FLORENCE, Italy — MIT architects and engineers have unveiled EyeStop, an interactive bus stop designed for the city of Florence. The project was presented officially on Saturday, May 16, at the Genio Fiorentino by the president of the Province of Florence, Matteo Renzi.

PHOTO GALLERY: MIT EyeStop digital street furniture

EyeStop, developed by MIT’s SENSEable City Lab, is an exploration into the next generation of smart urban furniture; it aims to enrich the city with state of the art sensing technologies, interactive services, community information and entertainment. The project is partially covered with touch-sensitive e-INK and screens, so that it can deliver information to people seamlessly. Users can plan a bus trip on an interactive map, exchange community-relevant information on a digital message board, surf the Web, monitor their real time exposure to pollutants and use their mobile devices as an interface with the bus shelter.

“Interacting with EyeStop could change the access to urban information in a similar way to how the iPhone has changed our mobile life,” said Carlo Ratti, head of the SENSEable City Lab at MIT.

At the touch of a finger users can indicate their desired destination; the system will then display the shortest bus route from where they are and the position of all relevant buses real-time. The EyeStop will glow at different levels of intensity to signal the distance of an approaching bus. Riders and passers-by can also post ads and community announcements to an electronic bulletin board placed on the bus stop, enhancing its functionality as a public space — a place to gather and exchange community-relevant information.

In addition to displaying information, the bus stop also acts as an active environmental sensing node, powering itself through sunlight and collecting real-time information about air quality and the urban environment.

“EyeStop is an experiment into urban computing: it may be considered an 'info-tape' that snakes through the city, rising up like a pole or cropping out of the sidewalk like a shelter. It senses information about the environment and distributes it in a form accessible to all citizens,” said project leader Giovanni de Niederhousern.

A generative parametric model produces a unique design for each bus stop, providing both optimal sheltering for users and maximum sunlight exposure for direct photovoltaic powering. Unlike the typical mass-produced bus stop, EyeStop is designed to fit the physical characteristics of its surroundings, with each unit being slightly different from the others. Furthermore, simple materials like shiny steel, extra clear glass and gray local stone (pietra serena), together with its minimalist design, serve to optimize how it blends into the historic urban fabric of Florence.

“Since the Renaissance, there has been an interplay between the physical form of the city (urb) and its citizenship (civitas),” added Ratti. “Today’s technologies are adding new possibilities to that age-long relationship, thanks to the addition of digital information to physical space.”

EyeStop was developed at the SENSEable City Laboratory by Giovanni de Niederhousern, Shaocong Zhou, Assaf Biderman and Carlo Ratti, in collaboration with the Province of Florence and the local public transportation authority ATAF.

SUNNYVALE, Calif. — Fujitsu Components America Inc. has announced the release of self-wetting adhesive protector sheets that reduce surface damage to touchscreens and flat-panel displays in use or during shipping, while preserving the optical quality and extending the life of the touch device. Because they are repositionable, the protector sheets reduce waste and materials costs.
 
The RoHS-compliant protector sheets feature a 3H surface hardness that is scratch- and chemical-resistant, yet offers excellent stylus registration for touch applications. The sheets are suitable for high-use, rugged and harsh applications, such as POS terminals, self-service kiosks, manufacturing and warehouse equipment and mobile field sales and service devices. They also offer protection for product shipping and testing.
 
The patented, self-wetting adhesive virtually self-applies by spontaneously wetting out on smooth surfaces with no or very low finger pressure to adhere to a display or touchscreen, yet it provides high shear resistance to prevent sheet displacement. The sheet can be repositioned during installation as necessary without affecting performance. The end user can remove the sheet by hand, even after an extended time, without leaving any residue or creating static electricity. Application of a new sheet can then be accomplished, also without generating static electricity, thus avoiding the attraction of undesirable dust particles.
 
The protector sheets are available in anti-glare (matte) and clear hardcoat, and an anti-reflective coated version of the clear option also is available. They are a maximum of 0.007 inches thick, depending on the type, and have an operating temperature range of -22 to 158 degrees Fahrenheit (-30 to +70 degrees Celsius). The typical optical properties of a clear protector sheet are 91 percent transmissivity with one percent haze, and the anti-glare protectors are 90 percent transmissivity with eight percent haze.
 
The protector sheets are custom die-cut to fit the specified display’s surface dimensions and come in a variety of packaging options. Pricing varies by protector sheet size, packaging and quantity, starting at less than $1.

British Journal of Heathcare Computing and Information Management: New sexual-health advice and dispensing kiosks targeting teenagers are being installed by primary care trusts, or PCTs, and local authorities in the U.K.
 
Developed and made by Engage Now, the secure, touchscreen Medi+Vend kiosks are designed for installation in medical and youth centers, schools and colleges, as well as other locations such as homeless shelters.
 
The interactive devices allow patients to obtain free condoms, kits to test for sexually transmitted diseases, health advice and information on local sexual health services.
So far, more than 80 Medi+Vend kiosks have been sold to PCTs and similar organizations across the U.K.
 
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Home Media Magazine: Blockbuster is launching new television and radio ads designed to drum up consumer interest in the brand’s multichannel distribution offerings and changing rental price structure. Speaking Thursday to investors in Dallas during the chain’s annual shareholder’s meeting, CEO Jim Keyes showed a clip of “Escape-In,” which highlights renting movies and video games from Blockbuster in-store, by mail, from kiosks, the Internet and electronically.
 
Keyes said the Blockbuster kiosks will hold 1,000 newly released movies and games, about double the number of most other rental kiosks, for both rental and purchase. The kiosks can be retrofitted for download capability in the future.
 
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SUNNYVALE, Calif. — Fujitsu Components America Inc. today announced it is adding a new line of RoHS-compliant, 5-wire resistive touchpanels to its product offering. The panels feature a new design construction that improves linearity and allows OEMs to maximize the active touch input area, especially in large-size and wide-aspect ratio displays.
 
The Film-Glass touchpanels use a proprietary, patent-pending detection method that enables narrow frame borders in large touchpanels (e.g.: nine mm for 15-inch size) with an edge-area linearity performance of +/- two percent. This allows more of the active display area to be used for touch input functionality. Target applications include POS systems and kiosks for the retail, restaurant and hospitality markets.
 
Other panel specifications include a minimum operating life of 35 million touches, 80 to 85 percent transmissivity, an operating environment of -4 to 140 degrees Fahrenheit (-20C to +60 Celsius) and 20 to 90 percent relative humidity. A USB controller, cables and driver software also are available.
 
Fujitsu’s initial 5-wire release is a 15-inch panel for 4:3 displays. The addition of the 5-wire series complements Fujitsu’s current 4-wire and 7-wire resistive touchpanel offering.
 
Available this summer, the 15-inch touchpanel and controller combination will be priced competitively.

CAMBERLEY, Surrey — Cineworld, the second-largest multiplex cinema chain in the U.K., has installed Protouch’s Xen X5 and X4 self-service kiosks into a number of its U.K. cinemas.
 
The kiosks are to be used for both Cineworld’s “Unlimited” film program and for ticket collection.
Cineworld installed the Xen X5 self-service kiosks into five of its cinema sites, including Glasgow, West India Queys and Cheltenham in late 2008. They are used in the cinema’s main foyer to sell the company’s Unlimited film program, which entitles visitors to watch any film, any day, anytime and at any Cineworld Cinema for just £13.50 a month.

Cinema visitors simply sign up to the program by entering personal information into the kiosk. From this, an A4 receipt with a photo of the member is then printed and can be used as identification until a membership card arrives in the mail.
 
In the six months that the kiosks have been operating, they have shown impressive results, increasing membership by 100 new members per week. Due to the success, Cineworld plans to install the Xen X5 kiosk into all of its cinemas to continue selling the Unlimited program.
 
“The Unlimited program is a large and important part of Cineworld’s business and distinguishes them from every other cinema company in the U.K., and Protouch’s X5 kiosk is helping advance the program,” said John Anderson, Cineworld’s marketing coordinator.
 
On the back of the success of the X5s, Cineworld has greatly expanded its kiosk operations and is now rolling out 34 of Protouch's new Xen X4 kiosks in 13 of its U.K. cinema sites.
 
The X4s will be used for ticket purchase and collection and will run either as wall- or floor-mounted kiosks, using the latest Chasis printer technology for receipts.

