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Stores currently are shifting to “cash-less” because it is more convenient to customer and provides an extra layer of security on transactions. However, major cities, including Philadelphia, are looking to pass legislation to force stores to accept cash payments as an option from customers. The reasoning behind this is to provide an option for those who may not have the luxury of owning credit cards or having a bank account to pay for items within that specific store. This has even gone so far that a State Senator from New Jersey has imposed penalties for not accepting cash payments as an option. The  penalties for not cooperating range from hundreds of dollars all the way up to $5,000. 

Amazon has stepped in and has expressed opposition to this bill, as they have multiple pop-up stores located within New Jersey. There is currently a legal battle in progress to find a middle ground to this continuing issues. Other cities across the United States, such as New York and Chicago, have caught a drift about this legislation and are in the progress of developing their own as well.

I find this article interesting because there is a conflict for how fast technology has progressed within recent years. I understand what these local governments are trying to provide to their citizens, but there is only so much to stop the progression of technology within stores. Sweeden is a country for example that has implemented a cash free stores into their society after leading the way. I know within my own friend group I use venmo to pay my bills and food rather than use physical cash. This is an interesting piece that could affect lots of people.

 

Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/20/business/cashless-payments.html

The trend of virtual reality as an emerging technology has taken over society and popular culture. While VR has been increasingly used for entertainment purposes, there is a lot of potential for business applications across all realms of business. One example is using VR for training purposes. An example of this is the use of Oculus VR for public speaking training systems. The VR tricks the brain into believing that what is being shown is real, allowing businesses to monitor and learn from interactions. 

For the manufacturing and production-driven business, VR allows for products to be tested and examined under extreme conditions with no consequences. This leads to millions of dollars being saved by building full-scale working virtual prototypes and exploring ideas in VR. 

VR can also be used as a customer service and marketing tool. It can showcase a business’s product in different perspectives, allowing consumers to interact with the product before buying it. Businesses and marketing teams can put together virtual showrooms that display the product, so consumers would not have to physically leave their house to see it. 

There are some current issues that limit the full potential of VR. The most prominent one being the high cost of VR. High-end virtual reality is very expensive and is the main reason VR is not a widespread device in the average consumer’s household. It is also a relatively new technology that developers are still working to play around with, so it may take a few years to master programs that work efficiently with VR.

Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/bernardmarr/2017/07/31/the-amazing-ways-companies-use-virtual-reality-for-business-success/#518914701bae

While many believe that brick-and-mortar retail is being taken over by the online shopping market, in-store retailers have a prime opportunity to distinguish themselves by leveraging technology in their stores. Many advancements using Wi-Fi, RFID, and other smart software are helping retailers improve their customers shopping experiences.  

Prada has begun this transformation with offering free Wi-Fi in all stores, a benefit to the customer, while also leveraging that Wi-Fi to track the shopping behaviors of their customers. This data can help them better train their associates to assist the customers and drive up sales. 

Retailers have also begun to implement RFID technology in their products in large numbers. This relatively old technology can assist stores with tracking merchandising, improving the supply chain, and helping customers find requested items.

Retailers see the highest profit margins when customers shop in stores, so it is to their advantage to continue bringing customers in to their physical stores. Improving the in-store experience can help retailers bring customers back into the stores from the online world. 

 

Sources:

https://www.itnewsafrica.com/2019/02/look-to-wi-fi-for-digital-transformation-in-retail/

https://medium.com/@sawyerhowitt/welcome-to-the-future-rfid-technology-benefits-for-retail-c2597c648129

https://www.cnbc.com/2017/04/19/think-running-retail-stores-is-more-expensive-than-selling-online-think-again.html

“Blockchain” is a technology buzzword that has gotten popular over the last few years. Though we often hear the word, understanding the meaning and the functionality of blockchain in different industries is still oftentimes a mystery. Blockchain is up and coming in in fields such as banking as it provides an open, decentralized database for transactions. However, this quality can also be useful in the healthcare field.

What makes blockchain appealing for healthcare is that it is a “tamper proof public ledger” that would be ideal for proof of work. In healthcare/hospital setting, this technology can be used for digitizing medical records, consent management, and micropayments transactions. Using blockchain as a system for these processes will guarantee confidentiality, integrity, and availability of the information and records.

Blockchain will make it possible to have a central location for an in-depth analysis patient data including health history, socioeconomic status, demographics, and behavior while hiding personally identifiable information. Though this information is available today, there is not a location where all of it is stored together in a way where the information is available but patient identity is secured.  

https://www.forbes.com/sites/ciocentral/2018/08/05/will-blockchain-transform-healthcare/#41175ad7553d

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6WG7D47tGb0

 

Samsung is no longer making Blu-ray players for the US market. Samsung was never leading the market, however, their removal from the market shows bad signs for the Blu-ray and physical media market in general. Samsung is not the first to leave the market, last year Oppo left the market as well. This is not really surprising considering the continued dominance of streaming services.

Streaming continues to squeeze out all the remaining market share of media consumption from physical media. Streaming is more convenient, and cheaper than ever before. This combined with the tsunami of streaming services currently available or planned for the near future for consumers to choose from. Everything you could possibly want to watch is available to stream somewhere and taking away the physical element just removes barriers for consumers to consume media. Blu-ray never took off the same way that DVD’s did before them, so the market was already small by comparison.

Lastly, popular modern game consoles like the PS4 and Xbox One use Blu-ray players to read their game discs, so there is no reason for consumers to go out and buy a standalone Blu-ray player. Movies, TV shows, video games, all of which are huge markets are all moving increasingly fast towards an all-digital future thanks to the cheapening market for cloud-based server infrastructure that is the backbone of these streaming services.

Source: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2019/02/samsung-says-it-will-stop-making-new-blu-ray-players/