Artificial Intelligence

AT&T’s new flagship, on Chicago's Magnificent Mile, is designed to immerse customers in everything AT&T. The 10,000-sq.-ft. store, at 600 N. Michigan Ave., also offers shoppers a peak into the future, with the first-ever retail demonstrations of the company’s new digital home security and automation services. It also features a connected car (a 2012 Nissan Leaf) that is used to demonstrate how wireless technology can help driving.

PURCHASE, N.Y. — MasterCard  has acquired Truaxis, Inc., a Silicon Valley, California-based provider of relevant credit and debit card-linked offers to consumers through merchants and financial institutions.

New York -- Fashion and technology combine to surprise customers and engage them in new ways at Bloomingdale’s flagship in New York City and other locations across the country.  The department store retailer had deployed a 3D virtual dressing room, called Swivel, which is supported by Microsoft Corp.’s Kinect for Windows motion sensing technology. With Swivel, customers can “try on” clothes without having to go through the actual physical process.

Thursday, September 13 at 9 a.m. central time is the start date for another one of Walmart’s sustainability milestone meetings. The company uses the gatherings, Webcast from its home office auditorium, to highlight a wide range of environmental initiatives that increasingly contribute to efforts to operate more efficiently.

Dallas -- PeopleAnswers and Real Mex Restaurants said Thursday the pair has executed a software licensing agreement that will bring the PeopleAnswers HR solution to Real Mex for pre-screening, selecting and hiring managers.

Orlando, Fla. -- IBM announced Thursday at its Smarter Commerce Global Summit that RadioShack Corp. is working with IBM's cloud-based solutions to improve price image and pricing operations over the entire pricing lifecycle.

The solutions being used by RadioShack are part of IBM's cloud-based merchandising analytics software and services, which help companies define the optimal price points and product mix based on customer buying trends.

CINCINNATI — Kroger has released its sixth annual sustainability report.

Bentonville, Ark. -- Walmart announced a new search engine for Walmart.com. The new engine, named Polaris, was developed by a small team within @Wamart Labs,  the research and technology hub for innovation at Walmart. It uses semantic search technology to anticipate the intent of a shopper's search to deliver highly relevant results for them.