Tech Help For Shoppers

Computer Life column for December 19, 1998
by
Richard Gordon

Judging by the crowded parking lots I've seen at area malls and shopping centers, plenty of us are not using Etoys (www.etoys.com), Music Boulevard (www.musicblvd.com), and Amazon.Com (www.amazon.com) for all our shopping expeditions.

This Santa's helper has spent about $150 on-line so far--where else was I going to find Allan Sherman's greatest hits for a certain 4th grader--and don't tell him! But a certain other Santa's helper with the same 4th grader on her list ended up at the Concord Mall.

There are times when you can't avoid a trip to the mall--my son and I pretended we were salmon swimming upstream as we navigated the Christiana Mall last Saturday. But technology help is on the way for all us footweary shoppers.

Finally going to get your significant other that 36" TV she's been dying for? Traditionally, such a purchase has meant skimming the ads in the Sunday News Journal, making a couple of visits to area retailers, then deciding who has the best price.

There may be a device available next year to help with that process.

This Fall, ABC News reported that Andersen Consulting has a prototype device that will help shoppers find the best price. It's a combination of a bar code reader and a cell phone programmed to send the price and model number of an item you spot to a search tool on the Internet. In a few moments, the small LCD screen on the phone will tell you who has the best price on this item.

So, you go into a store, scan the price tag on the 36" TV you want, browse around until your cell phone rings, and there is the info to help you decide where to buy it.

This little device, if it works inside some of those cavernous malls, could transform the way we shop. Of course, retailers may react. A stereo store whose current ads say they'll mail you a check if, within 30 days, the item you bought goes on sale for less--anywhere--may be bold enough to invite you to use the device to save them the postage. However, I can also see a discount store where the employees wear red smocks trying to enforce a policy that "You can't bring that device into the store, sir."

But why wait until next year's gadget comes out?

Last month, a friend told me that she saw a leather jacket marked "buy one get one free."

"What am I going to do with two of these?", she asked the sales clerk. So she gave him her pager number and asked him to page her if another customer wanted a jacket.

A few minutes later, while in another part of the shopping center, her pager went off. She rushed back to the store, where she and another customer then bought two jackets for the price of one, splitting the tab.

Tip of the week

Urban Legends

During this holiday shopping season, people are naturally concerned about their safety.

This week, our office had two e-mail messages about two near abductions at the Christiana Mall. In both alleged cases, a female shopper ended up with a creepy guy's parcels in her car trunk, drove away when he spooked her, and later found his packages contained "an ice pick, handcuffs, duct tape, and a gun" in one version, "an ice pick, a knife, and handcuffs" in the other version.

According to the Internet Newsgroup alt.folklore.urban, this story is an Urban Legend--a story that contains an element of horror or humor, that appears mysteriously, spreads like wildfire, happened to someone other than the story-teller, and may or may not have its origin in a real incident.

On Wednesday, alt.folklore.urban contained three other sightings of this urban legend--each localized so that the story was alleged to have happened at a mall near the story-teller.

E-mail fans the flames of stories such as these. Hear one that you think sounds incredible? Use the web to visit the Urban Legends Archive (www.urbanlegends.com) or by using DejaNews (www.dejanews.com) to check alt.folklore.urban.

Copyright © 1998, The News Journal Company

Computer Life Index