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Services

Google to Introduce Restaurant Wait Times on Google Search and Maps

Do you hate planning a nice night out at your favorite restaurant just to learn that there’s a two hour wait time when you get there? I do. When I get to the restaurant, I’m usually fairly hungry (and I get hangry quite soon after that), so if there’s a long wait time, I usually end up eating somewhere else, and it often ruins my dining experience because my first destination was really where I wanted to eat. Well, thanks to Google, I will soon be able to check estimated wait times at restaurants around me ahead of time and plan accordingly. Neat.

Google already introduced this feature to show you which days of the week and time of day were the busiest for local businesses a little over two years ago, and the restaurant wait time is a great addition to this feature. The feature will allow users to see a chart showing popular time of attendance for restaurants. When you click on a time frame, a pop up box will appear containing either live or historical data (collected from Google users who enable Google Location History) showing whether the time frame you selected is usually “busy”, “usually busy,” “usually not busy,” etc., and the estimated wait time for a table. You’ll also be able to see how long diners typically take to finish their meals (for example, it’ll say “People typically spend 1hr to 2hr here”)

Unfortunately, and unlike the NoWait app, the new feature on Google Search and Google Maps won’t allow you to put your name on the waiting list ahead of time at establishments that don’t take reservations. The feature is being rolled out today both on mobile devices and desktops across the globe and will show data for over one million sit-down restaurants worldwide, so chances are your favorite hang-out place will be included. According to Google, once the feature is rolled out to Android devices, it will be working on adding busy and wait times in various grocery stores, as well, which would be extremely helpful to shorten shopping trips.

Dec 20, 2017 0 comment

marketing Services

Target’s Next-Day Delivery Service Now Available to Over 70 Million People

written by Don Eminizer

Over the summer, Target has been testing, in a limited market, its new Target Restock feature, which allows shoppers to order every day essentials online and have them delivered the very next day. Originally only available to customers in Denver, Dallas-Forth Worth and Minneapolis, the service is now available to residents of Atlanta, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, Philadelphia, St. Louis, Washington D.C. / Baltimore and, in mid-October of this year, San Francisco. The testing must have gone well, because it it now being made available to over 70 million people across the United States.

Target doesn’t yet offer its customers the option to purchase fresh foods and perishables in this way, but most everything else can be ordered online. According to Target, the most popular items purchased during Target Restock’s trial period were on-the-go snacks, beverages, cereal, mac and cheese, and paper towels. There are some 15,000 items that can be ordered from Target online, including laundry detergent, cleaning products, diapers, beauty, health and personal care products and beverages. Any order placed before 2 in the afternoon from Monday to Friday are guaranteed to arrive the very next day.

The online ordering market has boomed in the last few years, and Target isn’t the only company that wants a share of the pie. Competition is fierce – quick delivery, good prices and availability are paramount to a business’ success. With Amazon’s recent acquisition of Whole Foods and Walmart’s grocery pick-up service (and rumors are that it’s moving towards not only home, but direct-to-your-refrigerator and freezer-delivery), everyone is scrambling to offer better, faster and more enticing ordering and delivery services.

Interestingly enough, Target’s delivery price (for a box of up to 45 pounds) is $4.99, whereas Amazon’s delivery price is $5.99 for its Prime Pantry deliveries. Target holds another advantage over the online retail giant: customers do not need to pay a membership fee to be able to order. Anyone can order from Target Restock for absolutely free (barring the price of groceries and delivery). That is an enticing prospect, and one that is strongly in Target’s favor. And let’s keep in mind that Amazon does not deliver the next day, but two days after the order is placed (and then again, it’s not always on time).

Target delivery may be in its infancy, but it looks to me like they have a winning formula. Time will tell how well it does in a broader market.

Sep 22, 2017 0 comment

marketing Services

Forget Home Delivery – Walmart is Testing Out Direct-To-Fridge-Or-Freezer Delivery

written by Don Eminizer

Yes, you’ve read that right. But that’s not the most surprising part. Walmart wants to do it even if you aren’t home. Even if no one at all is there to open the door – or physically supervise the delivery person. The (very limited) trial for this new kind of delivery is already under way in Silicon Valley, and when I write very limited, it’s because there’s a catch. To be able to take advantage of this very personal intruding like service, you need a smart-lock to allow the delivery person access to your home, which he or she will do with a one-time passcode of your choosing.

Here’s how it works: you’re at the office, busy, about to head toward another boring staff meeting, when, woe is you, you remember that you’ve invited a few friends for dinner tonight, but being so busy at work, you forgot to get the groceries you need. You’ll more than likely be stuck at work late (again) and will only have just enough time to cook dinner, but there’s no way you’ll be able to stop by the grocery store on the way home. Well, never fear! Walmart direct-to-fridge delivery is here!

So you whip out your smart phone, select the items you need for your dinner party, order and pay, select your smart lock passcode and you’re done! If you have a smart lock, chances are you also have security cameras in your home, and so you settle into the boring meeting and watch your still kitchen on your phone’s screen (but if you don’t have security cameras at home, that’s ok. Walmart does not require you to have them for this service, and if you’re willing to trust a complete stranger not to steal anything in your house delivering groceries, then you’re all set. Unfortunately, with nothing to look at, you now have to endure the boring meeting.)

