xpI'm not sure I get why this is so hard to believe. The camera registers you picking up the item and not putting it back, so you get charged. I mean just imagine a person followed you around the store and observed everything you did--concealing the product in a bag wouldn't do anything. Machine vision is pretty advanced
― rob, Monday, 22 January 2018 16:25 (six years ago) link
ALEXA HAS DETERMINED THAT YOU WILL ENJOY *boop bleep bloop blop*
"The World Market for Rubber Sheath Contraceptives (Condoms): A 2007 Global Trade Perspective"
― IF (Terrorist) Yes, Explain (man alive), Monday, 22 January 2018 16:27 (six years ago) link
I've noticed lately that Amazon has adopted Google's obnoxious 'we'll just go ahead and assume that you were actually searching for this other thing because the explicit search string you entered couldn't possibly be correct' thing. No, I can actually spell, thanks.
― the smartest persin in the room (Old Lunch), Monday, 22 January 2018 16:28 (six years ago) link
You scan your phone on the way in. So they know who's there shopping, and presumably the system follows you and observes your shopping behavior. You pick something up. The cameras detect that it has left the shelf. If it goes back onto the shelf, it assumes you were just looking at it. If it goes into your bag, it's yours now.
What is interesting about that is that the cameras aren't there just to make sure you don't steal things (that would be much easier to do with RFID). They're there to observe and analyze people's shopping behavior - information that is pretty much golden in retail-world. And because Amazon ALSO knows what records, books, and sexual lubricants you like, they can cross-reference to get ever-more granular market segmentation information.
I know many people find that creepy, but it's much less about embarrassing/exposing YOU particularly (haha, as if they give a shit about you specifically). More about detecting ways to make people in general spend money.
Did more suburban white female knitting enthusiasts aged 35-54 look at the carrots that were at waist height? Or the carrots that were at eye level? Do they have different carrot preferences if they are also into Christian dating sites?
And what about the frozen lasagna? Are 90s grunge fans more likely to buy frozen lasagna that is on an end cap, or on a longer aisle? Do people who buy organic toothpaste buy fair-trade coffee? Do people who like gluten-free beer also buy unscented fabric softener?
What's the optimal number of paper-towel rolls for a 42-year-old man whose last record purchase was Chicago XII and who plays golf?
― godzillas in the mist (Ye Mad Puffin), Monday, 22 January 2018 16:30 (six years ago) link
One thing I find fascinating about this is that, like everything in capitalism, it has to eventually reach a point of diminishing returns -- like at some point marketing will be so perfectly granular that you will only receive ads that are for products you will wind up wanting to buy, but you will still not have more money to spend.
― IF (Terrorist) Yes, Explain (man alive), Monday, 22 January 2018 16:32 (six years ago) link
a friend likes to joke about starting a marketing consultancy offering pico-targeting (this prob already exists)
― rob, Monday, 22 January 2018 16:35 (six years ago) link
man alive otm. The Wanamaker principle still applies (half of the money you spend on advertising is wasted, but you don't know which half).
We probably haven't reached that point yet. I think saturation is under-studied - in fact I'm sure of it, because of how many ads I see for things I already have, or for things that are functionally identical to something I just bought. Someone somewhere is working on that, but they're not there yet.
― godzillas in the mist (Ye Mad Puffin), Monday, 22 January 2018 16:40 (six years ago) link
also the idea is to move your advertising dollars out of places that can't offer fine-grained data, as in the move from advertising with publishers to advertising with Facebook and Google
― rob, Monday, 22 January 2018 16:44 (six years ago) link
My one experience of pico-targeting was almost 20 years ago in pharma-world. Someone in my professional orbit got hold of DMV height/weight data and sent direct mail about a diabetes clinical trial to specific people based on their BMI. Intrusive? Yes. Possibly beneficial, even life-saving? Maybe, it's impossible to know at this remove.
Personally I don't give a shit if somebody at Amazon knows that I like carrots. Is that information going to influence me to buy more or fewer carrots, or different carrots? Maybe, but it's so inconsequential that I just can't get up in arms about.
We're not far off from a robot scanning the urine stream from my household sewer pipe. Let's say it determines that someone here has moderately high blood sugar, and someone else really likes weed? Not so comforting.
A middle case: Google notices that I'm shopping for a coffeemaker and starts aiming ads for different coffeemakers at me. Now, at some point in this process, I will have made my choice and executed it. At that point it's a waste of time to keep showing me different coffeemakers. I'm not going to buy another one for a few years. At that point, it should be showing me ads for coffee, filters, cups, etc. But we're not there yet.
