Walmart is "rolling out digital price tags to replace the old paper ones," reports CNBC, planning to implement them in all U.S. stores by the end of the year:


Amanda Bailey, a team leader in electronics who works at a Walmart in West Chester, Ohio, estimates that the digital shelf labels — known as DSLs — have cut the time she used to spend on pricing duties by 75%, time that has freed her up to help customers. She also said the DSLs are a game-changer because Walmart's Spark delivery drivers looking for an item will see a flashing DSL so they can more easily find the product...

Sean Turner, chief technology officer of Swiftly, a retail technology and media platform serving the grocery industry, said that while it makes sense that people are raising questions about dynamic pricing, the real issue is store-level efficiency. "Digital shelf labels solve some very real operational headaches. They cut down on manual price changes, reduce checkout discrepancies, and make it easier to keep in-store and digital promotions aligned," Turner said. All of that can mean fewer surprises at the register for shoppers and better-tailored promotions. "For consumers, the biggest benefit is accuracy and consistency," Benedict said. "Shoppers want to know the price they see is the price they pay. Digital labels can also make it easier for stores to mark down perishable items in real time, which can lower food waste and create savings opportunities."
A Walmart spokeswoman promised CNBC that "the price you see is the same for everyone in any given store." But the article also notes that several U.S. states "are looking to ban dynamic pricing. Pennsylvania became one of the latest states to introduce a bill outlawing the practice, following New York's Algorithmic Pricing Disclosure Act, which became law in November."

And at the federal level, U.S. Senator Ben Ray Luján recently introduced the "Stop Price Gouging in Grocery Stores" act, which would ban digital labels in any grocery store over 10,000 square feet, while Congresswoman Val Hoyle is sponsoring similar legislation in the House. "There needs to be laws and enforcement to protect consumers," Hoyle tells CNBC, "and until then, I'd like to see them banned outright."

CNBC adds that "While there is no reported use of digital shelf labeling being tied to surge pricing yet," in Hoyle's view "it's only a matter of time."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

A man crossing the street one San Francisco night spotted a self-driving car — and decided to confront its passenger, 37-year-old tech worker Doug Fulop. The New York Times reports the man yelled that "he wanted to kill Fulop and the other two passengers for giving money to a robot."
A taxi driver would have simply driven away. But Fulop's vehicle had no driver — it was a self-driving Waymo... Self-driving cars are designed to stop moving if a person is nearby. People can take advantage of that function to harass and threaten their passengers.... It was unsettling to be trapped inside a Waymo during an attack, Fulop said. "If he had kept hammering on one window instead of alternating, I'm sure he would have eventually broken through," he said. The attacker did not appear to be on drugs or otherwise impaired, but seemed to be overtaken by extreme anger at the self-driving car, Fulop said.

It did not seem safe to get out and run, he added, since the man was trying to open the locked doors and said he wanted to kill the passengers. They called 911 and Waymo's support line, Fulop said. Waymo told them that it would not manually direct the car away if someone was standing nearby, and that the passengers would be OK with the doors locked. The car's software does not allow riders to jump into the driver's seat and take over during an incident. The attack lasted around six minutes. By then, bystanders had begun cheering on the man, Fulop said. That distracted the man, who moved far enough away from the car that it could finally drive away...


Fulop said he had stopped using Waymo for a time after the January attack and would avoid the service at night unless the company changed its policy of not intervening when a hostile person threatened riders. "As passengers, we deserve more safety than that if someone is trying to attack us," he said. "This can't be the policy to be trapped there."
The article remembers other incidents — including a 2024 video showing three women screaming as their autonomous taxi is spray-painted by vandals. And technology author/speaker Anders Sorman-Nilsson says in Los Angeles five men on e-bikes surrounded his Waymo and forced it to stop. The author felt safe inside the vehicle, according to the times, which adds "He felt reassured knowing that Waymo's many exterior cameras were recording the men. After around five minutes, he said, they gave up and rode away."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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the SQUARE
INTERACTIVE
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handwritten on slide, “Osaka at night"

Thomas Hawk posted a photo:

JERUZALEM (ANP) - Het Israëlische leger (IDF) zegt dat het maandagochtend aanvallen heeft uitgevoerd op de Iraanse hoofdstad Teheran. "De IDF is begonnen met een grootschalige golf van aanvallen gericht op de infrastructuur van het Iraanse terreurregime in Teheran", meldt de legertop op Telegram.

Iraanse persbureaus meldden iets eerder al explosies op verschillende plekken in de stad. Onder meer persbureau Fars bericht dat "luchtaanvallen meerdere gebieden in Teheran hebben getroffen". Het persbureau noemt minstens vijf locaties die zouden zijn bestookt en waar "hevige explosiegeluiden zijn gemeld".

"Meer details over de omvang van de schade en over mogelijke slachtoffers zullen later bekend worden gemaakt", meldt Fars.

CANBERRA (ANP) - Het Internationaal Energieagentschap (IEA) overlegt met regeringen in Azië en Europa over het vrijgeven van extra olie uit strategische voorraden "indien nodig" door de oorlog in het Midden-Oosten. Dat heeft directeur Fatih Birol maandag gezegd tegen de National Press Club in de Australische hoofdstad Canberra.

"We kijken naar de omstandigheden, we zullen de markten analyseren en beoordelen en dit bespreken met onze lidstaten." Er zal echter geen specifieke olieprijs zijn die automatisch tot een nieuwe vrijgave leidt, voegde Birol eraan toe.