Soon, the delivery person arrives, rings the bell for good measure, gets no answer and opens the door to your home. You watch him put your items away in the fridge (or freezer), then you watch him leave and lock the door behind him. Voilà! You are now ready for your party.

Walmart does say that this technique of delivery will not work for everyone or everywhere, but it’s ready to adapt and find solutions based on their customers’ needs, like delivering goods to the garage if it makes customers more comfortable.

Sep 22, 2017 0 comment

Services Technology

The UK is Testing Drones as Lifeboat Rescue Helpers

written by Don Eminizer

Drones are becoming increasingly helpful in a wide array of situations. They have a lot of potential, and are already being use by police forces looking for fugitives or missing persons as well as by fire departments to inspect potentially dangerous structures and situations while staying out of harm’s way. It’s therefore not surprising that lifeboat workers are interested in seeing if drones could be a helpful tool to help locate people lost at sea.

The challenge with looking for people from the boat is that if the sea isn’t calm, it can be extremely challenging to see well enough to find anything. When the sea is rough, lifeboat operators have to rely on particularly big swells, which puts the boat in a higher position, allowing them to look down at the surrounding water. Unfortunately, if whoever they’re looking for are at that moment in a trough, there is still the chance that they will be missed. Obviously, when someone is lost in choppy seas, time is of the essence – if exhaustion doesn’t come first, hypothermia won’t be far behind.

This is why a lifeboat service located in Norfolk, England, thinks that drones could be very useful in search and rescue missions. The drones they are currently testing are equipped with cameras that relay live footage to monitors located inside the lifeboats themselves. This would allow the drone operator to search a greater area much more quickly, and the drone coordinates could potentially allow the lifeboat operator to be able to reach whoever is adrift faster.

There are, however, a few technicalities to work out. First, because of the size and weight of the drone, it might be challenging to operate it successfully in windy conditions. Depending on the weather, visibility could also be poor, but the drone’s eye will probably still be better than whatever can be seen from the boat. Then there’s the UK law that states that drone operators must at all times have a direct view of the drone itself. This could prove to be a problem – if the drone can’t scout far enough ahead, the chances of finding anyone in time are greatly diminished. The lifeboat service is therefore appealing to the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) to allow them to forego this directive when the drone is over the water.

I can see how drones might be useful in search and rescue operations over water. Hopefully lifeboat help and recue drones are something we’ll see in the near future.

Sep 22, 2017 0 comment

Android Mobile Apps Other Security Services

Google’s ‘SOS Alerts’ Offers Guidance and Information During a Crisis

written by Don Eminizer

I recently posted about Google’s new 911 feature, which aims to help users figure out where they are so they can tell 911 operators in case of an emergency. Yesterday, Google launched ‘SOS Alerts’, a system that will alert you to any imminent danger in your vicinity, show closed roads and provide phone numbers for first responders and links to websites where people can provide financial help as needed. It also provides useful English translations of foreign news updates so that English speakers world wide can keep abreast of any developments.

According to Google, the SOS Alerts feature will “…help you quickly understand what’s going on and decide what to do during a crisis.” The new feature will report anything from wild fires to acts of terrorism and will appear either on top of search results when searching for information on an ongoing crisis or natural disaster, or in maps if you’ve allowed Google to know your location or if you search for a location in which an event is underway. If you aren’t close to the affected area but still want updates (for example if you have family or friends residing in the area, or who are on vacation there), all you have to do is search for the event name or location and Google will “…show an SOS Alert that provides a timely overview of the situation, in addition to features such as donation opportunities.”

SOS Alerts is currently only available on Android mobile devices but should soon be rolled out to Search on desktops as well as mobile web and Google apps for iOs devices. Google worked in association with the Red Cross, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration and many other agencies to create SOS Alerts so that as much critical (and timely) information could be uploaded as events unfold.

This is the latest Google update in their existing portfolio of crises features like Public Alerts, Crisis Map and People Finder. Of course, one must be able to rely on connectivity for this new feature to be beneficial, but I can see how it might make a difference in helping those close to the crisis – be it by providing crucial phone numbers and road closing information, and by allowing remote followers to offer financial aid to those in need.

Aug 4, 2017 0 comment

Services

‘Amazon Meal Kits’ are Being Tested in a Limited Market

written by Don Eminizer

About a month ago I wrote about Amazon’s intention of acquiring Whole Foods and its intent to make grocery shopping more convenient by allowing customers to order their groceries online and picking them up drive-through style fifteen minutes later. While the deal with Whole Foods is still pending, Amazon is going full steam ahead with its plans to cash in on the food industry. Well, full-steam on what seems to be a trial run, at least.

Described as “We do the prep. You be the chef.”, Amazon Meal Kits will provide customers with recipes and all the ingredients needed to prepare a meal at home. Seattle resident and Amazon Prime member Josh Chadd is one of the few Amazon Prime customers to be able to take advantage of this early Amazon Meal Kits release. He told GeekWire that the meals started showing up in his AmazonFresh search results a few weeks ago. A customer of similar services such as Blue Apron and HelloFresh, Chadd decided to give the Amazon Meal Kits a try. He wasn’t disappointed.

