Introducing the Intelligent Cheese Counter, a new retail innovation that lets you buy cheese from an in-store seller, just by pointing at it through the display glass.

No this isn't a joke, and we're a couple of months early for April Fools' Day yet. This is a new in-store retail concept from the German Innovative Retail Laboratory, part of the German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence.

Designed to make the cheese buying process a little easier (an admittedly daunting task for cheese amateurs) it negates the slightly embarrassing problem of being unable to pronounce the name of a cheese, not knowing how it my taste, and what other foods or drinks it would go well with.

Using a 3D mounted camera just above the counter, the user simply points at their desired cheese, with the camera hooked up to a computer system that can pinpoint the direction of their finger within an accuracy range of two centimetres. Using two screens (one for the store clerk and one for the customer) the seller can then easily identify which cheese the customer is inquiring about, while the customer is shown a list of details about the cheese in question.

"It's a common problem. That soft, golden-yellow stuff at the back of the cheese counter looks so delicious and inviting, but you're too scared to order some because you don't know its name. And even if you do, you may not know how to pronounce it correctly. All you can do is point and hope for the best," reads the CeBit tradeshow listing.

"The intelligent cheese counter recognizes what product the customer is pointing at and displays it on screen for the customer and sales staff to see. It even provides additional information, such as the origin of the cheese or wines that go well with it."

Due to be revealed at this year's CeBit conference, there are no images available at the time of writing, but we envision a Minority Report-style future crammed full of these things. Preferably with some sort of virtual smell-masking app built in too.

For more info, check out the Innovative Retail Laboratory website.

By Becca Caddy

Over the past few years we've seen QR codes everywhere, on food, clothes and even gravestones. Yes, we said gravestones.

Well this Christmas, we'll be seeing hundreds of them on all kinds of clothes, gifts and furniture items, as online marketplace eBay intends to use them to make shopping even easier in its festive pop-up shop.

The brand is launching a new Christmas boutique in London at the beginning of December, which aims to give stressed shoppers the best of both worlds, the in-store browsing experience with the selection, deals and distinct lack of queuing we've become accustomed to online.

The new boutique will stock a range of items and each will have its own unique QR code. Shoppers then use their phones to scan these QR codes to buy without the fuss, queuing, tills and even bags, because once you've purchased something it'll get delivered straight to your door. Goodbye awkward tube journey with 5,487,823 bags and no air!

eBay's new shopping concept seems like a brilliant idea, it gives us peace of mind that the items we're buying actually look good in real life and it's popping up (sorry) just in time for Christmas. However, just like buying things with a store card sometimes doesn't feel real, buying things by swiping your phone around like you're a little kid playing shop might not seem real too, so be careful you don't overdo it.

The store is open from the 1st to the 5th of December at 34 Dean Street, London, W1D 4PR.

Via Shiny Shiny

Today it was announced that mBlox, a leader in mobile consumer interaction and payments announced mBlox Entrust. A suite of mobile payment solutions for both in-app and mobile web payments that make paying for goods and services safer and easier to use.

mBlox entrust for apps will enable merchants to have check out solution based in the app to handle payments. Methods will include Visa and Mastercard as well as other popular local and international methods which will give consumers a much easier and safer way to pay for their goods.

Once the customer has registered with the service it will manage the choice of payment, deliver payment authorisation, provide a transaction summary and can send text message based alerts to notify the customer whether the payment has been successful or not. Sensitive consumer payment information will be stored in a Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) compliant storage system and is not accessible if your mobile device is lost or stolen.

mBlox will also launch the service for the the mobile web sector expanding the range and the value of goods that can easily be purchased with either a credit or debit card. The service will also offer SMS payments for digital goods offering their customers an alternatie way to pay. The SMS will also be used for recurring payments, the consumer being sent a SMS message to remind them that a payment is due along with a way to pay it.

"With more and more consumers using mobile phones and tablets for their shopping needs, merchants need to adapt and capitalise on this opportunity. If consumers have to continually enter lengthy payment details on the small screen of a tablet or smartphone, their shopping experience will be a frustrating one, and they will take their business elsewhere."

