The unbanked consumer has gotten a lot of play lately. Self-service and retail partnerships involving Coinstar Inc., TIO Networks, Wal-Mart and Fiserv, to name a few, have made news in recent weeks as the companies go after the growing cash-preferred consumer segment, estimated to number 40 million U.S. households.

Not to be left out, and enjoying a fresh infusion of capital after its acquisition by Korean holding company Eltna last year, Tranax Technologies Inc. has spent the first half of 2009 redoubling its focus on self-service and kiosk applications for the retail vertical, all with the cash-preferred market in mind.

"It's the nature of self-service, and especially financial self-service," said Wes Dunn, director of business development for California-based Tranax. "Absolutely, we realize that relevance and the opportunity for our ISOs and for retailers."

The company focused on that opportunity at its Dallas sales office Aug. 19 during a one-day seminar designed to drum up awareness of its partnerships with providers of self-service money-transfer, bill-payment and check-cashing solutions.

At the meeting, Dunn spoke at length about Tranax' renewed philosophy of "letting the solutions dictate how we build the product," and alluded to a greater flexibility and quicker go-to-market capabilities due to Eltna's ownership and a relationship with sister company Hantel.

The applications

Throughout the event, Tranax brought in representatives from its partner vendors to discuss applications for the TK1000 kiosk, which Dunn says is its self-service "bread and butter." In addition to a stand-alone model, a through-the-wall version of the TK1000 is available.

One such application is money transfer, which Tranax works with Nexxo Financial Corp. to provide. Nexxo's Freddie Seba said the Northern California-based company caters primarily to the burgeoning Hispanic market in the United States, many members of which are unbanked and routinely send cash home to their families in Latin America.

Seba cited statistical evidence that Hispanics in America transfer money an average of 1.5 to 1.8 times per month, with the average transaction totaling $300. Nexxo, he said, processes as many as 2,000 transactions on some of its money-transfer kiosks, whose U.S. deployments number around 500, with locations throughout California, Arizona, Texas and Illinois.

Seba said money-transfer remittances are expected to grow to $100 billion through 2015, and Nexxo also offers bill-payment and mobile top-up as ancillary applications.

Dunn says the deployment of solutions for money transfer and bill payment, which Tranax partner VendTechs was on-hand to discuss, is a natural extension of current kiosk applications.

"You and I use the Internet to transfer money, have direct deposit ... and pay our bills with online banking," he said. "The financial self-service kiosk business is, by nature, geared toward the unbanked and underbanked."

During a presentation on bill-payment processing, Will Hunt and Latrice Claiborne, both from VendTechs, spoke about the proliferation of ATMs in the past few decades and how they have fostered a higher comfort level among consumers when making self-service transactions.

VendTechs has been in the self-service industry since 2004 and provides customizable options for billers through its payment-processing partner, Transaction Solutions.

Uniquely, end-users can pay any bill from any company using VendTechs' application. If the biller doesn't happen to be a company that works with Transaction Solutions, the payment processor simply issues a money order to the biller to complete the transaction.

Tranax partner Valid Systems also was on hand to educate ISOs on its check-cashing application, available for deployment with Tranax' 500CS turnkey check-cashing hardware, complete with card reader, check scanner, ID card scanner, fingerprint scanner, keyboard, printer and full LCD display.

John Templer, from the Ft. Worth, Texas-based company, discussed the application with attendees and touted its all-in-one, user-friendly configuration. The solution accepts payroll, tax and government-issued checks and employs more than 60,000 combinations of rules to prevent check fraud.

Valid works with many of the top-10 banks in the United States, Templer said, in addition to some of the country's largest payday lenders, rent-to-own companies, check-cashing services, grocery stores and convenience stores.

Additional solutions

In addition to its kiosk hardware and applications, Tranax demonstrated its latest check scanners, including a single-feed model and an all-in-one version that features a fingerprint scanner, barcode reader and USB and serial connections, as well as a bulk check imager.

The check-scanning hardware caters to retailers interested in deploying remote deposit capture, which representatives of ProfitStars, a Jack Henry company, touted during their presentation.

Also on display was Tranax' line of traditional retail ATMs. The company offers sidecar hardware for its ATMs, ideal for applications such as bill payment and prepaid card dispensing.

Many of the Tranax ISOs in attendance at the Dallas meeting were impressed by the manufacturer's renewed commitment to the self-service and kiosk industry.

"The industry is quickly evolving," said Jamil Adair, president and CEO of Merchants First Choice Inc., a Tranax distributor. "We are moving into an era where offering value-added products and services (is) vital to the success of any ISO. Merchants are keen to technology, and they simply expect more from their ATM cash machines. Tranax has taken a proactive approach and positioned itself to deliver on these higher expectations."

Headquartered in Minneapolis, Minn., Direct Source is a nationally-recognized voice and data network design, installation, integration and custom software development services provider, with an expanding network of more than 2,500 national specialists – including Registered Communications Distribution Designers (RCDDs). Our areas of expertise include tier one retail, retail banking and financial service organizations, warehouse and distribution centers, and corporate campuses.

The Self-Service & Kiosk Association has published a new Best Practices for the self-service and kiosk industry. The document, "Best Practices: Kiosk Cash Management," is the twelfth in a series the Association began publishing exclusively for its members in 2008. It addresses significant security issues that have the potential to result in shrinkage with cash-accepting kiosks.

"One of the most important roles an association can play for its members is that of educator. These Best Practices have been developed many of the industry-leading experts who are part of SSKA, and certainly go a very long way to keeping deployers and vendors abreast of the best, most current thinking," said David Drain, executive direction of the Association.

Other titles include:

Best Practices: Top Five Mistakes of Kiosk Deployment
It's easy to make mistakes when executing a complicated kiosk project. Find out which are the most common and the best ways to avoid them.

Best Practices: Kiosk Graphical User Interfaces (GUI)
To ensure a positive customer experience with any kiosk projects, attention must be paid to the Graphical User Interface (GUI). Find out the hallmarks of a user-friendly GUI and how to implement them during a kiosk rollout.

Best Practices: Kiosk Enclosures
The sheer number of options for kiosk enclosures can be overwhelming. Learn what details are important to consider, including choosing materials and ensuring legal compliance.

Best Practices: Power Protection of Electronic Kiosks
Kiosks that are unprotected from power surges and other disruptions can experience serious problems, including revenue losses. Learn how to safeguard kiosks from such unexpected disturbances.

Best Practices: Kiosk and Digital Signage Rollout
Rollout of a digital-media project, whether it's a kiosk or digital signage, requires detailed project management. Study the ten crucial steps to a successful rollout here.

Best Practices: Selecting Kiosk Touchscreens
There are many different types of touchscreens available for kiosks. We break down the different technologies here — find out which offerings are best-suited to your project.

Best Practices: Photo Kiosks
Learn the basics of successfully deploying photo kiosks — one of the most popular types of self-service technology — including security, remote monitoring and GUI.

Best Practices: Kiosk Acceptance and Managing Change
Successful kiosk deployments go beyond simply rolling out the machines — deployers must be able to manage how customers, as well as employees, perceive and welcome the kiosks in order to maximize their use.

Best Practices: System Security for Kiosks and Other Self-Service Devices
Securing kiosks and other self-service technology is of paramount importance, especially for machines that access the Internet. Learn the best ways to ensure your kiosks and your customers' data are fully protected.

Best Practices: Remote Monitoring of Kiosks and Other Self-Service Devices
Kiosk projects can become overwhelming to manage, especially those that are rolled out on a large scale. Learn how remote-monitoring technology can help reduce the costs of maintaining your project.

Best Practices: Kiosk Compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act
During kiosk rollout, deployers must consider compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Learn the basics of the ADA here, as well as the best ways to ensure your machine’s compliance with the regulations.

Those documents are available to association members for free download from www.SelfService.org.

The Self-Service and Kiosk Association exists to identify and promote the interests of companies engaged in the electronic, self-service kiosk industry. The Association serves its members by providing member news, research, best practice case studies, networking opportunities and forums for discussing important industry issues. With international membership the Association is in a unique position to promote the growth and health of our entire industry around the world.

Contact: David Drain Executive Director, davidd@networldalliance.com; 502-241-7545, ext. 252.