MIDRAND, South Africa — IBM, supplier of the IBM AnyPlace Kiosk, has confirmed that it will be the sole platinum sponsor of South Africa’s first definitive kiosk conference, JusTTouchIT 2009. IBM joins a growing list of top IT companies and vendors already committed to the conference. JusTouchIT 2009 will take place July 29-30 at the Eskom Convention Centre in Midrand, a municipality in Johannesburg, South Africa.
 
Kevin Kitchin, IBM Retail Store Solutions brand specialist, said IBM is committed to the growth of the kiosk industry in South Africa and will throw its weight behind such initiatives whenever possible.
 
“The organizers of JusTTouchIT 2009 have assembled an impressive list of international speakers, including one of our own international experts on self-service and kiosks,” said Kitchin.
 
IT integration and support giant GijimaAST is a silver sponsor of the conference and will present a paper on the importance of maintenance and support for an industry that needs to have 24/7 availability.
 
The conference’s keynote speaker will be Robert Porter, CEO of Euro Kiosks Network, an alliance of more than 100 kiosk companies across Europe.
 
“We have every confidence that JusTTouchit will deliver a highly professional conference focused on educating attendees on the latest trends in self-service technologies,” Porter said.

Porter’s keynote address will look at global trends and success stories in the industry, and he also will make an in-depth presentation on photo kiosks, the fastest growing kiosk segment in the world. Porter recently was one of the judges for the photo kiosk software awards at PMA ’09, the Photo Marketing Association’s annual convention in Las Vegas. Porter’s photo kiosk presentation at JusTTouchIT is sponsored by the PMA.
 
“We are pleased to offer our full support and endorsement for the upcoming JusTTouchIT South African kiosk conference,” said Porter.
 
David Ives, director, developer and platform strategy group for Microsoft South Africa, will be the second-day keynote speaker and will address innovations in touch-based computing, such as Microsoft Surface and Active Walls.
 
“This and many other innovations will change the way we interact with technology, with an intention that we make a difference in people’s lives,” said Ives. “This presentation will share what innovation is being researched locally and abroad and the impact this is likely to have on people and the world of service management.”
 
Other speakers at the conference include:
 
• Marcelo Hermida of Wincor Nixdorf, who will present the history of financial services kiosks in South Africa, and a look at their future
• Graham Roebuck, also of Wincor Nixdorf, who will present a joint SAP/Wincor Nixdorf paper on kiosks in an employee self-service environment
• Matshepo Kekana, of the Guateng (South Africa) Shared Services Centre (GSSC), who will present a paper on kiosks as a means of e-government service delivery
• Richard McIntyre, CEO of Crystal Touch, who will speak on kiosk network management, monitoring and content deployment
• Fred Scherf, founder and former executive of Deposita, who will speak on cash in a self-service environment
• Cornel Van Lingen, CEO of Public Display Technologies South Africa, who will speak on interactivity and digital signage
 
There will be additional international input from John Anderson of Yeahpoint Australia, a well-established kiosk company with extensive deployments in Australia and underdeveloped environments in Southeast Asia. Yeahpoint has recently opened offices in South Africa.
 
In addition to the above partners and speakers, exhibitors at the conference will include Epson Printers, Custom Printers, Nomad Electronic Fund Transfer systems, kiosk enclosure builder Heartwood Craft and major South African I.T. company Business Connexion.

MEBANE, N.C. — ArcaTech Systems has promoted Kirk Nelson to associate vice president, OEM Solutions.
 
In his new role, Nelson will continue to manage the growth of ArcaTech’s OEM Solutions business in the Americas, which provides the cash automation components that power hundreds of self-service products around the globe. Nelson will also work to educate kiosk deployers about the benefits of building cash-enabled self-service systems.
 
“There are 28 million unbanked people in the U.S. and millions more who are underbanked or prefer to use cash for automated transactions,” said Nelson. “With those kinds of numbers, deployers can’t afford to leave cash out of the kiosk mix.”
 
Nelson has nearly a decade of experience in the self-service industry and is currently a member of the Self-Service & Kiosk Association Advisory Board.
 
“Kirk has a keen understanding of manufacturers’ needs and an extensive knowledge of the self-service and kiosk industry,” said Mort O’Sullivan, president of ArcaTech. “When customers work with Kirk, they know they’ll get the best possible solutions for their specific applications.”
 
“Helping kiosk manufacturers procure best-value components is my professional passion,” said Nelson. “In my new position, I’ll ensure our customers get the products and service that help them increase revenue and decrease operating costs.”
 
A resident of Mebane, Nelson has worked for ArcaTech since 2001.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia — INETCO Systems Limited, a business transaction management provider that delivers cross-tier visibility into ATM, POS and card-processing applications and networks, today celebrated the launch of INETCO Insight 4.5. This version of the software includes smart alerting capabilities for instant awareness of critical transaction events, powerful visualization and complete transaction correlation to help any user access rich transaction information and integrate it into existing applications for better management of critical business processes.
 
"With INETCO Insight 4.5, business and IT users can capitalize on powerful business transaction intelligence to achieve greater service efficiency and lower costs," said Bijan Sanii, president and chief executive of INETCO. "The value of this information grows exponentially as transaction processors and other financial service providers face increased operational complexity due to mergers and acquisition activity, consolidation and upgrade efforts, such as legacy modernization projects, virtualization, EMV and ACI's upcoming Base 24 transition."
 
INETCO Insight 4.5 captures complete information on every financial transaction as it moves across both internal and third-party service provider networks and applications. This rich transaction information can improve the efficiency of a wide variety of business processes, from customer service to fraud monitoring to application support, reducing the risk of downtime and fraud losses, decreasing overhead costs and improving customer satisfaction.
 
"Increased competition, market consolidation and convergence have complicated business matters for transaction processors, emphasizing a growing need for innovative ways to control costs, reduce the risk of revenue loss and improve service quality," said Pat Cridge, senior manager of operations for Open Solutions Canada. "Open Solutions Canada is using INETCO Insight 4.5 to manage eight unique electronic funds transfer channels and rely on its correlated information to ensure we can confidently meet the needs of our growing client base without incurring risk of service disruptions, additional support costs and redundant operational costs."
 
INETCO Insight 4.5 includes the following new features and enhancements:
 
Complete transaction correlation: Every important detail about every transaction is captured automatically, including field-level detail, transaction-path information, the linkage details between networks and application layer activity. This information is assembled end-to-end, across multiple links that often include third-party services. INETCO Insight provides the information that both line-of-business and IT users need to manage business transactions, saving hours of manual efforts, fragile scripts and costly inquiry requests.
 
Advanced statistical and event-based alerting: Gone are the senseless alerts that are often ignored. Built on a robust rules engine that lets the user assign severity levels and thresholds, alerts are more precise and meaningful. Triggered in response to user-defined groups and critical events, tailored alerts combine the complex logic gathered within the transaction fields and statistical information to meet specific business needs. Notify users through on-screen traffic light displays, e-mail alerts and syslog deliveries.
 
Powerful visualization: Whether it's a business manager or a frontline support person, user-defined Web-based dashboards provide a customized view of all relevant information in real time. Transaction analysis is enhanced with continuous access to eight days of historical information as well as drill-down and filtering capabilities to isolate transactions of interest, reduce mean time to repair and eliminate costly "blame-storm" sessions.  
 
Ease of deployment: Featuring network-based transaction capture capabilities, INETCO Insight was architected for ease of deployment within high volume transaction environments.  The software can be installed on a standard Microsoft Windows machine, with no agents or code changes required. It automatically writes information to standard databases and easily integrates with security, reporting and event management applications.

(Springfield, Mo.) News-Leader: Sixty-six national cemeteries equipped with grave-locator kiosks were affected by a computer crash at the National Cemetery Administration in Quantico, Va., on Monday — Memorial Day — according to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.
 
VA spokesperson Jo Schueda, contacted at the agency’s headquarters in Washington, D.C., said the glitch affected access to the computerized cemetery records of six million veterans buried at national cemeteries. Schueda said the problem was due to a “fried” hard drive in Virginia that had yet to be repaired.
 
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CSP Daily News: Radiant Systems Inc. said Tuesday it has inked an agreement with Intelio Technologies to become a distributor of Intelio’s Activa car wash activation kiosk and to work with Intelio in integrating the kiosk with Radiant’s electronic payments software.
 