― godzillas in the mist (Ye Mad Puffin), Monday, 22 January 2018 17:03 (six years ago) link
ok ive got an idea.
we automate retail, but rather than robots or AI, we use cam-driven drones.
we make youtube stars, celebrities, and tv personality perform live cams for 8 hours a day, serving people food, entertaining them, etc. this is their job after all.
it is part of an internet nationalization act that also grants free public wifi in every major city.
a massive federal info infrastructure project makes this possible, funded in large part by the media personalities that benefit from the coverage these systems have provided in the past. also by having Facebook/Twitter/Google/etc all heavily taxed.
― AdamVania (Adam Bruneau), Monday, 22 January 2018 17:39 (six years ago) link
really hoping they don't go with Boston/Somerville but it feels like one of the most likely outcomes rn
― ciderpress, Monday, 22 January 2018 18:02 (six years ago) link
http://www.grubstreet.com/2018/01/shoplifting-amazon-go-grocery-store.html
final image is v depressing
― rob, Wednesday, 24 January 2018 15:20 (six years ago) link
You can't get in without the app on your phone
Between this and MoviePass, I'm psyched to see myself already barred from IRL retail activity bcz I refuse to getr a cellphone. I know I'll live to see restrictions on my life as a citizen as well. #TryAndMakeMe
― ice cream social justice (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 24 January 2018 15:26 (six years ago) link
did anybody link to this yet? i just listened today. it MUST have come from this thread right?? well.. anyway
https://www.wnyc.org/story/amazon-antitrust-monopoly/
kind of mindblowing that amazon can crunch the traffic data from AWS to see which startups are doing good business, and then Amazon's venture capital arm invests in them or buys them outright
― illegal economic migration (Tracer Hand), Wednesday, 24 January 2018 15:32 (six years ago) link
fucking hell
time to break up and/or nationalise amazon obv
― your skeleton is ready to hatch (bizarro gazzara), Wednesday, 24 January 2018 15:34 (six years ago) link
Missed this from a couple weeks back: Jeff Bezos is the richest person in history
― Senior Soft-Serve Tech at the Froyo Arroyo (Old Lunch), Wednesday, 24 January 2018 15:50 (six years ago) link
Like, I knew he was the richest person in the world but I hadn't quite made the cognitive leap that this likely meant the richest in the world ever.
― Senior Soft-Serve Tech at the Froyo Arroyo (Old Lunch), Wednesday, 24 January 2018 15:51 (six years ago) link
yeah that is stupefying tbrr
― rob, Wednesday, 24 January 2018 15:56 (six years ago) link
pretty impressive for the owner of a company that has yet to actually make any significant profit iirc
time to start sharpening the guillotines
― your skeleton is ready to hatch (bizarro gazzara), Wednesday, 24 January 2018 16:00 (six years ago) link
did this ever get posted here? (too large to embed, sorry): http://static2.businessinsider.com/image/56abe654c08a80431d8bb4ef-1200-900/20160129_amazon_bi.png
― rob, Wednesday, 24 January 2018 16:01 (six years ago) link
too big to fail
― your skeleton is ready to hatch (bizarro gazzara), Wednesday, 24 January 2018 16:02 (six years ago) link
what if amazon crashing is what does in the economy
― Chocolate-covered gummy bears? Not ruling those lil' guys out. (ulysses), Wednesday, 24 January 2018 16:03 (six years ago) link
amazon subprime morelike amirite
― your skeleton is ready to hatch (bizarro gazzara), Wednesday, 24 January 2018 16:16 (six years ago) link
trademark that now imo
― Chocolate-covered gummy bears? Not ruling those lil' guys out. (ulysses), Wednesday, 24 January 2018 16:20 (six years ago) link
I was talking to my FIL recently about that, how Amazon's business model is very deliberately to not make a profit but rather to spend everything on eating the entire market for everything. Not sure if that means that there's some hypothetical point 20 years in the future where they actually do have monopoly power and start earning profits?
― IF (Terrorist) Yes, Explain (man alive), Wednesday, 24 January 2018 16:34 (six years ago) link
they will distribute 1/3 of america's food, clothing and leisure goods and employ a fifth of the workforce, leading to a semi-hostile government takeover#illuminatiisreal
― Chocolate-covered gummy bears? Not ruling those lil' guys out. (ulysses), Wednesday, 24 January 2018 16:38 (six years ago) link
Ordered stuff from amazon there it's good
― remember the lmao (darraghmac), Wednesday, 24 January 2018 16:39 (six years ago) link
power washer?
― your skeleton is ready to hatch (bizarro gazzara), Wednesday, 24 January 2018 16:40 (six years ago) link
Alas
― remember the lmao (darraghmac), Wednesday, 24 January 2018 16:41 (six years ago) link
ffs
― your skeleton is ready to hatch (bizarro gazzara), Wednesday, 24 January 2018 16:42 (six years ago) link
(haha, as if they give a shit about you specifically).
oh, but they do. because you have specific money and they want it. and the more they know about you specifically, the greater their chances of acquiring that money which is in your specific pocket and not someone else's. but I agree that they don't give a shit beyond that very specific point. if you broke your neck, they'd only try to sell you a hospital bed.
