Voice Control

Office Depot's focus on "innovation retailing" is getting a major boost with the retailer's launch of an app for the Apple Watch.

The company says the app will feature voice-activated search for products, an ink and toner finder, and an Office Depot and OfficeMax retail store locator.

Seattle – If access to Amazon.com was not already ubiquitous enough for you, there is a new way to browse and purchase goods on the first major e-commerce platform. Amazon is releasing a new shopping app for the Apple Watch.

Those who failed to grasp the significance of the iPhone when it launched in 2007 are not going to make the same mistake twice with the introduction of the Apple Watch –- a wearable technology device that hit the market April 24 with some well-deserved hype and considerable transformative potential.

Hangzhou, China – Chinese e-commerce platform Alibaba Holding Group Inc. wants to change the face of payment. In public comments made at the CeBit technology conference in Hannover, Germany, on March 15, Alibaba chairman Jack Ma said his company’s subsidiary Ant Financial is developing a service called “Smile to Pay” that would let consumers pay for purchases with a facial scan.

New York -- Visa Inc., Pizza Hut and Accenture have teamed up to develop a connected car to test mobile and online purchases on the go. The connected car is expected to feature Visa Checkout (Visa’s online payment service), cellular connectivity, Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE), and Beacon technology deployed at Pizza Hut restaurants to alert staff when the customer has arrived and is ready to pick up the order. Accenture is managing the integration of the technologies.

From drones to self-driving cars to a Barbie capable of having “real conversations with kids,” the 112th Toy Fair announced this year's hottest trends in toys.

Creative toys that epitomize the Maker Movement (explained below), innovative "smart" playthings, and toys that make a "splash" are among the top toy trends of 2015, according to experts at the U.S. Toy Industry Association (TIA).

By Marcel Munoz, CTO, Thanx Media

2014 was an interesting year in e-commerce. Who would have predicted that mobile commerce would explode the way it did? Advances in technology continue to influence consumer behavior and in turn their preferences are driving innovation in software and hardware.

Irvine, Calif. -- C-store operator ABC Stores selected DecisionPoint Systems to automate its Hawaiian warehouse operation using Wavelink's Speakeasy voice picking technology. The move reduced picking errors and increased efficiencies by 40%, prompting the retailer to look at further deployment.  

New York -- Amazon has quietly launched another hardware device, a  voice-recognition device called Echo that doubles as a high-tech music speaker. The 9-inch tall cylinder device sells for $199 but is available for $99 for a limited time to Prime members. It is designed around the user’s voice, which it can hear from across a room.