The Activa is a networked self-service kiosk designed to greet, educate and upsell car wash customers. Its “talking head” virtual assistant, touchscreen and stereo sound provide a differentiated customer experience, which often results in a higher average ticket price. The kiosk works with all major car wash manufacturers and can accept codes sold at fuel dispensers.
 
Radiant’s electronic payments software integrates a variety of processing networks globally to process credit, debit, store value, fleet and ACH payments. When the integration is complete, deployers of the technology will have the ability to accept more than 100 distinct payment cards at the Activa, depending on network configuration.
 
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NEW YORK — Zinio, a global provider of digital and interactive publishing products and services, today announced a global partnership with Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc. to provide guests at its portfolio of specialty select hotels with access to a branded digital newsstand offering downloadable magazines. The hotel-branded digital newsstands will be powered by Zinio and will feature select single issues for guests to enjoy during their stay at all Element and Aloft properties and participating Four Points by Sheraton properties.
 
"We are excited to align ourselves with Starwood to enhance its current guest amenity offering with Zinio's digital-reading experience, driving mutual brand awareness and cultivating consumer adoption," said Rich Maggiotto, president and chief executive of Zinio. "Leveraging Zinio's desire to offer on-the-go readers their favorite magazines anytime and anywhere is a logical fit for Starwood's specialty select properties."
 
The digital newsstand, which will be accessible in Starwood's guest rooms and at lobby kiosks, will offer participating titles including: Caribbean Travel & Life, Destination Weddings & Honeymoons, Field & Stream, Golf Fitness Magazine, Kiteboarding, Macworld, mental_floss, Outside, Outside's GO, PC World, Saveur, Ski Magazine, Skiing, Spa Magazine, U.S. News & World Report, Wakeboarding and Working Mother. Also, Starwood will be the first hotel company to offer VIVmag, the first interactive digital women's luxury lifestyle magazine, conceived and designed exclusively to be read digitally.
 
Additionally, the newsstand will offer a range of international titles from Argentina, China, France, Italy, Mexico, New Zealand, Spain, Taiwan and the United Kingdom.
 
"At all our specialty select properties, we aim to provide guests with unique experiences that help make life on the road convenient and easy," said Brian McGuinness, Senior Vice President of Starwood's Specialty Select Brands. "Partnering with Zinio enables us to extend another unique branded offering to our guests who want to keep current while traveling, without being burdened with heavy hard copies of magazines."
 
Guests will enjoy immediate access to the world's most popular digital publications, for free, with Starwood introducing the digital newsstands through on-property marketing and online marketing efforts.
 
The Element North American rollout will be in this month, followed immediately by the global rollouts at Aloft and Four Points by Sheraton. Within the first year, the expected audience reach for the Zinio partnership will range between three and five million impressions.

ITnews.com: Centrelink, an Australian government agency that delivers a range of social services to citizens, has deployed a biometric voice-verification system to authenticate users’ access to welfare services. The system was built by KAZ, an Australian I.T. services company, and is based on technology developed by both the Queensland University of Technology and U.S. voice-recognition vendor Nuance.
 
Customers using the service will have their voice signature recorded and will choose from a range of security questions. The system then uses pattern-recognition software to match any future calls and verify the speaker’s identity. Centrelink project manager Ross Summerfield said the technology, which cost $2 million to build, is the first government deployment of voice biometrics in Australia.
 
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MoreRFID: 3M is helping libraries meet the challenges that come with increased traffic and circulation, which many facilities have seen during the economic downturn. The company recently installed its 3M SelfCheck Systems at locations of the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County, Ohio, or PLCHC. With the help of 3M’s system, the area’s libraries moved more than 15 million items in 2008, representing an increase of more than 750,000 over the previous year.
 
Patrons were able to use the SelfCheck systems for approximately 90 percent of their transactions, and the PLCHC recorded more than 5.6 million visits last year. The library uses two of 3M’s self-service solutions at 12 of its branches.
 
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LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The Self-Service and Kiosk Association has published its 2009 Self-Service Consumer Survey, a comprehensive report that reveals what consumers like and dislike about self-service technology — and what they want more of.

The editorial staff of SSKA, along with research firm Second To None, interviewed more than 1,000 consumers to see how they feel about self-service technology and its various applications. The report contains the results of the survey, along with more than 45 charts and graphs, as well as expert commentary from various industry voices.

"The findings reflect larger trends we’ve observed over 10 years, with a few interesting developments," writes editor James Bickers in the report's introduction. "For instance, the generalization that older people are resistant to new technologies is eroding — pivotal knowledge for you, if you want to continue to delight those audiences."

Other findings in the data-rich publication include:

When asked "When being served as a customer, which of the following is most important to you," 40 percent of respondents chose "quality of service" as their No. 1 concern.
Respondents’ top three reasons for using self-service technology were: "Self-service is faster," "Self-service is more convenient" and "I like self-service technology."
The report also includes commentary from experts in self-service from various vertical markets: healthcare, travel, financial, hospitality, retail and the public sector. Experts include Bill Nuti of NCR, Norma Wolcott from IBM, Colleen Arnold of Air Canada, Bart Foster with SoloHealth and others.

For more information and to purchase the report, visit http://www.selfservice.org/2009research.

 

About Second To None

Second To None, Inc. is a multi-disciplinary customer experience  and customer satisfaction measurement firm specializing in mystery shopping, competitive analysis and merchandising and brand audits. We assist Fortune 1000 brands in measuring, understanding and optimizing their brand performance across all points of customer interaction by providing actionable forward-looking information about the customer experience. For more information, visit www.second-to-none.com.

Unicomp’s POWERstation™ Kiosk is healthcare-specific, self-service kiosk software that enhances the patient registration process. Built upon a Windows platform, it offers compatibility with many kiosk vendor offerings. Key features include:
Integrates with most Practice Management or Electronic Medical Record systems via direct ODBC queries and updates or HL7 messaging.
Allows for new patient registrations and demographic and insurance changes for returning patients.
Support for touch screens, magnetic card stripe readers, card scanners, and electronic signature pads.
Automatically verifies insurance eligibility, patient address, and social security number. Enables compliance with the FTC’s Red Flag Rules legislation for medical identity theft.
Verbal instructions throughout provide for easy patient navigation. Verbal and screen prompts are customizable and available in multiple languages.
Processes credit card payments for co-payments, deductibles, and previous balances.
Allows patient signing of consent and treatment forms, privacy notices, etc. Automatically tracks forms required to be signed.
Functions as a stand-alone device or can coexist with POWERstation’s desktop software that enables registrar-assisted processing as well as monitoring the activity taking place at the kiosk.
For kiosk manufacturers that want to promote an integrated hardware/software solution to the healthcare industry, POWERstation’s kiosk software is available for private label branding.

Unicomp has specialized in developing cutting edge productivity software for the healthcare industry since 1979. Its products are used by more than 20,000 physicians in 35 states.

MELBOURNE, Australia — Sprocket Kiosks, based in Melbourne, Australia, has announced a strategic partnership with IBM Retail Store Solutions to integrate IBM Anyplace kiosks into a range of custom-designed enclosures to cater to the Australian market. Some of Sprocket and IBM’s joint projects include:
 
• Bill-payment terminals at Coles supermarkets
• Australian Open information kiosks
• Royal Agriculture Society of New South Wales kiosks
• Customer-loyalty kiosks for Tabcorp Casinos Tabcorp Casino Customer Loyalty Kiosks
• Product information kiosks for Britax, a maker and distributor of childcare and automotive products
• Self check-out library kiosks
 
According to a news release from Sprocket Kiosks, the alliance will allow IBM to offer its end customers a range of configurations, increase its opportunities with customers outside the POS space and expand products to include non-American kiosk models, as well as allow clients to integrate non-IBM components and provide solutions in an all-in-one enclosure.

PHEONIX, Ariz. — NEOS Consumer Driven Healthcare, a third-party healthcare administrator, has launched version 2.1 of its employer self-service HSA Management Module. NEOS CDH self-service enables employers to easily manage the entire process of employee health savings account setup, plan creation, funding and reporting.
 
Accounts and plan data are easily accessed online by human resources departments for plan administration functions and by employees for inquiry and contribution updates, regardless of employer size. Online reporting and analysis based on qualified medical expense data, as well as premium and deductible data is always available. The real-time data tools create a complete picture of plan participation and usage specific to the company.

