June 30, 2005

Retailers are reaching the unbanked with self-service kiosks, FIs are lagging behind

Bringing financial services to the unbanked with self-service kiosks is quickly becoming big business in the United States. According to Chicago-based The Center for Financial Services Innovation (in its May 2005 research report, "Retailers as Financial Services Providers: The Potential...



e-Passport tests begin in US and Australia

A live test of e-passports that contain microchips with biographic and biometric information begins today at terminals 2, 4 and 7 of Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) and at Sydney Airport in Australia. The test will run from June 15th...



Vending Self-Service Kiosk Machine for Gameboy Pokemon

In Japan you can now take your re-writable GBA movie card to a vending machine kiosk to get new episodes of Pokemon....



June 29, 2005

Photo Kiosks Go Mainstream

With 75,000 photo kiosks installed and 121,000 estimated by 2008, photo kiosks are "hot" to say the least. The traditional outlets for consumers to get prints from their film cameras, such as drugstores and big box outlets like Wal-mart, are...



June 28, 2005

Supermarkets spending and new kiosk implementations

Supermarkets plan to increase spending on self-checkout systems and workforce management software in the next 12 months, according to a new report from IHL Consulting Group, a leading retail analyst and consultancy firm. Over 40 percent are planning new kiosk...



Disabled Access to Kiosks

Most kiosks are not designed for access by disabled persons. Self-service kiosk check-in terminals at airlines are one example. California is considering legislation to change that....



New RFID reader in CF Format

ACG Identification Technologies announces the launch of its new high-speed, fully ISO 14443 A and B compatible RFID reader in a Compact FlashTM card form factor....



New Toolkit for Shared Computers

Microsoft Shared Computer Toolkit for Windows XP (Beta)released today. This toolkit is designed to help make it easier for anyone to set up, safeguard and manage reliable shared computers. That would include locations like libraries, internet cafe's, etc....



June 24, 2005

ViVOtech's Contactless Payment Products Receives American Express Certification

ViVOtech announced that its ViVOpay products have been certified by American Express(R) for use in its ExpressPay program. The certification guarantees the ViVOpay 3000 and 4000 readers conform to American Express' reliability, security and performance standards....



June 23, 2005

French Photo Company Staging Turnaround

Noted : new information on the turnaround of the French photo company Photo-Me. The Independent out the UK issued the information and notes new manufacturing of kiosks in China. Competitors listed are Fujifilm and Noritsu. Read more...



Mars Sues JCM For Patent Infringement In U.S. District Court

Noted -- MARS and JCM in litigation. The two patents in question are in relation to the Cashflow SC bill acceptor. read more...



June 22, 2005

DMV Kiosk Accepts Cash

Shannon Litz/The R-C Department of Motor Vehicle Supervisor Cary Graves, right, shows Rachel Krueger of Topaz how to use the new DMV kiosk for registration renewals....



CUSS Self-Service Kiosks Coming To Europe

Oslo and Frankfurt to get the first ones. Air France and KLM are airlines involved. They predict that by 2010 65% of the 50 million passengers that go thru Frankfurt will use self-service....



June 21, 2005

Free Wi-Fi Axed in Orlando

City of Orlando has pulled the plug on their experiment in free Wi-Fi. According to The Register usage was 27 people a day. T-Mobile was losing $10 for every $1 in revenue. And in the July 5 Forbes one of...



Blue Ribbon Self-Service Kiosks

Article on self-service kiosk awards at KioskCom 2005 where the Burn-A-Song kiosk designed/entered by Kiosk Information Systems and TouchNSurf took first place....



June 20, 2005

How Safe Are the New Contactless Payment Systems?

As the retail industry starts to embrace contactless payment in a big way�led by $41 billion retailer 7-Eleven and Chase, the nation's largest issuer of credit cards�arguments are renewing about just how safe and fraud-proof these cards will be....



June 18, 2005

Financial E-Banking Thin Client Kiosks

ICICI Bank and Wyse team up to deliver financial banking services via thin client kiosks....



June 17, 2005

Internet Kiosk Software for MacOS

wKiosk Browser is intended to allow kiosk owners to design their user interface without custom programming. According to the company, the software can be used to develop Internet kiosks, survey kiosks, database kiosks, directory kiosks, shopping cart kiosks and/or multimedia-rich...



Kiosk Industry Buzz -- Photo Kiosk Do's and Don'ts

Francie Mendelsohn of Summit Research gives us the latest Kiosk Industry Buzz as she see's it. This month -- the photo kiosk is a complex equation. According to Francie Mendelsohn of Summit Research self-service photo kiosks are hot and will...



Tiny Windows CE Thin Client from Germany

A German PC shop is shipping a tiny Geode-based thin client running Windows CE 5.0. Concept Distribution's "miniTC" measures 5.5 x 5.1 x 1.4 inches (13 x 14 x 3.5cm), and is also available as a "miniPC with a 40...



June 16, 2005

Strong Lattes, Sour Notes at Starbucks Music Download Stations

Doubts come to surface again on whether or not the Starbucks equation is working and/or will work for music download stations and kiosks....



June 09, 2005

Hotel to add Check-In Kiosks

Fairmont Hotel and Resorts in Canada is taking the kiosk check-in plunge. Hotel Check-In has been showing up in news quite a bit lately and unfortunately not in an favorable context. Still, providing service to your customers is paramount....



Blinking Kiosks in Denver

Chase Bank U.S.A., a division JPMorgan and Chase, announced today the Colorado rollout of its new Chase "contactless" credit card called "blink." These card will be accepted at over 400 locations (including some with kiosks). Makes you wonder when they...



June 07, 2005

In-store Kiosks Charging More Than Internet Sites?

Being able to charge different customers differently is one of those strategies that companies constantly explore implementing. Here is article from Techdirt that indicates one major retailer doing just that (lower price shows on internet browser outside the store compared...



Kiosk Lockdown with Linux and KDE

Step by step configuration of KDE desktop to lockdown the desktop in kiosk mode. Includes desktop, context menus, icons and setting up custom system wide desktop icons. Kiosk mode lockdown admin tool for Linux is available for download....



Contactless Card News

American Express Begins Issuing Contactless Payment Cards Nationwide and Signs 7-Eleven, Inc. as Newest ExpressPay Merchant....



Pharmacy chain installs Sony PictureStation kiosks

It has been nearly 25 years since the first minilab made its appearance and forever changed the face of retail photo processing. It�s still possible, however, to offer customers great service and high-quality prints without an in-store lab....



June 06, 2005

Photo Kiosk Gaining Wider Acceptance

Nice piece on photo kiosk and digital music download kiosks. Writer uses the McDonalds in Germany proof-of-concept as part of the basis and then coordinates it with photo kiosk numbers from Pixel Magic...



June 03, 2005

Bill Gates on Windows Mobile 5.0 and Self-Service Kiosk Application

Bill Gates speaking at the Mobile and Embedded Conference talks about their new embedded operating system and goes thru making a self-service kiosk application with Visual Studio. It's notable that Mr. Gates is using kiosks as example. In his...