You don't need to get in a time-travelling machine to see how technology will change our lives, such as the way we shop. Several new technologies that are to change your buying habits already appear. Let's see what's in store for your future shopping.
Try it on, virtually(虚拟地). Want to shop online for a new pair of glasses? You don't need to guess which pair looks best on you—use the eBay Fashion iPhone app to try a pair of glasses you're checking out on a picture of your face. But what about buying something bigger? Thanks to Microsoft Kinect's action tracking(跟踪)camera, you can cover clothes on your screen body. You can even choose the background of your virtual fitting room to improve your shopping experience.
Get a perfect, custom fit. Everyone's body is shaped differently. To get a perfect fit, you sometimes have to get your clothes changed. But by using 3D scanning technology, all the clothes you buy will fit your body perfectly. Some companies scan(扫描)your body using High-tech to get the real sizes, so they can make special clothes just for you.
High-tech shopping carts(推车)and checkout counters(收银台). High-tech shopping carts could be common in malls and supermarkets in the future. Microsoft Kinect-enabled carts are under test. The cart can follow you along the aisles(通道), controlled only by your movement and your voice.
In the United States, several supermarkets use a certain set called "Scan It" that gives buyers the freedom to scan products on their own while they shop. If we don't want to wait in line before the checkout counters, we can use Toshiba's new object Recognition Scanner. The machine identifies(辨认)a product as soon as it's placed in front of a camera just by its shape and color, even if it has no bar code.
