In 2018, Amazon introduced a technology in a retail store that may eliminate the need for cashiers. This technology uses computer vision, deep learning and sensor fusion to determine who bought which products. For this to work, there are three problems that must be solved. Firstly, customers have to be identified and tracked throughout the store, such that the system is able to solve the “who” part of the who bought which products question. Secondly, the technology has to track when a product is taken. This can be done by cameras or sensors that monitor the weight of the shelf. Lastly, the data of where the customer is and when a product is taken must be combined in order to determine who buys which products.

As said before, this eliminates the need for cashiers and greatly increases the speed at which customers can do their groceries. This eliminates one of the largest pains from customers; waiting in line. There is another way this technology adds value for businesses. Since customers need an account to enter the store, the retailers can obtain detailed customer data. This enables businesses to offer more effective promotions and enhance their product offerings.

However, we need to take into account the social effect of this, and similar, technologies. In the US alone there are 3.29 million food retail cashiers (!). When this technology will be adopted by more and more stores, the need for cashiers disappears. While some of the workforce will be able to transition to other jobs, most have low or no education, reducing the chances that they are able to find suitable jobs in the future. This poses a large ethical decision for a food retail company (or any retail company where this technology can be implemented for that matter); do we implement the technology and increase business value and reduce costs, but lay of a large part of our workforce, or do we continue our current strategy?

https://www.theverge.com/2018/9/17/17869294/amazon-go-store-chicago-cashier-less

For a long time, games have been played on consoles or your computer. It was always necessary to first buy a console, then buy a game and only then were you able to play your favourite game. This business model has been changing in the last few years. For some years, we are able to buy games from the console store, rather than having to go to a physical store. However, the need for a physical console to play on, persisted.
Until Google recently revealed their newest service; Google Stadia. Using their cloud computing infrastructure, Stadia is able to deliver up to 4K image quality at 60 frames per second depending on the user’s internet speed. In addition, you can now game on your phone, television, iPad etc. without the need for a physical console and switch seamlessly between those. The service even includes some games that are free to play, accessible at any time, from anywhere. The only thing you must buy upfront is the Google Stadia controller that is needed for playing the games. This reduction of upfront costs will increase the accessibility of games.
However, there are some downsides to the service as well. Since you are “streaming” the game, it introduces additional latency, which hardcore gamers are not willing to accept. Also, players are limited in their chosen peripherals, as they can only use the controller and not their keyboard and mouse or any other peripheral for that matter. Lastly, the consumer still has to buy most games. While some games will be offered for free, most premium and well-sought-after games are not.
In the future, these negative features can be overcome by improvements of the technology. When this happens, incumbents have to fear losing their business. The extra flexibility, power and reduced upfront costs offer make it that Stadia offers better value than the traditional consoles. Microsoft and Nvidia are already implementing a similar technology, but PlayStation seems to fall behind. What do you think, are physical gaming platforms at risk of being substituted?

https://store.google.com/product/stadia?gclid=CjwKCAjwldHsBRAoEiwAd0JybeO0PxD2x8JaZOMjIiN6KDKu0M4GUtvxhSf59KFyUWnPKqArAX_gZhoCUpsQAvD_BwE
https://www.theverge.com/2019/6/10/18659967/microsoft-xcloud-cloud-gaming-public-test-google-stadia-e3-2019
https://www.nvidia.com/nl-nl/geforce/products/geforce-now/