Video Business: Digital kiosk company MOD Systems is negotiating with three retailers to launch test pilots in retail stores during the second half of the year, executives told Video Business at the Digital Hollywood conference in Santa Monica, Calif. MOD has partnered with Toshiba and NCR Corp. to develop and roll out the kiosks, which allow consumers to download movies to SD memory cards, the same cards used to store photos on digital cameras. SD cards are already playable on a number of devices, and Toshiba has announced plans to make its TVs, DVD and portable players and other devices compatible with SD cards as well.
 
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OYSTER BAY, N.Y. — In the new report “Next Generation Financial Kiosks: No Bank, No Card, No Envelope Required,” NextGen Research forecasts global markets for financial kiosks and enhanced ATMs will grow at a compound annual rate of 9 percent to include more than 186,000 financial kiosks and nearly 2.5 million ATMs by 2013, more than half of them installed in the United States.
 
“The factors driving growth in this sector include consumers’ ever-increasing acceptance of ATMs; their growing comfort with the technology as ATMs grow increasingly ubiquitous; the declining cost of deploying an ATM; and the untapped potential of developing countries that will see soaring deployments,” said Larry Fisher, Research Director for NextGen. “Coupling those factors with the changing dynamics of the consumer payment systems market, it’s clear that kiosks and ATMs make good financial sense to both deployers and users.”
 
The “Next Generation Financial Kiosk” report provides detail on the market and its outlook, including:

• Market drivers and inhibitors
• Detailed descriptions of self-service financial services applications and services
• An examination of the regulatory and business challenges within this market
• Profiles of leading- and cutting-edge financial kiosk manufacturers and deployers.
 
NextGen Research is the emerging technology arm of ABI Research. The company informs its clients of the outlook for applications currently in use and the opportunities presented by new technologies.

For months, Tom Harold had been throwing his loose change into a couple of jars on his dresser, filling both containers until the quarters, nickels and dimes began to spill from their tops.

That’s when he made his first trip to one of the green, seemingly ubiquitous Coinstar change-counting kiosks. He fed about $86 from one jar and more than $150 from the other one. With money tight in this ragged economy, Harold, a public assistance consultant from Indianapolis, said every penny counts.

"I'm bucks-down now," said Harold, 29. "And I used a bunch of that money to buy things that were outside my strict budget: a bunch of art supplies and some music."

Thanks to Harold and millions of people like him who tote their cans, bottles and buckets of coins to the green machines, the stock of Coinstar continues to soar even as the overall market sits near its lowest levels in years. A recent management shakeup isn’t expected to slow an expansion plan that will give Coinstar and its recently acquired movie-kiosk company, redbox, a footprint of about 40,000 machines in the United States by the end of the year.

And while no one will say outright that the success of the Coinstar companies is directly related to the economy, a case could be made that the downturn has uniquely positioned Coinstar and redbox, which rents movies for a dollar a night, to thrive as Americans clamp down on every cent.

"We don’t attribute the popularity of our coin counting service to the economy as we’ve seen year-over-year growth in coin volume for a number of years," said Marci Maule, Coinstar Inc.’s director of public relations. "We talk to consumers on a fairly regular basis, and what prompts them to cash in coins is when their coin jar gets full. We’re not necessarily seeing people cash in more frequently or earlier, but we consistently see new users coming to Coinstar as more people become aware of the service."

Redbox, she said, was well positioned even before unemployment and foreclosures marred the landscape. "Really before the downturn in the economy, (redbox) seemed to be the right service at the right time."

Coinstar’s stock so far this year has been trading above $31 per share, more than double its price in December. This is fueled in part by its agreement in February to purchase the remaining shares of redbox, in which it already had a majority stake. Revenue is expected to grow as both companies plan to add kiosks this year — redbox is planning to jump from 14,000 machines to about 20,000, and Coinstar hopes to add about 1,000 units this year to surpass 19,000 coin-counting kiosks. But can the good times last?

Other analysts say DVD rentals can’t stay profitable forever, as new technologies emerge to replace them. In a column earlier this month, the Wall Street Journal expressed doubts about redbox’ long-term value, saying its price wasn’t a bargain compared to competitor Netflix, which was performing more than 25 percent above expectations and ships movies right to devices like the Xbox 360.

Another potential hindrance for redbox is its lawsuit with Universal Studios, which argues that redbox’s cheap rental model will lead people to stop buying movies. Universal last year sought to withhold DVDs from redbox until 45 days after release to prevent competition with sales. Universal then instructed wholesalers to cut off supplies when redbox rejected the deal. Redbox later sued Universal, alleging restraint of trade. Maule said the company cannot comment on ongoing litigation.

But Coinstar’s fortune continues to be further linked with redbox.

Paul Davis, who had been hired as Coinstar’s chief operating officer last May, recently moved up to replace the retiring Dave Cole, who had been Coinstar’s chief executive since 2001. Davis was an experienced executive who had worked for Kettle Foods and PepsiCo’s Frito-Lay Company.

Davis was replaced as chief operating officer by redbox executive Gregg Kaplan, who had been redbox' CEO. Redbox chief financial officer John Harvey is taking the same position at Coinstar after chief financial officer Brian Turner decided to leave the company.

Last year, Coinstar processed $3 billion in change at 18,400 machines, up slightly from $2.9 billion processed at 15,400 machines.

Coinstar also has worked to keep its offerings fresh. It is seeking new retail partners for its Coin to Card program, which waives its 8.9 percent service fee if a customer chooses to convert the change counted into gift cards for partner retailers such as Amazon and Starbucks. The program was started in 2005 to attract people who balked at the service charge.

The total takeover of redbox gives Coinstar full control of a thriving — and still growing — business. And Coinstar has inroads into grocery stores and convenience stores that redbox has been trying to enter.

"I think it’s quite a good fit," said Francie Mendelsohn, president of Summit Research Associates. "But it’s short term. Five years from now, we’re not going to be talking about DVD kiosks. The model is going to change."

Maule acknowledged that digital downloads are expected to challenge DVD rentals, but pointed out that many customers will still choose DVDs over downloads, which can take hours to transfer and can average about $3.99 per movie.

But the slow economy may delay that change, Mendelsohn said, because consumers won’t want to spend money on whatever machines finally replace DVD players. "If you don’t have a job, you’re not going to buy new equipment," she said.

Coinstar’s own research shows how harsh economic times could work in its favor.

More than one-third of Americans value loose change more than they did a year ago, according to a poll commissioned by Coinstar late last year.

Of the two-thirds of those polled who said they accumulate change, 32 percent said they are recycling or cashing in that change more now than a year ago (the study did not ask how they were cashing in the change — in machines, spending it, or rolling it and taking it to banks, Maule said).

And 46 percent of people said they planned to spend their loose change on fun purchases.

Harold, who cashed in his first two jars this year, said he didn’t mind paying Coinstar’s fee to count his change, since it saved him an evening of rolling change at home. And he said he would use Coinstar again.

"I have a lot of pennies," he said. "I should take those in."

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Two airports have announced the installation of interactive kiosks:
 
• The Greater Binghamton Airport in Binghamton, N.Y. has installed a touchscreen information kiosk, located outside the airport’s Visitor Information Center. The kiosk cost $20,000 to deploy and was funded by the Broome County hotel-motel tax.
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• Officials at Houston's Bush Intercontinental Airport have deployed a interactive kiosk for international travelers that a spokesperson said cuts time at the customs check from about five minutes to 40 seconds. Officials with the U.S. Customs and Border Protection are promoting the kiosk in an effort to free up officers’ time to deal with potentially high-risk travelers.
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BayouBuzz.com: New Orleans Mayor C. Ray Nagin has announced the deployment of City of New Orleans kiosks at all local Winn Dixie grocery stores. The kiosks will allow citizens to access city services online to complete tasks such as paying parking tickets, obtaining permits, reviewing the status of city projects and registering for the City Assisted Evacuated Plan before hurricane season. Similar kiosks are already in use at New Orleans’ City Hall.
 
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Video Business: Columbus, Ohio-based kiosk operator ePlay will install videogame, and DVD-rental and trade-in kiosks at 77 Wal-Mart stores in New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island by the end of May.
 