Now we all knew this game would be big but none of us could have expect it to be this big, Modern Warfare 3 sold 6.5 million copies in North America and the United Kingdom in only 24 hours. Making Activision's wallets bulge with a staggering $400 million revenue in just one day.

These figures make it one of the largest entertainment launches to date, a number that ranks it alongside Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 which raked in $483 million for a world wide weekend release.

This dwarfs the release of Call of Duty Black Ops which managed to sell 5.6 million copies in 24 hours, making $360 million in North America and the United Kingdom. Again trumping the record sale set by Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 which achieved sales of $310 million and selling 4.7 million copies in the 24 hours that every Activision investor looks forward too.

Bobby Kotick, CEO of Activison Blizzard commented on the figures, "Other than Call of Duty, there has never been another entertainment franchise that has set opening day records three years in a row, Life-to-date sales for the Call of Duty franchise exceed worldwide theatrical box office for "Star Wars" and "Lord of the Rings," two of the most successful entertainment franchises of all time."

What is noteworthy as well on a day of large amount of money going into corporate hands, Activison have given something back. They have donated $3 million to the Call of Duty Endowment, a non-profit, public benefit corporation that provides job placement and training for war veterans. On top of the last donation of $2 million last year, they are giving a lot back to those who deserve it the most on the day where we remember soldiers and all their efforts.

Last night saw the release of one of the most eagerly anticipated game releases of this year. Elder Scrolls Skyrim. Many stores around the country where hosting midnight openings for the hordes of gamers itching to get their hands on the fantasy RPG that is being hailed as the best Elder Scrolls yet.

Fresh from the clean up of the Modern Warfare 3 midnight launch three days ago, staff and gamers alike joined in the spirit of the game many dressed in fancy dress from the adventure game.

Some who had been queuing since wednesday morning finally got their hands on the game just after midnight. To keep themselves occupied through days of waiting, some found some cardboard from a local shop and fashioned weapons and armour to keep their spirits up.

The game features over 300 hours of gameplay with an intricate story and hundreds of side missions and weapons, this game is going to be responsible for a few relationships breaking down over this festive period; gamers glued to their TV's fighting off wooly mammoths, giants and huge dragons, while their partners quietly packing their bags.

Source: GAME

Best Buy announced today that their online store will be going live tomorrow, November 4th.

Best Buy has been making waves in the UK consumer electronics market since they opened their first store in the UK earlier this year. Now customers across the UK will be able to take advantage of the expertise, services, and deals that Best Buy has to offer.

All the same products and services that are available in store, will be available online for the same price. In fact there will be a larger selection of products from across a range of categories, including computers, Mp3 players and home entertainment systems on the site.

Log on to BestBuy.co.uk tomorrow to view the new online store.

Geek Squad have announced their Tech Support membership will now stretch to cover everything in your home for £6.99 a month.

So for those of you who may be a little less technologically inclined, being able to call a Geek Squad Agent day or night to ask questions about any gadget in your home, might be a useful service. From home theater systems to games consoles, if anything goes wrong you can access an expert who can walk you through exactly what to do. If only my dad had access to something like this when he installed the home cinema... my parents might not have speaker wires still hanging out the wall.

Yesterday, Tesco announced that they have updated their popular app to include a barcode reader. This will enable you to add items to your online shopping basket from anywhere, making it easy for you to keep your shopping list up to date.

When you scan the barcode of any item with your iPhone and it will instantly be added to your online basket, where it will wait there until you ready to checkout. This means if your about to use up that last tin of soup in your kitchen all you need to do is scan the barcode and it is automatically added to your shopping cart for when you are ready to place your order.
This is a really great way to simplify shopping and to save busy parents and professionals time.

The free Tesco grocery app was launched two months ago and allows customers to 'shop on the go' by ordering groceries from their iPhone.

To find out more check out the app on their site

Last week eBay launched "Instant Sale" allowing you to hawk your old gadgets for some quick cash. The stripped down sales page of the giant auction house is dead easy requiring you to answer only two questions - will you be trading in the charger and what condition is your gadget in. It then instantly generates you an offer and even if your gadget isn't worth a penny, eBay's partners will still recycle them for you and pay your shipping fees.