He ordered the Steak Au Poivre and prepared it hoping for an enjoyable dinner with his wife. Chadd gave the ingredients a big thumbs up, noting that they were very fresh (more so than what he had come to expect from other services) and that the meat was a nice cut and at least USDA choice quality. This particular kit retails for $18.99, and Chadd rated it at “…a 9 out of 10 for any meal I’ve made at home even with my own ingredients.”

There are currently 17 different meals available, including Roast Chicken with Tarragon Mushroom Sauce, Tacos Al Pastor with Pork, vegetarian meals and others. It’s clear that Amazon is seriously trying to impress with these new offering, and reviews seem to indicate that so far, it has. This could be bad news for the current leading box-to-table company Blue Apron, whose shares have taken a serious dive in the past week.

It isn’t yet clear if or when Amazon will be making the Meal Kits available to more or all Amazon Prime members, but it currently does offer meal kits from third parties, including Tyson Tastemakers and Martha & Marley Spoon. Amazon Prime Fresh members can view and order those meal kits here.

Jul 18, 2017 0 comment

Android iPad iPhone Mobile Apps Services Social Media Web Apps

People in Pittsburgh Can Report Bad Smells Via App

written by Don Eminizer

CREATE Lab (which stands for Community Robotics Education And Technology Empowerment) came up with the app, Smell PGH, as a way to help Pittsburgh’s residents to help improve the quality of the air they breathe. Pittsburgh and surrounding areas have the 8th worse air quality in the United States by the American Lung Association, mainly because of the pollution caused by industrial plants and wood smoke. Residents of the area have a much higher chance of developing cancer. As CREATE Lab puts it, “If you smell it, you breathe it”. So, in an effort to make the air less stinky and more healthy, the company came up with Smell PGH.

It really is as simple as it sounds. If you’re walking around Pittsburgh and smell a foul odor, all you need to do is open the app, mark your location, wind direction and rate the stench on a scale of 1 (Just fine!) to 5 (About as bad as it gets!). The data is uploaded, and you can be on your way to wherever you were heading, hopefully a location with cleaner (and better smelling) oxygen. The app also lets you see other areas and smells that were reported by other people using the map, so you know to avoid areas with a questionable odor – and you’ll know which areas are in the green as opposed to the angry purple the 5 rating lights up on the map.

More importantly though, every report of ‘bad air’ is sent directly to the Allegheny County Health Department (ACHD), “…so they can better monitor and act on these incidents of bad smelling air.” The app is free for iOS and Android devices. Smell PGH is currently only available for the general Pittsburgh area, but that isn’t to say that it couldn’t be tweaked to be supported in other cities.

Pittsburghese certainly seem to be enjoying the app, as its 1,300 users have reported a combined 4,300 foul smells in and around the city. And that’s great, because the ACHD needs the help of the community to collect the data it needs to work on making Pittsburgh less smelly and more lung-friendly. And the reviews are raving – it’s obvious that residents of Pittsburgh are more than happy to do their part to help clean up the air they breathe.

Jun 22, 2017 0 comment

Services

Amazon is Stepping Up Its Grocery Game

written by Don Eminizer

We have become a society of convenience. And today’s technology is more than able to keep us that way. In fact, it’s making it increasingly easy to leave the house only to go to work (for those of us who don’t work at home, that is) and for other reasons that have nothing to do with acquiring goods. There is one market, however, that still eludes even Amazon: fresh groceries.

Let’s face it. It’s one thing to bundle non-perishables on a truck that follows the most efficient route based on the location of deliveries. Perishable items, such as milk and fresh produce, are a whole new puzzle. How do you keep costs under control by cutting gas and delivery times and deliver fresh produce before it spoils? And how do you make sure the recipient is home to receive them and put them away in a timely fashion? Amazon has been thinking about this issue for the past ten years. And it seems like it’s on the verge of a breakthrough.

The key to finding a solution to the problem was to completely rethink the problem. The solution won’t get you fresh produce to your door, but it will make y shopping for groceries a whole lot easier. Amazon has announced that it will be buying the Whole Foods supermarket chain for a whopping $13.7 billion. Amazon’s largest purchase to date will allow the company to let its customers order their groceries online and then pick them up at the Whole Foods location of their choice within 15 minutes. Shoppers won’t even have to get out of their cars – Whole Foods employees will deliver groceries right to their trunks. You’re still going to have to get out of the house, but you’ll be spending considerably less time shopping and won’t have to contend with other shoppers and long checkout lines. Which, in our opinion, is a big deal in and of itself.

This is an extremely smart move on Amazon’s part. Fresh produce is an almost untapped market with huge potential. Currently, one in four United States household is buying groceries online, and that number is estimated to climb to 70 percent in the next 10 years. Getting into the game early is key here, as it will allow Amazon to establish a market and refine its processes ahead of the competition.

Jun 20, 2017 2 comments