What if you could program a retail environment like you program a desktop application? Miniature computers, pervasive networking, and affordable tablet interfaces make programmed retail environments seem inevitable. Instead of using the familiar mice and monitor for system interaction, a programmed retail operation like my brick-and-mortar bookstore, Lorem Ipsum in Cambridge, Massachusetts, connects cameras, RFID readers, monitors, speakers, and motion detectors to software designed to maximize customer happiness and store profit. But it's not as easy as just adding sensors and a few monitors to the store. Here's what you learn when hacking retail in real life. When Lorem Ipsum Books started up in 2003, I built a web-based inventory and point-of-sale system because that's what I knew. Then I made an architectural choice that would haunt me for years: I chose to move the Linux server from under the sales counter to a data center down the road. This simple system was run on an in-store Linux machine running an Apache web server with a MySQL database of inventory on it. Most web developers today would be familiar with this simple LAMP stack. Employees accessed the inventory system through a web browser running on the computer sitting on the checkout counter. For a cash drawer and receipt printer I went on eBay and purchased the cheapest I could find. With this hardware and a found Cuecat barcode scanner I was in business. I built the computers with spare parts, so the... Continue reading at 'Fast Company'
[ Fast Company | 2013-04-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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What if you could program a retail environment like you program a desktop application? Miniature computers, pervasive networking, and affordable tablet interfaces make programmed retail environments seem inevitable. Instead of using the familiar mice and monitor for system interaction, a... Continue reading at Fast Company
[ Fast Company | 2013-04-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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A 57-year-old “self-styled poet” (aren’t they all?) has spent $116,000 of his own money to build a bookstore in a mountaintop village. Oh, and it’s shaped like the number 7 and contains 7,000 books. No, this is not a parable. As Jiang Libo told the South China Morning Post: Before my bookshop... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2023-05-08 15:04:22 UTC ]
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From big-box stores and schools to banks and gymnasiums, here are some old buildings that were turned into libraries (and bookstores). Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2023-02-20 11:38:00 UTC ]
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Readers dream about owning their own bookstore. So let's indulge in the fantasy: design a bookstore and get a matching book recommendation! Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2022-12-01 11:32:00 UTC ]
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A new industry initiative to help independent booksellers and comic shops recover from the Covid-19 pandemic is being launched today, with a $500,000 contribution from Ingram Charities and Ingram Content Group as well as significant gifts from Bookshop.org and four major publishers. The Survive... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2021-03-30 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Macmillan Publishers will issue promotional terms intended to help independent bookstores recover from what it calls "the significant and calamitous impacts of Covid-19 on the channel." Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2020-05-20 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Hachette Book Group is launching a new program to assist in the reopening of independent bookstores. The program is intended to help stores recover from the impact of Covid-19 on their businesses, as well as to aid them in reopening. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2020-05-18 04:00:00 UTC ]
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As reported in The Republic, Columbus, Ohio’s Mason Engel had already tried to get his self-published reboot of Orwell’s dystopian classic, 1984, into the hands of New York literary agents—like, right into their actual hands. After reaching number one in Amazon’s dystopian fiction category,... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2019-09-25 15:11:55 UTC ]
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The online retail giant has confirmed its second bricks-and-mortar bookstore. Why is it branching out from its Internet domain? Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2016-05-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Beginning July 1, HarperCollins will provide extra discounts to indie booksellers who are opening new stores or adding new locations. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2016-05-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Coffee House Press in Minneapolis has just received a $100,000 grant from the Bush Foundation. The press said it intend to use much of the grant money its In the Stacks residency program. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-04-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Google said the program, which allowed independent bookstores to sell ebooks through their Web sites, was not a success. Bookstores said it was a valuable platform that allowed them to give customers something they wanted. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2012-04-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The ebook seller released an app meeting Apple's new policies but also announced plans to build an HTML5 e-reading app that will work in the iOS browser that it'll control itself, with no requirement that it follow Apple's rules. Continue reading at PC World
[ PC World | 2011-07-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Nancy Bass Wyden, owner of New York City’s Strand Bookstore—one of the largest independent bookstores in the country—purchased stock in Amazon three times between April 6 and May 1, totaling somewhere between $115,000 and $250,000, according to Barron’s. If you’ll recall this was a time period... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2020-06-05 16:29:38 UTC ]
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In the past decade, Writer’s Block, which sells new books for both adults and children, has become a literary hub of the Greater Orlando metro area. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2024-04-18 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Cofounded in Calle 24, San Francisco’s Latino cultural district, in 2021, the bookstore specializes in radical literature, poetry, and Spanish-language titles, and embodies the Mission District’s storied revolutionary spirit. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2024-04-16 04:00:00 UTC ]
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"Just use your library" is not the solution to the new price hikes and benefit decreases in Barnes & Noble's membership changes. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2023-03-01 12:57:36 UTC ]
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We talk with Jill and Adlai Yeomans, owners of White Whale Bookstore in Pittsburgh, Pa., which focuses on literary fiction. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2022-08-26 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Denver's iconic Tattered Cover Bookstore, which has been owned by Len Vlahos and Kristen Gilligan since 2015, has been sold to two entrepreneurs and Denver natives, Kwame Spearman and David Back. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2020-12-09 05:00:00 UTC ]
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