From the sample queries, it doesn't appear as though you will be able to make a huge amount off your old gadgets (£15 Dell Inspiron 8200 and £36 used Palm Pixi in good condition) but still offers a great way to get rid of those unwanted gadgets.

Best Buy, the massive US tech retailer, are opening stores in the UK this week, with the first opening in Lakeside on the 30th April. But it's not just hard-drives and gadgets for sale; Best Buy UK are set to carve out a niche for themselves by offering a fairly extensive range of green, electric powered vehicles.

The electric bicycle range will include the GoCycle, Ultramotor and Moore and Large's iZip bikes. There will also be electric motorbikes on sale, including the Enertia, and the Urban Citi, Urban Tourer and Classic electric scooters from Xero Tech.

For those with a fair-bit more cash to burn, Best Buy will also be "showcasing" the Tesla Roadster electric car (a steal at £87,000) and the more affordable Citroen C1 ev'ie.

Click the image below to fire up our gallery of what Best Buy has to offer.

Wasn't expecting this; the Entertainment Retailers Association (ERA) have released their figures for the gloomy recessionary year of 2009, and while many industries were hit hard by the economic downturn, VHS sales were up from 44,377 in 2008 to 95,201 in 2009.

Any theories as to why? Is it simply that VHS cassettes are now available at pocket money prices compared to DVD and Blu-ray discs? Or could it be that the veteran VHS format has aged enough to be considered a retro-chic item? I can think of a few thrifty student friends who consider VHS to be the height of fashion. But they also see no problem in wearing day-glo shell suits without a hint of irony, so go figure.

The ERA also revealed that games software sales fell by 11%, but music sales only dropped by 0.8% despite the ever growing threat of file-sharing.

Geo-aware, real-time data and social networking have been big buzz words this year, so it's nice to see an app throwing all of those features together into one mix. The
Postabon app is a location-aware shopping service that allows its network of users to post hot deals in real-time.

Available both to PC and smartphone users, Postabon can pick up on where you are currently located, or where you are headed, and direct you to local deals in shopping categories that you have showed an interest in.

It's mostly powered by user input, with Postabon's network of shoppers adding real-time deal-updates as they move from shop to shop. There is even an incentive "karma" scheme, rewarding users who regularly post popular deals.

Postabon is currently available only to residents of New York City, but with plans to expand to other spots around the globe, no doubt there is at least a London-centric version waiting in the wings.

If you missed out on the thrilling, frenzied, staff-assaulting, dignity-sapping, blatant and aggressive looting of the once-proud Woolworths brand over Christmas and the New Year, there's still time to get yourself a bit of Woolies history.

Enterprising store manager Ed Adams, of the Petts Wood branch in Orpington, London, decided to nick/liberate the last remaining scraps from his branch's Pic 'N' Mix display counter - an 800g selection of "delicious nostalgia" he's now put up for sale on eBay.

The auction has a charitable edge to it, so we can't accuse people of polishing up the truth or glamourising the sequence of events to make money - proceeds from the auction go to the Retail Trust, a group which helps out-of-work Woolies staff, among other people.

The bidding is currently at £28 and your bag of carefully refined sugar will come with a certificate of authenticity from Woolworths administrator Deloitte. If you feel guilty about all the stuff you shoplifted from your local Woolies as a child therefore slightly hastening the retail giant's demise, this is your chance to make amends.

(Via TP&J)

Spurred on by the sorry tale of that American slapper who auctioned her alleged virginity for several million dollars, long-term Potters Bar singleton Jon Ward decided to sell an all-expenses-paid night out with himself "in London" on eBay.

The listing's ended now, sadly, ladies, but you can read Jon's excellent self-oriented sales speak here.

The result? A lady called "sexysarah2009" bought an evening with Jon for £46. Jon hasn't had a date for eight or nine years, mind, so sexysarah2009 might have to do most of the work. And the talking. And the foreplay, if she wants any afters.

Jon had better take her somewhere cheap, otherwise he'll lose out on the deal.

(Via The Welwyn & Hatfield Times)

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Anyone looking for a little temporary work over Christmas might want to steer well clear of online retail leviathan Amazon. An undercover journalist from the Sunday Times reported that staff in the warehouse in Bedfordshire are required to work five days a week with an obligatory night shift on Saturdays, effectively meaning they're labouring all week long.