In addition to offering $1-per-night DVD rental, the ePlay kiosks will allow users to turn in Nintendo Wii, Microsoft Xbox, and Sony PlayStation games in exchange for credit on their credit cards, the companies said.

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CHICAGO — Givex, a global provider of closed-loop card technologies including gift, loyalty and other stored-value programs, has announced the launch of its latest product, a standalone touchscreen terminal. The announcement occurred at the National Restaurant Association Show, which runs through Wednesday.
 
According to a news release, the kiosks feature real-time capabilities such as point balance inquiries and transaction history viewing, allowing customers of Givex Loyalty Programs clients to manage their accounts from the merchant’s brick-and-mortar locations.

TEDDINGTON, ENGLAND — Alamo Rent A Car, the largest rental car provider to international travelers visiting North America, has announced an exclusive agreement with Virgin Holidays to become its preferred car rental supplier. The agreement will go into effect Jan. 1, 2010.
 
"We are proud to be part of such an innovative partnership, especially in today's tough economic climate," said Greg Stubblefield, president of Alamo Rent A Car. "Virgin Holidays and Alamo are both leaders in their respective industries and together can offer leisure travelers even more value, service and convenience than ever before."
 
Alamo's online check-in option, friendly self-service kiosks and leading-edge environmental stewardship were all factors in Virgin Holidays' selection criteria.
 
“We pride ourselves on exceeding expectations, so Alamo feels like a perfect match for us and enables us to offer our customers a unique, state-of-the-art fly/drive product into North America. We are delighted to appoint Alamo as our exclusive vehicle rental provider,” said Amanda Wills, managing director for Virgin Holidays.
 
Beginning Jan. 1, all Virgin Holidays customers will be able to bypass the car rental counter and go straight to Alamo's self-service kiosks to retrieve their rental agreements. The kiosk can also be used for any last minute changes or additions to the car rental booking, including vehicle upgrades, child seats and additional drivers. Virgin Holidays customers also will have access to the Alamo Choice product, whereby they can choose any vehicle at the facility within the category booked.
 
"I believe that Alamo and Virgin Holidays will jointly offer a terrific and memorable customer experience from beginning to end," Stubblefield said. "From Florida to California and from Texas to Canada, we will be working together to set a new standard in the travel industry."

Foster’s Daily Democrat (N.H.): Former Rochester, N.H., Concerned Taxpayers Association vice-president Fred Leonard has announced he will run for mayor in November. As mayor, Leonard said he would deploy interactive bill-pay kiosks to reduce walk-in traffic at the tax collector’s office, thereby reducing labor costs for the city. The kiosk plan would be part of Leonard’s promise to reduce costs to taxpayers and increase services at the same time.
 
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Reno (Nev.) Gazette-Journal: Branch libraries in the Nevada cities of Yerington, Smith Valley, Silver Stage, Fernley and Dayton, all located in Lyon County, have updated their services with self-checkout stations. The systems allow visitors to scan their library cards and check out materials free of staff assistance. The deployment was funded in full by a grant from the Library Services and Technology Act.
 
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Sun Journal (Maine): The founders of the Northern Forest Canoe Trail in Fryeburg, Maine, unveiled Wednesday an unconventional kiosk deployment along the 740-mile-long canoe and kayaking trail, which runs from the town of Fort Kent, Maine, to Old Forge, N.Y.
 
The informational kiosk is set within a 16-foot canoe held up by two posts and placed at the entrance of the Maine Visitor Information Center, near the state’s border with New Hampshire. The idea is to attract the attention of paddlers and inform them of the ample canoeing and kayaking opportunities in the state.
 
Though the organization has deployed other informational kiosks along the trail, this is the first to incorporate a canoe. Founders hope the deployment will inspire more creative information displays regarding the state’s outdoor recreation.
 
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WAAY-TV, Channel 31 (Birmingham, Ala.): The city council in Birmingham, Ala., has unanimously approved a civil rights trail that will incorporate informational kiosks. The trail will trace the city’s segregation battle, including stops at the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church, where four African-American girls were killed in a 1963 bombing, and the site of the old city jail, where Martin Luther King Jr. famously wrote “Letter from Birmingham Jail.”
 
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MALVERN, Pa. — USA Technologies announced today the availability of ePort SDK, a software version of its ePort cashless transaction technology that includes enhanced security features.
 
EPort SDK offers all the benefits of the traditional ePort device in a software package. Combined with the Company's ePort Connect Service for payment processing, consumer support and online reporting, the solution provides end-to-end encryption on all credit and debit card transactions.
 
"Ensuring the security for our customers is a priority at USA Technologies to counter identity theft and credit/debit card fraud," said Ron Fridman, VP of engineering with USA Technologies. "The ePort SDK software offers our customers financial security, from the swipe of their card, through the transaction and to the completion of the purchase."
 
The software-based ePort SDK is designed for applications in which a customer's unattended point of sale solution has computing power built in — overcoming the need for a standard ePort terminal. The ePort SDK software will run on both Linux and Windows based computing platforms.
 
The ePort SDK enables kiosks and other PC-based self-service retail locations to accept cashless payment. The product is particularly well suited to the kiosk market, where it is already being used by USA Technologies' customers including Merit Entertainment and Teknovation. The software is also designed for use with next generation vending machine controllers which are being developed by several vending manufacturers and their component suppliers.
 
The ePort SDK solution utilizes MagneSafe security technology from MagTek Inc. The MagneSafe encrypts financial card data inside the payment terminal read head at the time of the card swipe, and the data remains encrypted until the data is securely transferred to a payment processor.
 
"We take our responsibility to protect consumer card data very seriously and are committed to doing everything in our power to protect our customers from card fraud and ID theft," said Fridman. "The ePort SDK solution meets the industry's highest security standards."
 
USA Technologies was certified by Visa as a Level One PCI Service Provider earlier this year.

WTVH-TV, Channel 10 (Syracuse, N.Y.): Residents of Binghamton, N.Y., are now able to use a public kiosk in the town’s City Hall to see precisely how their tax dollars are spent. The new, interactive budget module is available via the Internet and the Web-enabled kiosk. The deployment is part of the city’s effort to make the budget-planning process more transparent for its citizens. Users also can manipulate figures and create their own mock budget with the tool.
 
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LONDON — Exhibitor space is already at a premium for KioskCom Self Service Expo Europe, scheduled for Oct. 1-2.

MEQUON, WI —  D2 sales, a digital media designer and manufacturer, has released the My Patient Passport Express Wayfinding Kiosk as the newest addition to its healthcare kiosk line.
 
Designed specifically for use in hospitals and clinics, the kiosk includes wayfinding software, accessible via touchscreen, and customizable hardware. It also features the capability to print a map or building directory.

SAN FRANSISCO — 3i Consulting, a developer of complementary mobile solutions for the SAP platform, announced yesterday the availability of the world’s first employee self-service portal designed specifically for SAP’s enterprise resource management and BlackBerry platforms.

The solution is powered by 3i’s Mobile Workplace technology and provides mobile access to common employee self-service functionalities, such as SAP Workflow tasks, creation and updating of employee banking, address and benefits information, time-sheet entry and leave requests.

“2009 is shaping up to be an exciting year for SAP mobility, as there is an increasing focus on cost reduction and the ability to streamline non-income-producing activities, such as HR functionality, is pushed further into the spotlight,” said David Sherman, director of sales for 3i Consulting, in a press release.

A QuickStart trial of the Mobile Workplace platform is available at 3i-consulting.com.

Belfast Telegraph:  An overnight computer glitch at around 100 Tesco locations across the U.K. Monday had shoppers flocking to unaffected self-checkout lanes. According to a statement from the supermarket giant, a few stores were forced to close and reboot their systems, but most continued conducting business, directing shoppers to cash-accepting self-checkout kiosks and manning the stations with additional staff to ensure minimal disruption.
 
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Skokie Review: Two groups of University of Illinois students have been awarded more than $7,000 in tuition credits for their environmentally friendly kiosk designs in the school’s first Sustainable E-waste Design Competition, held April 16. Taking top honors in the competition’s “Artist/Designer” category was a small-footprint visitor-information kiosk made from re-used steel computer cases featuring recycled materials that include a CRT monitor, motherboard and hard drives, as well as navigation tools made from discarded computer mouses and keyboard components. Also recognized, in the “Technical/Geek” category, was a kiosk made from repurposed e-waste and designed to encourage the recycling of everyday consumer materials, such as bottles, cans and paper.
 
