1&WT.mc_id=pointitsem_Microsoft+US_google_PLA+-+All+Other&WT.source=google&WT.medium=cpc&origin=pla

 http://www.forbes.com/sites/singularity/2012/07/23/the-end-of-chinese-manufacturing-and-rebirth-of-u-s-industry/

 http://joebarkai.com/tag/3d-printing/

 https://www.google.com/#q=what%20is%20stereolithography&safe=off

uChek Application Available for Certain Mobile Devices in Certain Countries

Many Americans have iPhones or some form of mobile device that they use on a daily basis.  On those devices there are an arrangement of apps that are used for several different purposes such as games, weather, news, email, social media, banking, etc.  However, there is one purpose that is increasingly becoming more available and that is medical apps.

One application that has caught the media's and other people's attention is an app called uChek. uChek was created in India and released this past April or May 2013.  The purpose of this app is for an individual to be able to perform a self-check on their own urine sample.  Along with the app the purchaser will receive a kit via the mail that contains the strips needed for the urine analysis.  Based on the reading of the urine, this app will be able to let an individual know whether they are at risk of any of the 25 different health problems listed in the link below.

  

Go to the 'About Urinalysis' tab to view the 25 health problems.

How does this app work? (tested with iPhone 4, 4S, 5 only)

source: http://www.uchek.in/index_original.html

As mentioned previously, this app was released by an India based company earlier this year.  About one month after the app had been launched and started making sales, the FDA sent a letter to the CEO of Biosense in India.  In order for the app to be sold in the U.S. it must be approved by the FDA.  According to the creators of the uChek app, they had filed for a class 1 device.  Unfortunately, the FDA claims that this isn't the case.  As a result, uChek is currently not offered for sale in the United States.  I feel like if the U.S. market could come up with some apps similar to this then it would be a great thing for the economy.  I would much rather be able to do things on my own rather than visit the doctor and have to take a day off of work.  Would you like to see a medical app this advanced enter into the U.S. market?  Why or why not?

Sources:

http://www.uchek.in/index_original.html

http://mobihealthnews.com/22700/uchek-app-is-currently-fda-registered-as-class-i-device/

Bloomberg Businessweek magazine Sept. 30th issue.