ERMUSR MISC MEMO 01-15-2008 - Laserfiche WebLink

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With the workday winding down, it's time to do some shopping. Buying on the Web is common...not dominant. Internet purchases are close to 15% of total commerce, about double a decade or so earlier. But the link between "bricks" and "clicks" is lar ely seamless. Traditional stores have morphed into showrooms visited by shoppers to check out and "feel" the merchandise. Goods are then ordered online and shipped from warehouses directly to the customer's home. As a result, the stores don't need to stock a lot of inventory. Today you're looking for a jacket, so you use your communicator to connect to a mobile service that cross-references items of interest, your personal tastes and nieasurements plus info about your location. The service instantly directs you to stores that offer what you seek. At the store, "magic mirrors" speed the trying-on process. Instead of your having to schlep a pile of clothes into a dressing room, a mirror makes a cyber image of you, using data from your communicator. Clothes are then displayed on your virtual image for a look-see. Payment is by thumb at many store locations. You put your digit on a machine that scans your fingerprint to verify your identity. The device also checks credit or bank account info to approve the sale. Last stop before going home: Italian take-out. Your order, sent earlier in the day via your communicator, could have been delivered to your home, but the nice weather puts you in the mood to pick it up. Many retailers have added outdoor patios and other gathering places that are welcomed by retired baby boomers looking for places to hang out. Ah...home. Your robot home assistant knows you're coming, having received an electronic ping from you on your approach. It starts setting the table and lets the dog inside from the backyard. Feel like going to a movie? There's that great new flick at the digital theater down the road. Digital is such an improvement over 35mm film...the picture is sharper and the sound way better. Oh, wait...New York is playing Guadalajara in baseball tonight, a budding rivalry well worth checking out on your home video system. Soccer is another viewing option...the sport is really taking off in the U.S., particularly with the Hispanic population expanding. Tired now, you crawl under the sheets with your e-book... a flexible, foldable tablet that can dowr)load any reading material. As you nod off, sensors dim the light and adjust the temperature. So what do you think? Do you welcome such options or abhor them, worried about the loss of privacy fostered by all this fancy gadgetry? It may depend on your impression of privacy. Younger generations are far less hung up on what their elders may view as intrusions. Posting everything about themselves on the Web seems natural to them. But note that regulators will insist on safeguards against ID theft and protections for financial and medical data. However, cybercriminals will keep trying to outwit them...a perennial game of cat and mouse. t Your very t y, Happy New Year ~' Dec. 28, 2007 THE K INGER ASH GTON ITORS J Copyright 2007. The Kiplinger Washington Editors, Inc. quotation for political or commercial use is not permitted. Duplicating an entire issue for sharing with others, by any means, is illegal. Photocopying of individual items for internal use is permitted for registrants with the Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923. For details, call 978-750-8400 or visit www.copyright.com.