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LAS VEGAS – KioskCom newcomer Parkeon exhibited Thursday the Strada, an off-board ticket-issuance and fare-collection solution built by Flextronics.

The kiosk sells and dispenses up to five different fare types, and accepts a variety of payment types, including coins, bills, credit/debit cards, smart cards and contactless bank cards.

The small-footprint Strada is powered by a solar panel on top of the machine, with the option to utilize AC power, and uses two-way wireless communication to allow for remote management of the system, including real-time alarm notification, transaction reporting and event history.

LAS VEGAS — During an educational session at the KioskCom Self Service Expo Thursday, attendees sampled exclusive results of consumer research that reveals what they like and dislike when using self-service.

The session, "What Self-Service Technology Do Customers Really Want," moderated by SSKA executive director David Drain, focused on a study sponsored by the association and included in a new report, "2009 Self-Service Consumer Survey." Drain gave attendees a peek at some of the results of the study, including:

When asked "When being served as a customer, which of the following is most important to you," 40 percent of respondents chose "quality of service" as their No. 1 concern.
Respondents’ top three reasons for using self-service technology were: "Self-service is faster," "Self-service is more convenient" and "I like self-service technology."
When asked their No.1 reason for choosing full-service provided by an employee over self-service, 50 percent responded, "Self-service devices are not available."
Coupled with these insights into consumer preferences was data presented by Janet Sherlock of AMR Research, which showed more than 60 percent of retailers surveyed will add or improve on their self-service offerings this year or are planning a 2010 initiative. AMR’s data also provided a snapshot of the self-service functionalities retailers consider when planning deployments. Taking the top positions on the list were gift registry, price check, inventory location/availability, expanded product information, "endless aisle" order processing, self-checkout and loyalty program/mailing list sign-up. Sherlock pointed to the QSR dining space as the next big market to make self-service solutions a part of its standard offerings.

Also during the session, Jared Miller, senior director of customer self-service for Continental Airlines, discussed the company’s self-service strategies and successes. With service to nearly as many international as domestic locations, Miller said Continental focuses on catering to a diverse customer base and providing a consistent user experience across all channels.

"Our self-service offerings have to be able to speak to these customers in a manner they’re comfortable with," Miller said. "It’s a continual conversation, if you will, with the customer across every touchpoint."

Miller also discussed the future of mobile self-service technology in the airline industry and predicted a standardized mobile boarding pass acceptance system within a few years.

LAS VEGAS — If you’re a Chicago White Sox fan and have made the pilgrimage to U.S. Cellular Field, you may be already familiar with Ecast digital signage.

Ecast, a provider of end-to-end, place-based interactive solutions, put more than 50 large-format full HD displays at the stadium for use in video walls and concession areas, as well as 10 of the Ecast IQ 40-inch vertically oriented, interactive media touchscreens.

Ecast showed the IQ at KioskCom Self Service Expo and The Digital Signage Show, a two-day event that concluded yesterday.

With IP connectivity by LG Electronics, the IQ is designed specifically for retail and hospitality deployers. Jon Howe, director of manufacturing for Ecast, demonstrated one retail application that enables video gamers to browse new titles as well as receive game recommendations based on preferences. For hospitality, he showed a virtual concierge that helps hotel guests find local restaurants and entertainment.

The Internet-enabled screens are designed to be installed and serviced easily by one person. Howe spent about 90 seconds on a pair of thumb screws before having the screen all but removed from its mount.

Other potential retail applications include:
• Peer and online reviews
• Employee photos
• Training

Hoteliers can offer flight status updates, surveys, rewards program information and more.

LAS VEGAS — KioskCom has announced winners of its annual Kiosk Self Service Excellence Awards.

KioskCom named its first Self Service Excellence Awards in 2002 to honor the most successful and innovative self-service and interactive digital media solutions. Over the years, KioskCom has honored more than 200 companies across multiple industries for their leadership, innovations and successes with self-service and interactive digital media solutions.

The Self Service Excellence Awards, co-sponsored by the Self-Service and Kiosk Association, are based on the measurements set forth by the deploying organization, and not just the technology suppliers.

Best Retail Deployment

• Indigo Next Generation Retail Kiosk, submitted by Indigo Books & Music

Best Travel/Hospitality Deployment

• Hertz Drives Efficiency and Customer Satisfaction with Self-Service, submitted by NCR Corp.

Best Entertainment/Gaming Deployment

• Ecast EQ Interactive HD Entertainment and Promotion at Point of Purchase, submitted by Ecast

Best Healthcare Deployment

• Adventist Health System Drives Revenue, Efficiencies with Self-Service, submitted by NCR Corp.

Best Other Deployment

• The Library of Congress Experience, submitted by Library of Congress

Best Overall Software Solution

• Cabela's E-Commerce Kiosk Program, submitted by Netkey

Best Hardware/Enclosure Design

• Outdoor, Full Payment Media Kiosk Delivers Results, submitted by Innovative Control Systems Inc.

The Best of Show award, given to the deployment that the earned the most overall votes among all categories, went to the Library of Congress Experience. Jo Ann Jenkins, COO, Library of Congress, was named Deployer of the Year.

Also at the event, the Self-Service and Kiosk Association inducted three individuals into its Hall of Fame. They included:

• Gregg Kaplan, president and COO of Coinstar, for his work with redbox, which is a subsidiary of Coinstar
• Rick Malone, president and founder of KIOSK Information Systems
• Bradley Walker, CEO and founder of Nanonation

The ceremony was held yesterday inside the KioskCom Self Service Expo, co-located with The Digital Signage Show at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center.

LAS VEGAS — Long a leader in ATM technology, Tranax Technologies brought two of its financial kiosks to KioskCom Self Service Expo.

The company’s through-the-wall kiosk is one of its newest machines. The weatherized kiosk includes a 17-inch sun-viewable touchscreen and several component bays for bill acceptor, card reader and receipt printer. Current applications include bill pay and money transfer. Movie ticketing for the kiosk is in the works.

"We’re really excited about it," said Wes Dunn, director of business development for Tranax. "We believe this is going to be a really good thing for us."

Also in the booth was the Transactional Kiosk 1000, Tranax’s financial kiosk, which handles bill pay, ski and movie ticketing and card dispensing. Leveraging the company’s ATM background, the 250-pound machine is designed to be very durable.

Customized options include ticket printer or magnetic card dispenser, MEI bill acceptor with 500 or 1,000 note capacity, electronic lock and tamper alarm.

The two-day show, collocated with The Digital Signage Show, concludes today at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center.

LAS VEGAS — Music on the go is about to get a boost with the announcement of a recent contract between KIOSK Information Systems and Mix & Burn. The agreement, announced at KioskCom Self Service Expo, affords new levels of self-service download functionality — specifically, KIOSK is now offering a full DRM-free content library with direct-to-device download on a self-payment/self-service kiosk.

The kiosk’s music library is the Digital f.y.e. Music Store, featuring 3 million DRM-free MP3 tracks from all the major labels, including Universal Music Group, Sony BMG Music Entertainment, Warner Music Group and EMI Music. Indie artist fans can select content from the largest indie aggregators, including IODA, The Orchard and CD Baby.

Selections made off the kiosk can also be independently transacted on the kiosk — browsing, payment and direct-to-device download are all menu driven functions created for consumers in an unattended environment. As transactions are completed, the labels and their artists are simultaneously compensated for the use of their content. The MP3 downloads are compatible with the vast majority of iPod products, USB/memory cards and MP3 players. Music purchased plays immediately on the device, and transfers easily to add to a user’s home computer library.

Music is the latest feature to be added to KIOSK’s full line of multifunction café capabilities. Through ZOOX Stations, a KIOSK subsidiary devoted to development and manufacturing of pay-for-use kiosk technology, a single kiosk café can now offer music download, photo printing, Internet and e-mail access, office software and casual gaming.

"Adding music download features ultimately enables any broadband-connected kiosk to attract more customers and location traffic by providing continuously refreshed content through digital music downloads," said KIOSK CEO Rick Malone. "With the new direct-to-device MP3 format, consumers get instant purchase gratification — three words that go a long way toward future adoption."

The two-day show, collocated with The Digital Signage Show, concludes today at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center.