― A is for (Aimless), Wednesday, 24 January 2018 19:26 (six years ago) link
Amazon is such a weird bloated machine now. Some items have become difficult to shop for just because there are so many different options, the sorting systems are so bad/broken, and the reviews are not reliable. E.g. you look for a certain kind of electronic item or light bulb and there are 30 different unknown chinese manufacturers and you're always taking a chance that you'll pick the one that's absolute shit.
― IF (Terrorist) Yes, Explain (man alive), Wednesday, 24 January 2018 19:42 (six years ago) link
Just last night on Amazon, I discovered a) a professionally-packaged bootleg DVD set of a TV show that has not been officially released on DVD, and b) a PS3 peripheral (explicitly advertised as compatible with the PS3) which features one-star reviews going back several years from people who unanimously confirm that said peripheral does not work with a PS3.
― Senior Soft-Serve Tech at the Froyo Arroyo (Old Lunch), Wednesday, 24 January 2018 20:04 (six years ago) link
It's like a global flea market
― IF (Terrorist) Yes, Explain (man alive), Wednesday, 24 January 2018 20:21 (six years ago) link
if there's anything that links all the disparate "tech" companies now it's enabling brave new forms of con artistry
― rob, Wednesday, 24 January 2018 20:23 (six years ago) link
lol I should unbookmark this thread before I fall any deeper into the trench
you can get anything on there
https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/31UTUWZTFML._AC_US436_QL65_.jpg
https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51Yyy8DAoXL._SL1097_.jpg
https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51-6ECDPNBL._SL1097_.jpg
― omar little, Wednesday, 24 January 2018 20:27 (six years ago) link
thisisfine.jpg
https://i.redd.it/pc6tbns245c01.png
― your skeleton is ready to hatch (bizarro gazzara), Thursday, 25 January 2018 11:38 (six years ago) link
Yes but it doesn't just eliminate them for one day so that's why it adds up to 2.8bn I mean this is simple stuff folks
― i,CloudiOS (darraghmac), Thursday, 25 January 2018 12:27 (six years ago) link
billions of dollars and he still has no hair
― j., Thursday, 25 January 2018 15:18 (six years ago) link
fp'd for baldphobia
― your skeleton is ready to hatch (bizarro gazzara), Thursday, 25 January 2018 15:20 (six years ago) link
bald-exclusionary radical feminist
― j., Thursday, 25 January 2018 15:23 (six years ago) link
at least jeff bezos and i have one thing in common
― your skeleton is ready to hatch (bizarro gazzara), Thursday, 25 January 2018 15:26 (six years ago) link
which is to say i too am a billionaire
i fucking love capitalism
https://i.imgur.com/MUuZ9sr.jpg
― your skeleton is ready to hatch (bizarro gazzara), Thursday, 25 January 2018 15:42 (six years ago) link
that's a hell of a triple header headline alright
― Chocolate-covered gummy bears? Not ruling those lil' guys out. (ulysses), Thursday, 25 January 2018 15:48 (six years ago) link
feel sick now thanks
― illegal economic migration (Tracer Hand), Thursday, 25 January 2018 17:16 (six years ago) link
I know that for all intents and purposes holding stock in Amazon is "wealth" but some part of me sees the number that counts all of his stock as personal net worth and thinks "fake money"
now if he had all those billions in hundos under a really big mattress, now we're talking
― mh, Thursday, 25 January 2018 17:21 (six years ago) link
By that definition probably almost any billionaire has a lot of his wealth in "fake money." Maybe more diversified fake money.
― IF (Terrorist) Yes, Explain (man alive), Thursday, 25 January 2018 17:23 (six years ago) link
all money is fake money
― conrad, Thursday, 25 January 2018 17:44 (six years ago) link
comically bleak
Jeff Bezos’ new superyacht is so tall that it can’t fit under a landmark Dutch bridge.So the bridge is going to be dismantled. https://t.co/oa8stnlMyA— Jodi Kantor (@jodikantor) February 3, 2022
― rob, Thursday, 3 February 2022 20:53 (two years ago) link
amazing or are we in boring dystopia territory
― Nhex, Friday, 4 February 2022 13:05 (two years ago) link
Amazon dropping its telehealth service Amazon Care.
― Mar - a - Lago, or 120 Days of Sodom (Boring, Maryland), Friday, 26 August 2022 13:55 (one year ago) link
jokes that write themselves
― rob, Friday, 26 August 2022 13:56 (one year ago) link