Big Y strives to give its customers the best experience possible. Through Blockbuster Express, our customers can feel confident in their movie-rental experience. NCR is a leader is self-service devices, and their Blockbuster Express kiosk is truly industry-leading. We looked at a number of different option of DVD-rental kiosk companies, and we were convinced that NCR delivered the best experience, the best choice and the best brand.

According to NPD's VideoWatch service, in the coming months both subscription services and traditional video retailers will experience even more competition from kiosks, which are becoming more ubiquitous in grocery stores, mass merchandisers and quick-serve restaurants. Even so, a primary consumer appeal for subscriptions and store rentals is their depth of title selection – a key benefit that might help mitigate the increased competition form kiosks, which offer a more limited list of video titles.

This agreement is a positive step with Paramount. The agreement ensures that our customers will have increased access to some of the biggest titles of the year.

Touchscreen wayfinding is the natural progression from what currently exists in the large majority of the U.K.'s hospitals, airports and shopping centers, as it provides a user-friendly and logical method of navigation. However, due to the length of time and associated costs of updating any element of the interactive maps, many organizations have been reluctant to invest. With Way 2 Go, we think we've developed a market-leading touchscreen wayfinding application with advanced functionality and the ability to change an environment in minutes. This is wayfinding 2.0.

Giving our customers an exceptional photo-creation experience is an integral part of our mission, and we felt that KODAK, as the market leader, best delivered that experience. KODAK is providing both an integrated suite of photo-finishing solutions and the technical and business expertise needed to enable all our locations with one-stop access to award-winning photo products and services.

The nationwide footprint of redbox kiosks — and DVD-rental kiosks generally — has expanded so much, so quickly in recent years that it's no surprise some of the kiosks' user-friendliness may leave a little to be desired. And with the advent of social media outlets, such as blogs and Twitter, Internet-savvy consumers can make their grievances known with the simple click of a mouse — and two DVD-rental kiosk companies are listening and responding.
 
Redbox, e-Play to offer low-hassle DVD return
 
Perhaps the complaint heard most often from redbox users is that they have to wait in line behind customers making rental selections when all they want is to return a disc.

Gary Cohen, redbox's vice president of customer experience says, in addition to software updates that should reduce the time it takes to vend a disc, redbox is exploring new features that will make the return process quicker.

"We will be testing quickreturn at hundreds of redbox retail locations nationwide this year," he said. "Quickreturn will allow customers to make returns while other customers are browsing films and making movie selections." 
 
Similarly, Alan Rudy, CEO of entertainment-kiosk brand e-Play, says the company has developed a system whereby retailers can deploy extra touchscreens, each integrated with the nearby kiosk to browse the selection separate from the vending machine. The company has deployed the "expansion stations" in one Columbus, Ohio, retail location and is working with Wal-Mart to place them in as yet undecided locations, in addition to deploying them at gas station pumps, reaching consumers when they have a few important minutes of forced free time.

"So you can browse to your heart's content," he said. "And the idea would be you might have five or six of these next to one machine, so people don't have to wait in line. They're also all pulling out of the inventory, so you don't have to check three different machines. We can get away with that because we have machines that can hold up to 3,000 discs, so we don't have to put multiple machines in to handle the volume."

Redbox says its machines house about 700 discs.

More entertainment options

The niche gaming segment has long been dominated by a select few retail outlets. Amazon and online-rental service GameFly have gotten a cut of the action on the Internet, and now DVD-rental kiosks are set to grab a piece of it as well.

In May, e-Play announced a 77-store pilot program with retail giant Wal-Mart, and the company's goal was to do just that. While e-Play kiosks offer DVDs, Blu-Ray and video games for rent, their primary differentiator is that they also offer video game trade-in, where a customer receives credit for used titles.

And redbox just announced it has begun testing $2 per-night video game rentals in Reno, Nev., and Wilmington, N.C.

Getting the word out about online reservation

Redbox's kiosk footprint might be huge, but its title selection is not, say some users. Ohio reporter Jason Freed is a movie buff and a former redbox fan. His favor for redbox turned when he recently attempted to rent some of last year's Oscar contenders and was unable to find them.

"I guess that's what kind of turned me off, because I used to be a big proponent of redbox, and we rented tons of movies from it," Freed said. "I like the ease, and I like the convenience of it. But the last few times I've been there, the selection has been outdated."