The plus side is that it does mean there's a good chance all our Christmas presents will make it in time but it does give me nasty flashbacks of all the awful jobs I've had in the past. Check this, workers are not allowed sick leave even if they have a note from their doctor. Harsh but reminiscent of a certain telesales company I had the misfortune to work for once.

Before I go any further, I'd probably best point out that the picture above is not of Amazon workers, well, not as far as I know. Those ones at least have the luxury of a seat whereas Amazon drones are required to pack 140 Xboxes every hour to hit their target.

Even if you've been trying to ignore the bleak economic news of recent months, instead choosing to count the £10.54 worth of pennies you have hidden in a large jar under your bed, you'll likely be aware that retail institution Woolworths is about to die.

To go out with a bang, the administrator has announced that Woolworths will begin an up-to-50% sale this weekend in all its UK stores.

The biggest discounts will be on toys and greetings cards, but apparently entertainment goods will also be discounted, so perhaps Woolies is the place to go if you've got any cash and want to buy a cheaper telly or games console.

A reader who calls himself "Stretchy" has just alerted us to this awesome bit of history-making eBay activity - Alton Towers is flogging off the front car of its long-running Corkscrew rollercoaster.

The description over at Alton Towers' site says you're getting "The most unique Christmas present EVER!" if, by some incredible longshot, you happen to have a friend or family member who's just asked for a bit of a closed rollercoaster as one of their Christmas presents this year.

Delivery's included in the price (currently a reasonable-sounding £1750, although, having never purchased a rollercoaster car before, that might be a rip-off) although you'll have to spend the same again on wrapping paper if you're planning on giving it to someone as a present.

All of the money raised from the sale is going to charity, mind, so you're not allowed to be mean about it. Don't even raise a cynical eyebrow.

Related posts: Aerocar for $3.5m | Prototype MacBook Air on eBay

Doctor Who, a show which chronicles the increasingly camp adventures of a time travelling man who gets his clothes from a Help The Aged sale rack and solves everything from interplanetary war to tooth decay by shouting while pointing a screwdriver at a broken numeric keypad, is coming to iTunes.

BBC worldwide, the commercial arm of the BBC that's allowed to sell things for money, is dumping every episode of the new Who on Apple's shopping system. Episodes from the first series of the modern Who should be ready for buying and downloading today, with one arriving each week between now and Christmas. Series four will appear on December 23, making it an ideal Christmas present for yourself.

We don't have any information regarding episode/series cost or file size or picture resolution just yet. But we have asked for clarification of these points. We've also asked for some photos of Billie Piper, because the weather's cold and Billie makes us feel warm inside.

UPDATE:
A hi-res Billie Piper photo has arrived and Doctor Who Series One is yours for £19.99 - with each of the 13 episodes available separately for £1.89.

(Via BBC Worldwide)

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We really haven't been paying enough attention to the part of science that deals with multiple universes.

Because, from next month, you will be able to buy one of these - a make-your-own-universe kit. It's based around some fancy science that states there are an infinite number of possible alternate universes, and more are created each time any kind of measurement is taken that defines one particular place. Or something along those lines. Hopefully someone who understands these things and has a degree will be along shortly to explain it properly in a comment.

But it is obviously not real. The multiverse-maker is the work of conceptual artist Jonathon Keats, who's used some fancy uranium-fused glass to create something to do with measuring streams of alpha particles. It's all a bit complex, to be honest. But will make a superb Christmas present for any of you who have scientifically-minded dads.

(Via New Scientist)

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No, that is not an error. We didn't mean $1.75m. We really do mean $1.75, as in about 90p at today's rapidly-plummeting exchange rate. Less eBay fees and PayPal commission, of course, but they won't be that crippling considering the buyer's getting an entire house.

The woman in question is mature student Joanne Smith. She was browsing eBay for "PlayStations," when she noticed an alert for a house on sale with no starting price. So she placed a bid of $20 - eventually winning the auction for $1.75 and proudly getting on Rung Z of the property ladder.