Lidstaten van het IEA spraken op 11 maart af een recordhoeveelheid van 400 miljoen vaten olie vrij te geven uit strategische voorraden om de stijging van de wereldwijde olieprijzen tegen te gaan.

Volgens Birol is de crisis in het Midden-Oosten "zeer ernstig". Hij noemde deze zelfs ernstiger dan de twee oliecrises van de jaren zeventig en de impact van de oorlog tussen Rusland en Oekraïne op de gasvoorziening, samen.

Het hoofd van het IEA liet ook weten dat door de oorlog in het Midden-Oosten zeker veertig energie-installaties in negen landen "ernstig of zeer ernstig" zijn beschadigd.

PARIJS (ANP) - De linkse Emmanuel Grégoire heeft zondagavond voor het stadhuis van Parijs zijn aanhangers toegesproken na zijn winst bij de burgemeestersverkiezingen in de Franse hoofdstad, meldt de Franse krant Le Monde. Grégoire versloeg de conservatieve oud-minister Rachida Dati. Daarmee verlengde hij de kwart eeuw durende heerschappij van de socialisten in de Franse hoofdstad.

"Vandaag heeft Parijs besloten trouw te blijven aan haar geschiedenis", zei Grégoire in dat kader. "Veel dank aan de Parijzenaars die, waar ze ook vandaan komen, ervoor hebben gekozen de alliantie tussen links en de groenen in de tweede ronde te steunen." En hij deelde een sneer uit naar de rechtse partijen. "Want alles in de ziel van onze hoofdstad verwerpt het idee van een verzwakt Parijs, het idee van een Parijs dat zijn inwoners selecteert. Parijs is geen radicaal-rechtse stad en zal dat ook nooit zijn."

mattyp_ has added a photo to the pool:

Reddening Japanese maple leaves were a common February sight across the country and, contrasted against the clear, blue skies were striking, even mixed in with a touch of the modern Tokyo.

banzainetsurfer has added a photo to the pool:

Ritsurin Garden 栗林公
Takamatsu, Kagawa, Shikoku, Japan
日本四国香川県高松市
Google Maps: maps.app.goo.gl/qNgQEUokbMVbWYWw7

Ritsurin Koen (栗林公園) is a landscape garden in Takamatsu City, built by the local feudal lords during the early Edo Period. Considered one of the best gardens in Japan, it is often suggested that Ritsurin Koen deserves a spot on the list of the "three most beautiful gardens of Japan" alongside Kanazawa's Kenrokuen, Mito's Kairakuen, and Okayama's Korakuen.

The spacious park features many ponds, hills, trees and beautiful pavilions divided into a Japanese-style garden in the south and Western-style garden in the north. The gardens are set in front of wooded Mt. Shiun which serves as a wonderful background and great example of borrowed scenery in Japanese garden design.

Source: www.japan-guide.com/e/e5401.html

banzainetsurfer has added a photo to the pool:

Ritsurin Garden 栗林公
Takamatsu, Kagawa, Shikoku, Japan
日本四国香川県高松市
Google Maps: maps.app.goo.gl/qNgQEUokbMVbWYWw7

Ritsurin Koen (栗林公園) is a landscape garden in Takamatsu City, built by the local feudal lords during the early Edo Period. Considered one of the best gardens in Japan, it is often suggested that Ritsurin Koen deserves a spot on the list of the "three most beautiful gardens of Japan" alongside Kanazawa's Kenrokuen, Mito's Kairakuen, and Okayama's Korakuen.

The spacious park features many ponds, hills, trees and beautiful pavilions divided into a Japanese-style garden in the south and Western-style garden in the north. The gardens are set in front of wooded Mt. Shiun which serves as a wonderful background and great example of borrowed scenery in Japanese garden design.

Source: www.japan-guide.com/e/e5401.html

'Doze boss admits quality is down, promises smaller memory footprint and fixes for many well-known issues

Microsoft has acknowledged that it needs to improve the quality of Windows 11 and outlined its plan to get the job done.…

PLUS: Singtel’s triple outage; 17,000 counterfeit hard drives seized; Tech wages shift across Asia; And more!

Asia In Brief  Australia’s government on Monday announced a set of datacenter “expectations” to guide would-be bit barn builders who contemplate breaking ground down under.…

There is a structural realignment under way, with the Liberal party the early and obvious victim in Saturday’s South Australian state election

As the ballots are counted in South Australia, it’s now clear that while the Liberal party isn’t politically dead, it’s currently unalive.

The results so far are both simple and complex. While the headline is that Peter Malinauskas and Labor brought the hammer down on the Liberal party, there are other storylines.

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Oscar-nominated actor says online hate has become so bad that he is ‘hiding away’, adding that ‘you don’t want to even be on screen any more’

Oscar-nominated actor Barry Keoghan has said online abuse about his appearance is affecting his life, to the point that he now does “not want to go outside”.

The Irish actor, who is playing Ringo Starr in Sam Mendes’ upcoming Beatles tetralogy, told SiriusXM host Ben Harlum that though he left social media in 2024 due to online abuse, it was still so bad that he was “shying away” from the public eye – and it was making him want to retreat from acting.

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Emily is my wife's favourite character so this story is basically a little present for her (and possibly...for you???)

iain.davidson100 has added a photo to the pool: