eWEEK EDITORS

Just as it is doing with its Windows client software, Microsoft Corp. is developing customized variants of its Windows Embedded operating system for specific markets. The first of what could be a full line of Windows Embedded variants will be Windows Embedded for Point of Service, company officials said Monday. Microsoft is currently testing the […]

Point-of-Sale unit leader NCR made this modest investment in airline kiosks as a way to expand beyond its retail/banking base. The kiosk as an interactive device is rapidly moving into non-traditional places and NCR saw this as a cost-effective way to bring on 29,000 Gwinnett employee airline kiosk experts. Read the entire Gwinnett Daily story […]

Like a relentless tide of misfortune, the patients pour into the University of Kentucky Hospital Emergency Department complaining of everything from dehydration to gunshot wounds. Like every ER in the country, the U.K. Hospital is overused and understaffed. As the only trauma center for all of eastern and central Kentucky, the hospital administers emergency care […]

Retailers are moving to item-level RFID faster than many industry analysts predicted, according to new research. Research by analyst Gartner G2 says that within the next two years, 18 percent of large retailers in the U.S. and Europe are planning to test item-level tagging. Over the next three to five years, about half will test […]

A convenience store chain is targeting customers who are on the go with outdoor kiosks where they can order anything from espressos to sandwiches while they pump gas. Sheetz is putting the technology from Radiant Systems in place at new and existing stores. Customers use a touchscreen that guides them through an order and sends […]

In order to cut down on fraudulent or excessive returns, some retailers are tracking customer return patterns with a database. The database, operated by the Return Exchange, combines information from retailers on customer returns. When a customer returns an item, the retailer scans the customers drivers license and that information is sent to the Return […]

The European Union is funding 12 grid technology research projects from universities, researchers and companies across Europe. The projects include an initiative to develop grid-based tools to enhance product development and design for the automotive, aerospace and pharmaceutical industries. Another initiative will aim to develop an IPv6-based framework that allows mobile operators to enhance wireless […]

Confident in the technology, the Tesco supermarket chain in the U.K. is diving into RFID without testing the waters. The company revealed this week that it plans to roll out radio frequency identification in all 98 of its Tesco Extra superstores in the U.K. by Christmas without first conducting a pilot project. Tesco will use […]

Juan Valdez may soon be bringing his burro to a coffee shop near you. And hell be wireless, thanks to Sprint. The company disclosed this week that it has signed with a group of Colombian coffee growers who plan to open a chain of coffee shops in the US named for the familiar advertising icon. […]

Texas Instruments Inc. has announced a new chipset that would allow portable IP phones to use WLAN networks. Based on TIs OMAP processor, the new chipset couples its WLAN silicon with the companys Telogy Software for VoIP. Phones using the new architecture will be available by the end of 2004, said Fred Zimmerman, executive director […]

MSN is preparing to release to testers the first beta of its MSN Messenger 7 instant-messaging client next week. Testers in the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Spain, Korea and Netherlands are on the tester list. MSN is planning a broader beta to go out later this year. The target date for the final […]

Earlier this month Jan Baan, a name synonymous with one of the great ERP success stories in the 1990s—Baan Co.—launched a new venture. In stealth mode for the past two years, Baans newest company, Cordys Inc., is based on portal and integration technology from TopTier Software Inc., a company that Baan sold to SAP AG […]