This is in spite of the company conducting ongoing research to determine which titles it needs to stock most at which locations, redbox's Cohen says.

"To help please all customers, redbox spends significant resources evaluating rental patterns in specific locations to ensure each local redbox retail location features the movies appropriate for that market," he said. "In addition to ensuring more of the most popular new releases are in stock, our customers continue to ask for a broader selection of titles."

Though its kiosks typically house upwards of 3,000 titles, e-Play also receives complaints about out-of-stock titles the most, Rudy says. He and Cohen agree that greater consumer adoption of the online-reservation functionality offered by both companies would help minimize the out-of-stock issue. Using the online tool, a customer can check her first choice location for the titles availability before making the trip.

"I wish everybody understood the concept of online reservation, because you can not only reserve it ahead of time, but you can find a kiosk that has it," Rudy said. "You can get what you want if you're willing to go online first."

The technology behind self-service DVD rental is, relatively speaking, still young, and for all its advantages — convenience, economy – the companies behind the devices continue to work out the kinks. Both redbox and e-Play say the user experience is their top concern and that they're constantly working on improving it.

"Feedback from our customers is the No. 1 gauge on how we are performing," Cohen said. "We regularly ask our customers for feedback and shape updates based around their experiences and desires."

Network Advertising and Events is one of the leading firms in the State of Qatar, focusing on in-door media, special events and direct media. Established 2003 in Doha, Qatar providing services to the most reputable names in Qatar.

VeriFone's MX ATM provides PROSA with a new solution to increase customer loyalty, reduce operating costs and expand our reach to dispersed points of service.

Working Solutions, which develops Acquire digital signage software, has added a Google Maps plugin to its program, allowing users to incorporate the GPS program into digital signage content. Content is updated using 3G cellular connectivity, making it useful for mobile digital signage applications.

“We already have one of our resellers waiting to use the new GPS plugin for a taxi system trial which will start this month”, said Neil Farr, managing director of Working Solutions. “The screens will be utilizing Acquire’s interactive technology to allow passengers to select relevant local information. They will also be able to see their speed, heading and location on the Google map.”

The company also announced a rental program for its Acquire package, where customers pay a monthly fee for use of Acquire software services.

“Customers can choose to rent the entire solution in the same way they would a SaaS solution but they have the option to purchase the software at any time. The rental model is also a good way for customers to evaluate the software for an extended period or even run a pilot or trial” said Paul Mayer, sales & marketing manager at Working Solutions.

We're delighted with the product, both technically and artistically. It's so gratifying to see kids interacting with the dashboard and learning how we are helping our environment.

Coinstar spokeswoman Marci Maule says the company is still in the process of determining which locations will be involved in the pilot, and Coinstar plans to evaluate the kiosks' performance in the grocery/supermarket channel against the success TIO has enjoyed in the convenience store segment with brands such as Exxon Mobil and Circle K.

Hamed Shahbazi, founder and chief executive of TIO Networks, hopes Coinstar's clout will translate to success for the pilot.

"We believe we've landed on something pretty exciting," Coinstar CEO Paul Davis said in the company's Aug. 4 Q2 earnings call. "It's clear to us that our core strength is in the area of automated retail. … The combination of retailer demand, consumer adoption, our core competencies and opportunities for innovation all point to this as being a sustainable platform for future growth."

A shared focus

According to 2008 data from the Center for Financial Services Innovation, 40 million U.S. households, or 106 million individuals, are considered "cash-preferred." These consumers lack traditional relationships with financial institutions or have them in combination with other financial services, such as payday lenders or prepaid debit card providers.

The scarcity of services catering to the cash-preferred has, in part, led to TIO's success in bill-payment processing for companies in the telecom, wireless, cable and utility sectors. The company has enjoyed a steady increase in transaction endpoints, which include retail kiosks, POS systems and an online component — this year, the count has reached more than 18,000.

Though Coinstar has remained quiet about the future of the partnership thus far, it certainly has the potential to pay off in the long term, as the company also relies on business from cash-preferred consumers.        

"Coinstar has long seen the value in offering solutions that meet the needs of the cash-preferred customer," Maule said. "Coin-counting is a prime example. With regard to targeting this demographic within the financial services space, we're expecting the total market for self-service walk-up billpay to increase over the next several years."