LAS VEGAS — Before hitting the convention center floor Wednesday at the KioskCom Self Service Expo and The Digital Signage Show, attendees heard Joshua Weiss recount Delta Air Lines’ recipe for self-service success. Following a merger with Northwest Airlines about six months ago, Delta became the largest airline in the world.

Weiss, who has been with Delta for 13 years as managing director of self-service, shared the airline’s strategies with a packed house and commended the industry for its leading-edge innovation.

"The pace of change in our industry and what we’ve had to accommodate ourselves to, compared to other industries, is pretty unbelievable," Weiss said.

He pointed to the many obstacles that have faced airlines throughout the last decade — 9/11, SARS, fluctuating fuel prices and struggling economies — and spoke of how self-service technology has not only helped Delta stay profitable in the face of such issues, but also see a spike in customer satisfaction numbers at the same time.

Weiss cited statistics that say more than 80 percent of Delta travelers now check in via self-service or Delta.com, and that the airline’s revenue from self-service and online ticketing surpasses the GDP of 80 percent of the countries in the world.

For much of the presentation, Weiss emphasized the critical notion that self-service deployers must cover all of their customer experience, employee engagement and branding basics, while growing globally and maintaining a "best-in-class" cost structure.

"If you embark on a self-service initiative with cost as a singular goal, it will not be successful," he said.

Important considerations, Weiss said, include things like an attractive, easy-to-use interface, consistent branding and experiences across all channels and keeping employees involved in the process. Delta even has employees at different airports compete to have the highest self-service usage rates, which Weiss said leads to agents coming out from behind the counter and engaging travelers with the technology, thereby providing "full-service self-service."

Also during the keynote, Weiss emphasized the importance of catching up to mobile commerce and mastering and standardizing mobile technology throughout the industry.

"They expect us to be on, available, everything they want to do, optimized for their device, 24 hours per day, in their language," he said. "We’re not there yet in mobile, and that, in my mind, is the biggest opportunity for all of us."

Lastly, Weiss said it’s crucial not to forget that technology isn’t the end-all, be-all. Pointing to instances of delayed or cancelled flights, after which airline agents often swim in a sea of meal, transportation and hotel vouchers and arrangements, he shared that Delta has equipped its agents with wireless, handheld devices to help them continue to provide a consistent and supportive customer experience.

"When moments of high stress happen … there are times when people just want to talk to people," he said.

LAS VEGAS — Prior to the start of the KioskCom Self Service Expo and The Digital Signage Show, the Self-Service & Kiosk Association Advisory Board gathered on Tuesday at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas. With approximately 20 board members in attendance, the group elected eight officers and tackled many issues facing the association and the industry as a whole.

Joel Davis, president and CEO of KioskCom organizer JD Events, touched on the show’s increasingly important relationship with SSKA and shared registration numbers with the group.

While, as expected, those figures are slightly down, Davis assured the board that show organizers "remain completely focused, and even obsessed, on delivering qualified buyers to exhibitors," and are making strategic moves to maximize the event’s impact. Those efforts have included offering complimentary full-conference passes to attendees, getting involved in social media and a telemarketing drive in the wake of the recent swine flu scare.

Following the discussion of SSKA’s presence at KioskCom, the group elected the following board members to office:

Also recognized were three new board members: Dave McCracken of Livewire Kiosk, Tom Pappalardo of Esprida Corp., and Tommy Woycik of NEXTEP SYSTEMS.

Executive director David Drain presented up-to-date membership numbers, which show a growing deployer constituency. Coupled with the election of three officer positions dedicated to that segment, SSKA chairman Dick Good emphasized the importance of the association’s efforts to continue growing it as a membership base.

A highlight of the meeting was a presentation by guest attendee Chris Rezendes of VDC Research, who shared in-depth findings related to potential new deployment environments and what he predicts will be the astronomical growth of mobile commerce in the coming years. Rezendes challenged the SSKA to lead the way in channeling oft-repeated phrases such as "operational efficiency" and "customer service" into measurable and observable terms.

"If you as an association can achieve this, you will absolutely, positively become the center of gravity in this industry," he said.

Thus far this week, the SSKA presence at KioskCom has been noticeable. During the Self Service Excellence Awards Wednesday, Drain presented three Hall of Fame awards on behalf of the association. Recipients were Gregg Kaplan, president and COO of Coinstar; Rick Malone, founder and president of KIOSK Information Systems; and Bradley Walker, founder and CEO of Nanonation.

When the doors to the KioskCom Self-Service Expo and The Digital Signage Show open this morning in Las Vegas, Self-Service World readers can follow all the action, even if they’re unable to attend the show. We will be “tweeting” developments straight from the floor in an effort to provide readers with up-to-the-minute news and highlights. Follow Self-Service World at twitter.com/kioskcaroline.

LAS VEGAS — The Advertising Council, the nation’s leading producer of public service advertising campaigns, and The MediaTile Company, a provider of cellular digital signage solutions, have announced a partnership to provide a free, new service for network operators to easily add public service advertisements (PSAs) to their digital signage programming schedules.
 
“PSA Casting” is planned for release in the fall of 2009 and will provide royalty-free access to a rich library of PSAs, previously available only to traditional media networks. The announcement was made at The Digital Signage Show in Las Vegas this morning. Information can be obtained on the show floor in the Ad Council booth, number 934, or by visiting www.psacasting.org.
 
“This partnership with MediaTile is a wonderful opportunity to share and promote our campaigns with digital signage operators,” said Tim Davis, EVP of media, The Advertising Council. “We’re excited about PSA Casting and the potential of this new technology to effectively distribute our ads to the growing number of digital signage networks. With this initiative, we will be able to engage broader audiences throughout the country with our public service messages.”
 
The MediaTile Company is supporting the PSA Casting initiative by providing its expertise in hosting and delivery of media-based content for digital signage networks.   MediaTile will use its Web-based Mediacast content delivery and management system as the engine both to host and provide PSAs on-demand to digital signage networks of all types, regardless of their underlying technology platform. MediaTile will also utilize its recently announced Mediaservices organization to format PSAs into digital signage compatible file formats.
 
“We are delighted to be part of this broad industry initiative that will positively affect the lives of millions of viewers,” said Simon Wilson, chief executive of The MediaTile Company. “Delivering PSAs for the Ad Council is both an honor and a privilege, and we’re eager to support their efforts in improving awareness of critical social issues. Together, we will help non-profit organizations and government agencies extend their integrated communication campaigns beyond traditional media to include the ‘Fifth Screen’ — digital signage.”
 
The Digital Signage Show, which is co-located with KioskCom Self Service Expo, is where thousands of professional buyers of digital signage and kiosks from multiple vertical industries, along with digital out of home network owners and advertising agencies, have gathered.
 
“We’re ecstatic to provide a venue to showcase and launch an industry initiative that supports important social issues,” said Lawrence Dvorchik, general manager of The Digital Signage Show and KioskCom.

MONTREAL — X2O Media, a provider of digital signage technology, network management and content services, has introduced the Xpresenter vClips video kiosk, a complete interactive video application that allows users to browse and play back video clips using a simple touchscreen interface. Designed for any application requiring on-demand video playback, the Xpresenter vClips combines the highest quality HD video and graphics output with simple and flexible content management tools.

X2O's Xpresenter vClips is a solution that features unlimited categories and expandable video storage, support for popular video formats, and the ability to customize category and pop-up messages tied to the video timeline. vClips allows full-screen or windowed playback, with a graphical look and feel that can be customized by X2O's award-winning graphic artists.

Installed as a stand-alone application or as part of a multiple-location, networked solution with X2O's Xpresenter Server, the solution gives customers the choice of managing vClips' video content themselves via an easy-to-use Web control page or having X2O manage and remotely monitor content from its network operations center.

"We're excited to offer vClips to our customers as an ideal solution for a number of applications, including corporate training, retail product showcases, information kiosks, movie theatres, music stores, video jukeboxes, and more," said David Wilkins, X2O Media's president and CEO. "The Xpresenter vClips is simple to configure yet extremely powerful. In addition to the broadcast-quality video and graphics that our customers have come to expect from X2O, multiple vClips kiosks can be networked, enabling interesting configurations that could include both one-way and interactive screens, all with one platform."

The Xpresenter vClips joins X2O's new Software Plus Services strategy, the Xpresenter 2.5 platform, X2O's Data Services, a variety of monitoring services offered from X2O's network operations center, and award-winning content and design services to give customers everything they need to run a state-of-the-art digital signage network.

