When shopping in a rush, having to spend time in a dressing room can feel like an unreasonable annoyance. Japanese apparel store VANQUISH has integrated teamLabHanger digital mannequins into its ikebukuro Parco shop to give customers an instant visual of how clothing looks on their bodies. Each clothes hanger is equipped with a unique ID. When a hanger is removed from a garment rack, the teamLabHanger system identifies the item and displays a video or photo of a model wearing the selected piece on a nearby monitor. When the hanger is placed back on the rack, the display switches off automatically.

AIN’T NO DUMMY [Cassandar Daily]

Bownty aggregates daily deals onto one website and sends it out in a single daily e-mail. This makes it much easier for you to find the best deals on cool things to do in your city – often at half price or less. With 2500 deals available on Bownty daily, you will never miss a great deal again.

In order to find out about the types of deals that interest you, mark down your deal preferences in your account, and Bownty will notify you of precisely your favorite deals.

bownty! Ad 2011, English Version from bownty! on Vimeo

Square, a tiny credit card reader, plugs into a smartphone or iPad turning your device into a point-of-sale cash register. It allows you as an individual to collect funds via a credit card. Setting up an account is pretty painless. The software will send the buyer a receipt, and keep track of your sales. It can track cash, too. This minimal arrangement is perfect for the solo and small business person selling at crafts at a fair, or swag at a concert, or antiques at a garage sale, or food from a truck.

Square [Cool Tools]

South African beverage company BOS Ice Tea has developed a Twitter-activated vending machine, called BEV, that dispenses a free can of its Rooibos drink when a customer stands in front of it and tweets with the hashtag “#BOSTWEET4T.” An overhead LED screen shows the person’s Twitter handle and a countdown until the “free” can emerges.

When the drink is delivered, colored lights blink while a speaker amplifies a robotic voice telling the person to enjoy their beverage. Rigged with a series of microphones and cameras, the conversational machine delivers a series of playful messages for passersby, saying things like “You look thirsty, human. Let me help you.”

Talk is Cheap [Cassandra Daily]

A creation of KAL, the RTM is a Retail-Teller-Machine that works just like an ATM. Instead of dispensing cash, the RTM prints a secure voucher that is exchanged for cash. RTMs are located inside any store and provide a full range of banking services.

RTMs are a tenth of the cost of an ATM to own and operate. No cash is stored in the RTM so no need for armored services. And there is no cash sitting idly inside. The RTM works just like an ATM and has a large 17” touch screen and an intuitive interface with easy to follow on screen instructions.

At UPcload, get measured via webcam and start using UPcload to find clothes that fit you when you’re shopping online.

To get started, start the application and position yourself in front of a light wall. Don’t forget to wear tight, dark clothing. Get measured with the webcam; 3 minutes and 4 easy poses get you results as accurate as a professional tailor’s. You can then use your UProfile at any online store that has partnered with UPcload.

1DollarScan is an online book scanning service. Go online and place order. Follow instructions and proceed to payment. You mail them your physical book and they send you a digital file. It’s really cheap and they allow shipping from third party book stores like Amazon. A lot of other people from other countries like it when an ebook isn’t available in their country.

Idea tipped by Dan. Thanks!

As part of the Change Project, researchers at Open University conceived the Lambent Shopping Trolley Handle. The 16-LED multicolor display and scanner attaches to any supermarket cart and gives shoppers nutritional, ethical and environmental product information. It also allows users to compare their choices with those of other consumers in order to gauge just how socially conscious they’re being.

Displaying this information “generated a significant nudge effect, influencing what products people selected,” says user experience researcher Vaiva Kalnikait?.

Carted Away [Cassandra Daily]

Mobile apps for grocery shopping make things easier on the wallet and the stomach. People can now use their smartphones to choose the grocery items they want while waiting for the subway.

In South Korea, people no longer have to stand bored on the subway platform. Instead, they can take out their smartphones and approach the wall where Tesco’s “Home Plus” supermarket chain has started a virtual grocery store. The person takes a picture of a grocery item with their mobile phone app as they scan the unique QR image box code.

The person is shown the price and product as it goes into their online shopping cart. People pay for the item on their phone as they hop onto the subway on their way to work. After work, they return to their homes to find all the groceries they had ordered waiting on their doorsteps. This virtual grocery shopping experience has become a huge hit in South Korea with over 10,000 customers.

The world-wide potential of this app could tear down the marketing boundaries between customers and retailers. With the leaps and bounds of technological growth, the way we do grocery shopping is changing for the better. Virtual shopping will simplify people’s busy lives so we have one less task to do in our hectic schedules. If such shopping apps catch on, it will also benefit retailers who can invent new ways for their products to reach customers.

Idea submitted by Danielle, who blogs on behalf of My Gofer and other prestigious brands, enjoys having her groceries delivered to her door. Read her work at suitsandladders.co.uk

Vending machines of the 20th century, move over — your 21st century competition has arrived! Not only do they deliver merchandise that’s new to the genre (cotton candy, anyone?), but they incorporate new credit card processing technology like mobile payments.

The National Automatic Merchandising Association (NAMA) recently concluded its first Gratitude Tour on the campus of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas by highlighting the latest generation of vending technology. New hardware and software enables customers to bypass traditional coin slots and bill scanners to pay for their purchase with cashless options like credit cards and smartphones that are pretty much standard among younger consumers.

In addition to snack foods and beverages, the so-called “Dream Machines” featured on the nationwide tour offered upscale fare like organic trail mix, freshly-spun cotton candy and fresh fruit alongside cosmetics, toothbrushes, magazines, cell phones and iPods. There were even machines that talk to each other, making it possible for consumers to buy a snack from one, a beverage from another and pay with just one swipe of their credit card.

This post is a guest post from our supporters.

If you’ve ever found yourself wanting to buy something online and groaning when the credit card form screen pops up you will probably want to get SmartSwipe, the new desktop device by NetSecure. Not only does SmartSwipe let you bypass the tedious process of entering in all of your financial information, it is safe and secure, providing protection from all malware and viruses. This is done through its Dynamic SSL encryption program called Onboard Cryptographic Provider, which automatically fills out the fields in any online financial transaction form without jeopardizing your security.

This tool should find a home in wide variety of commercial environments, from retailers like Amazon and Zappos to business counsel and law offices. Pretty much anywhere e-commerce is used, SmartSwipe could help expedite the transaction.

All that’s needed is a USB port. SmartSwipe is compatible with all major credit and debit cards and there are no hidden fees or costs either. The only major drawback at this stage is that SmartSwipe only works with PCs that run Windows XP, Vista, or 7 and Internet Explorer 7+, or Firefox 3.6+.

This post is a guest post from our supporters.