Artificial Intelligence

By Steven Kramer, [email protected]

Sporting a physical design identical to the iPhone 4 and a total lack of expected features, initial reactions to the iPhone 4S were that it hardly seemed capable of living up to Apple’s claim as “the most amazing iPhone yet”.

New York City -- Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market is testing a mobile self-scanning device at its store in Burbank, Calif., according to a report on Fresh & Easy Buzz, an independent blog that follows the chain.

The scanning system, from Motorola, features a hand-held scanner device, which customers carry with them as they shop the store, the report said. Shoppers then scan the product codes on the items they purchase as they shop. The system allows shoppers to keep real time track of their purchases as they shop.
 

By Jeff Weidauer, [email protected]

Armonk, N.Y. -- IBM said Wednesday it has completed its acquisition of Emptoris Inc., expanding IBM’s cloud-based analytics offerings that provide supply chain intelligence, or smarter commerce.

“Developing the right procurement strategy and an adaptive supply chain are keys to achieving the business objectives of smarter commerce,” said Craig Hayman, general manager, IBM Industry Solutions. “Together, Emptoris and IBM's integrated solutions will transform how clients manage compliance and mitigate supply risk.”

NEW YORK — Retailers will have to rethink their position in the market, along with strategies they have used thus far, to keep themselves in the game, according to a new Deloitte report, "The Next Evolution: Store 3.0."

Waterloo, Ontario -- Descartes Systems Group, a provider in logistics technology, acquired GeoMicro, a California-based provider of advanced geographic information systems (GIS) and commercial turn-by-turn navigation.

By Jim Singer and Mark Langsfeld, [email protected], [email protected]

Want to read something scary? Here’s an excerpt of a review on Quiznos posted on a popular restaurant review site:

Dallas -- PeopleAnswers and Canada-based Town Shoes, which sells under Town Shoes and The Shoe Company, announced a software licensing agreement for the retailer to use the PeopleAnswers’ human-relations solution in its 124 stores across Canada for pre-employment screening and employee selection.