Coinstar also believes efforts on the part of billers to deflect foot traffic from their offices may contribute to the success of the program.

"It is estimated that 2009 self-service billpay will account for about 20 percent of all walk-up billpay," Maule said. "Similarly, billers are driving a shift from payment in a biller's office to payment in retail locations to increase customer convenience, reduce costs and to increase on-time payments. We believe a steadily growing number of walk-up billpay customers will choose to pay bills through self-service options offered in a variety of convenient retail locations."

Shahbazi says he can't speak for Coinstar regarding long-term goals for the partnership, but that the company likely has designs on billpay as one area of self-service expansion in the future.

"From my perspective, I think they're really trying to learn and evaluate for future consideration," he said. "I think that's the big thing here, they're embarking on … really learning and understanding if this is a great opportunity for them or not."

All of those studios are concerned that redbox's $1-per-night rentals are undercutting more lucrative rentals from other services and DVD sales. On a conference call after the conglomerate's most recent quarterly earnings report, Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes compared redbox to theaters that show movies several months after they premiere: 'In general, we think there may well be a role for $1 rental kiosk,' he said, 'just like $1 movie theaters.

Parabit Systems has announced it won a $2 million contract to manufacture, install and maintain 13 digital display kiosks at all AirTain stations throughout John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York. According to a news release from Parabit, the kiosks will provide information for travelers about all New York Metro mass-transit systems.

EuroTouch has carefully and consciously rebranded itself to better reflect the elegance, quality and contemporary brand of its European strategic design and manufacturing partner, Rosendahl Concept Kiosk. This rebranding is well-timed and coincides with the official North American release of the generation III Flexi series kiosks and digital signage products.

Animal Planet prides itself on rich, engaging content, and these kiosks are no exception. ZOOTUBES will not only inform and entertain zoo-goers nationwide, they will remind visitors that exciting animal programming can be found 24 hours a day on Animal Planet.

The ATM Industry Association and ATMmarketplace.com have announced they will copresent the 2009 ATM Industry Award for Excellence at ATMIA's annual conference in Miami in February. The award's winner will be determined by a majority vote among ATMIA members, which number more than 1,300 across 50 countries.

According to a news release from ATMIA, candidates for the award must meet at least one of the following criteria:

• Long-term positive influence on improving the industry
• Excellence in technology or levels of service
• Leader in applying best practices
• Specific and measurable achievements producing tangible results

Tracy Kitten, senior editor of ATMmarketplace.com. says the organizations look forward to rewarding strapped companies during a challenging time:

ATMmarketplace.com is honored to join ATMIA in recognizing ATM companies that are excelling and positively impacting the ATM industry. During these tough economic times, it's promising to see how well some companies in our industry are accomplishing profitable and innovative feats.

Nominations for individuals or organizations must be submitted to ATMIA's marketing manager, Amber Howell, at by Sept. 23.

We believe that the redbox model will ultimately expand the business by increasing the number of impulse rentals and by putting packaged-media rentals in places where none existed previously. This agreement gives us tremendous placement for all our films and lowers the impact of low-priced, previously viewed DVDs being sold into the market, which we saw as a growing issue. We believe that this arrangement is a smart opportunity for Lionsgate in the current environment and a win-win for both companies.

Redbox's cornerstone principles include providing customers with a convenient way to rent new release DVDs at an affordable price. At the expense of consumers, 20th Century Fox is attempting to prohibit timely consumer access to its new release DVDs at redbox retail locations nationwide. Despite this attempt, redbox will continue to provide our consumers access to all major new releases, including 20th Century Fox titles, at our more than 15,000 redbox DVD rental locations.

We found that in many applications customers required a full keyboard layout but often would struggle to design in a full-sized keyboard, as this would bloat the workspace to an unsuitable size. We feel the new KSM-096 solves that problem.

AIS offers a long list of add-on enhancements to customize each LCD display to the specific application. Sunlight Readable Transflective films, privacy films, touchscreens, wide voltage-range boards, wide temperature-range modules, sealed connectors and shock/vibration resistance are all but a few of AIS' line of enhancement technologies.

According to DigitalSignageUniverse.com, the Netherlands' SNS Bank is replacing 150 of its traditional locations with a new store concept that uses kiosk applications on "a grand scale."