Gulf Times: The first "virtual police station" will come into being in Kerala by next month, officials said yesterday. An initiative of the Kochi city police, the virtual police station will essentially be a touchscreen kiosk for providing all information needed by the public. It will handle services including informing people of the status of a complaint lodged with the police and details of the progress of a police inquiry for purposes like issuing passports.

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KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Popstar Networks Inc. and Digital Evolution Group, a full-service e-consultancy firm, recently partnered to develop and install interactive event and wayfinding kiosks at Crown Center. Crown Center, located in the heart of downtown Kansas City and owned by Hallmark Cards, Inc., is a multi-use 40-acre complex including a retail shopping mall, two luxury hotels, an exhibit hall and other office and residential buildings.
 
The kiosk project was commissioned to enhance the visitor experience in navigating and obtaining detailed information on retailers, dining establishments, and entertainment venues located within the complex. The state-of-the-art kiosks allow visitors to locate stores based upon the category or name of the store and provide a description of the retailer, store hours and any current sales or promotions.
 
Additionally, they offer guided direction to the store through Digital Evolution Group’s interactive property map solution. These advanced interactive kiosks also provide information on the Crown Center campus and surrounding attractions, display restaurant menus, play video clips of currently running theater productions and promote other upcoming events at the Center.
Digital Evolution Group, which designed and developed Crown Center’s Web site, partnered with Popstar to provide Popstar’s Frontstage interactive digital signage solution because of its ability to integrate directly with its Site Management System. The integration with Digital Evolution Group’s Site Management System provides Crown Center the ability to centrally control the updating of content, event listings, store and digital map information, and video and graphic files on both the Web site and the four installed kiosks via the Frontstage Server.
 
As part of Popstar’s BackStage strategic consulting process, the parties collaborated to identify all project goals and content requirements before developing wireframes and prototypes for Crown Center to review. A field and user interaction study conducted early in the process resulted in the solution being clearly defined to meet Crown Center’s unique requirements and allowed for efficient interactive development within Popstar’s FrontStage Digital Signage Network software. The project was completed in 90 days, just prior to the holiday season — one of Crown Center’s most highly trafficked periods.
”The field and user studies were a very important part to the success of the project, allowing us to confirm assumptions and verify requirements before the application development began. Utilizing the Popstar BackStage process and clearly defining goals and further refining them gave us a clear roadmap for development and final deployment,” said Maria Scarpello, sales solutions manager at Popstar, “This resulted in a solution that ideally suited the needs of Crown Center."

KYW-Radio, Channel 1060: Thousands of immigrants have no health coverage. Many times it’s not a question of locating a doctor, but of getting questions answered. A new easy-to-use tool is the Women’s Wellness Guide kiosk. It’s a free-standing electronic unit with a touchscreen that educates people about prevention and early detection and is available in Spanish as well as English.

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Attendees to this week’s KioskCom Self Service Expo and The Digital Signage Show are gearing up for a much-anticipated keynote presentation from Joshua Weiss, managing director of self-service for Delta Air Lines.
 
Weiss will share how Delta has promoted the acceptance of self-service technology by developing new products, redesigning applications and making facility changes. Additionally, Weiss will cover how the technology has helped Delta diversify globally in a cost-effective manner and streamline the travel process and user experience for customers.
 
Show organizers and attendees alike look forward to the presentation as an opportunity to learn from one of the leaders in the massive transportation industry.
 
“Self-service at Delta Air Lines has evolved into a far-reaching, multichannel, multilingual strategy that aims to put the customer in control of their travel experience,” Lawrence Dvorchik, general manager of KioskCom, said in a press release. “We look forward to the opportunity all of our attendees will have to learn from Joshua and his team’s experiences.”
 
The tradeshow’s first keynote session, “Full Service Self Service” will take place May 6 at 9 a.m.

CHICAGO — Olivia Greets, a live, 24-hour avatar-based virtual-receptionist company, has launched a new product targeting the healthcare market. The Olivia Greets Patient Check-in Solution allows busy healthcare clinics, doctors' offices and hospitals to streamline the check-in process in a way similar to how airline companies have added check-in kiosks for customers.

Since the Olivia Greets solution is integrated with the practice management application, staff is alerted when a patient has arrived and checked in. Additional modules may be added and integrated as required.

"Many patients are using self-service technology in other areas of their lives — from ATMs and airlines to supermarkets and fast-food restaurants — and often find the Olivia Greets system to be easy to use and more convenient than waiting in line to talk with the receptionist," said Jim Farrell, president of Olivia Greets. "We felt the time was right to enter the healthcare market as it attempts to consolidate data and improve efficiency and accuracy, as these are all things the Olivia Greets Patient Check-in Solution provides."

The Olivia Greets kiosk features a live, knowledgeable avatar that can walk computer-weary patients through the touchscreen check-in process. The avatar is operated by a call center agent, thus allowing greater flexibility than a standard kiosk in assisting patients.

LINCOLN, Neb. — Nanonation will showcase a number of new technologies to deploy and manage digital marketing assets across a variety of customer touch points at this week's KioskCom Self Service Expo and The Digital Signage Show. In addition to several mobile and iPhone-based solutions, Nanonation (Booth No. 809) will feature demonstrations of client work and highlights of new enhancements and technology innovations based on its award-winning software platform. Stations will be set up to demonstrate Nanonation’s CommandPoint tools to monitor, manage and measure enterprise deployments, including its new data tagging functionality to streamline and automate content management of digital signage networks.

"Our mission for 2009 is to provide marketing and IT professionals with more options and more impact. We’ve enhanced our software platform to provide a wider range of customer experience technologies than ever before," said Brian Ardinger, Nanonation’s chief marketing officer. "These technologies enable businesses to cut costs, leverage investments, and deliver differentiated experiences across the enterprise."

New items that will be showcased include:
-    User interface and functionality enhancements to Nanonation’s software platform
-    Intelligent merchandising solutions for customers and employees
-    Customer-driven digital signage and touchscreen solutions
-    Digital audio solutions for management of the in-store audio experience
-    Enhanced data tagging intelligence to automate and enhance content management

In addition to Nanonation’s exhibit showcase, Bradley Walker, Nanonation’s chief executive, on Wednesday will moderate a panel titled "Measurement Techniques to Measure & Analyze your Data to Improve Sales Lift and the Customer Experience." Panel participants for the session will include representatives from The Palm’s Hotel and Casino and The Nielsen Company.
 
Ardinger on the same day will present a session titled "The Power of Immersive Technologies: How To Make The Customer Experience More Relevant and Effective In Difficult Economic Times." Each session will delve into specific industry case studies and insights gained from the past decade of work in the digital media marketplace.

Don’t let the fact that Virgin is closing its U.S. Megastores fool you: the high-tech, multi-department retailer rocked when it came to providing a cohesive, energizing customer experience. Even when it came to self-service technology and digital signs, the stores made headlines with innovative mass deployments that drew shoppers to the media and then helped them play it. It’s not the fault of the stores’ kiosks and digital signs that Virgin can make more money subleasing the real estate than selling CDs and t-shirts.
 
Robert Fort, Virgin CIO and vice president of information technology, will talk about the deployments Thursday, May 7, 2 p.m., in a keynote address at the KioskCom Self Service Expo and The Digital Signage Show.
 
According to a show release, Fort will discuss how Virgin used customer-engaging technologies such as kiosk listening stations, Virgin TV and more to make a truly unique customer experience. He also will discuss how these customer engaging technologies help improve employee productivity and control costs throughout all of their retail locations and environments, and ensure better compliance and consistency.

Before the doors to the KioskCom Self Service Expo and The Digital Signage Show even open, organizers and members of the Self-Service and Kiosk Association will take advantage of the networking opportunities central to attending an industry tradeshow.
 
The SSKA will hold an Advisory Board meeting the morning of Tuesday, May 5. Following the meeting, the association will host a luncheon for members and for nonmember deployers and vendors who may interested in joining the association.
 
“Not only will you enjoy a great lunch and the opportunity to network with other professionals, you'll also hear a brief update on SSKA activities,” said David Drain, SSKA executive director.
 
Both events will be held at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center, the same venue that hosts the show May 6-7. Registration for the luncheon is $30. Register online at www.networldalliance.com/sskaluncheon.