The article says the bank's new concept stores will emulate a retail setting:

The SNS store is developed in the spirit of retail stores. It is a transparent, 'active' environment where the customer will be welcomed by a sales consultant, and she can orient herself on the SNS Bank's product offerings. The new SNS store is (easily) accessible, open and inviting.

The concept will eventually be rolled out in more than 300 locations across the Netherlands.

Despite 20th Century Fox's effort to delay consumer access to new release DVDs by 30 days at rental kiosks, redbox reaffirms its commitment to providing consumers new release DVDs. Redbox will protect consumers' rights to access new release DVDs a their preferred retail channel at the price the consumer deems reasonable. Redbox will continue to carry all major new releases, including 20th Century Fox titles, at the more than 17,000 redbox locations nationwide. The first priority at redbox is the customer.

D2's purpose-built kiosks for healthcare facilities have a proven track record of increasing patient satisfaction, while at the same time improving efficiency for the medical facility. We are proud to add NYE Langone Medical Center to our fast-growing list of clients.

According to an article in the L.A. Times, 20th Century Fox has joined Universal Studios in the fight against redbox. The studio has instructed its DVD distributors not to sell titles to redbox and other DVD-rental kiosk companies until 30 days after their release.

According to the article, Chase Carey, CEO of Fox parent News Corp., alluded to the issue in the company's fourth quarter earnings call Wednesday:  

Having our [movies] rented at $1 in the rental window is grossly undervaluing our products.

In an e-mailed statement to the Times, a Fox spokesperson offered an explanation for the abrupt move:

The basis of this position is to continue to provide the consumer with broad title choice and access to Fox movies while maintaining the quality image and value perception of Fox movies. Our desire is to maintain for Fox movies a thriving network of distribution serving all types of consumer preferences on reasonable business terms for Fox, as well as our distribution partners.

The news comes in stark contrast to the recent positive developments for Coinstar Inc., redbox's parent company. CEO Paul Davis said in the company's second quarter earnings call Tuesday that Coinstar is in discussions with Hollywood studios and hopes to replicate last month's distribution deal with Sony:

We clearly understand the impact of fostering collaborative relationships with the studios. Just two weeks ago we announced a long-term partnership with Sony, and we continue to have positive conversations with other studios along the same lines.

The Times is speculating that redbox may continue to offer Fox titles the day they're released simply by purchasing them at retail, as they have done with Universal titles. A statement issued to KioskMarketplace.com this morning from redbox president Mitch Lowe certainly leaves that possibility open:

We were informed of Fox's position late yesterday. Redbox stands behind our convenience and value that we offer consumers, and we're pleased to make DVDs available the day they are released.

U.K.-based Zytronic, a display technology manufacturer, has announced its selection by digital media company Yeahpoint for an interactive project with Singapore-based telecom operator SingTel.

According to a news release from Zytronic, SingTel will use Zytronic's ZYBRIB touchsensor technology in interactive touchscreen terminals that will feature information about SingTel's full range of products and services.

Zytronic says the project also will include touch-enabled interactive tables with 42-inch ZYBRID touchsensors tied to rugged glass overlays that allow customers to download items from an extensive library of music, games and videos. Zytronic says the tables also provide the SingTel staff with a customer-validation and queue-management system.

Matt Cudworth, chief technology officer for Yeahpoint, says the rugged and flexible design of Zytronic's technology is well-suited for a retail environment:

ZYBRID is a much more rugged and versatile touchscreen solution compared with those offered by alternative technologies, and it can deal with the often harsh treatment that has to be expected in a store environment. The countertops and tables are particularly susceptible to everyday wear and tear – visitors to the store may drop heavy shopping bags on them, spill drinks or accidentally scratch the surface with jewelry, for example. If another touch technology had been deployed, there would have been the risk of damage to the touchscreen by such occurrences, leading to downtime and ultimately a poor customer experience. Furthermore, the design flexibility that ZYBRID offers meant that we could specify different size formats to suit the window and counter display requirements.

Gadget Review blogger Christen da Costa today wrote that online video game-rental service GameFly is following up its March test of G-Box kiosks on college campuses with a test rollout at Southern California 7-Eleven stores:

I totally didn’t see this one coming, but GameFly is trying their hand at kiosk video game rentals by installing touchscreen boxes at select 7-Elevens throughout Southern California. Unlike their core business, which requires a membership, the G-Box kiosk just requires a credit card and a burning desire for a video game at any given moment, since rentals cost $2 a day. That’s twice the price of their intro membership.  The G-Boxes – don't even get me started on the name – will contain classics as well as recent releases for the Xbox 360, Wii and PS3.

Da Costa only reports two area G-Box sightings and says gamers can enjoy a free one-day rental using the code "GBOXSEVEN."

Carnival Dream's on-board social network mirrors the experience one finds on other social networking sites. Guests can create a personal profile and use the application to meet and interact with others on-board, send and receive private messages, create groups based on interests and invite friends to attend shows or participate in on-board events. Guests can also create their own private or public discussion group, inviting others in their traveling party or friends they meet on-board to participate.   Designed as a convenient resource for wide-ranging information specific to the Carnival Dream, the intranet portal details the ship's numerous on-board activities, including entertainment options, daily events and youth programs. Carnival Dream's extensive food and beverage offerings are showcased with sample menus, hours of operation and more. A filtering application is available to assist guests in planning their day.

Source Technologies, a provider of secure print solutions, today announced an upgrade to it downloadable emulation, or DLE-based, MICR printers. All current model Secure MICR, Secure MICR Prepped and Secure Document printers now will include 32MB of user-addressable Flash memory. The modification takes effect immediately on DLE-based versions of the company's ST9620, ST9630 AND ST 9650 models.

In a news release, the company says the enhancement means users are no longer required to purchase Flash memory to support additional system fonts or store signatures for access. Sarah Burkhart, Source Technolgies' director of product marketing, says the new feature will help deployers protect themselves from fraud:

Source Technologies continues to offer the greatest value and highest security check and secure document printers. The addition of 32MB of user-addressable memory enables users to step up their security efforts at no extra charge, protecting their organizations from fraud while providing the highest possible return to their stakeholders. This change will encourage more users to take advantage of the printer's security features, strengthening their fraud arsenal at a lower cost.

To be recognized by a publication that is so well-regarded by our peers and professionals in this industry is truly an honor. We are thrilled to be included as one of Tradeshow Week's Fast 50 shows, and now with our fourth award honoring the shows, we are excited to join an extremely elite group of less than 20 events that have received this award four or more times.

Our attendees, exhibitors and speakers have shown us that, unequivocally, their objectives are being met, and all indicate that our show is the place they support to grow their businesses. By using their objectives as our guide, we're ensuring that the quality and utility of our offering remains high and that our event continues to grow.

Kroger has been a valued customer of Coinstar for a number of years, and we're very pleased to expand our relationship with this industry leader beyond our self-service coin-counting kiosks to now include redbox DVD kiosks. Our products are designed to deliver convenience and value to the consumer while increasing foot traffic for our retailers, and we look forward to partnering with Kroger to serve their customers.

The overall demand climate has remained subdued, but we have made measurable strides to adjust to the current market positions and position ourselves for improving profitability. We have balanced these challenges with new business wins and successful executions. We will continue to act with speed and agility to adjust our operations, keep disciplined cost controls in place and optimally position Flextronics in the market.

As discussed last quarter, we have quickly executed our restructuring plans to resize our business and are seeing the benefits in sequential margin expansion. As we continue to execute on our restructuring plans, we are confident that our activities will achieve their intended cost savings and contribute to further margin improvements.

Tempe, Ariz.-based Phoenix Kiosk Inc. has announced an alliance with supply partner Epilog Laser for a green initiative. From now on, the companies will coordinate efforts to recycle all the packaging Epilog uses to ship industrial lasers for Pheonix kiosks. Epilog will simply reuse the packing materials for future shipments.

Alan Work, president and CEO of Phoenix Kiosk, says the initiative will have a long-term ecological impact and will help the company reduce costs for its customers:

At the end of 2008, we made the commitment as a company to find ways to 'green out.' The simple idea of reusing the packaging for this key component of one of our kiosk projects will reduce the amount of landfill waste that our operations would have created by nearly 450 cubic feet per week. Since this is a multiyear project, the reduction is enormous, and we've been able to make this economically viable as well, reducing the overall acquisition cost of the component for our customer.