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Rally's and Checkers are using AI chatbots for Spanish-language food orders
Checkers and Rally's restaurants have launched the first Spanish ordering system that uses AI.
French court orders Amazon to continue only fulfilling essential orders
A court in France has ruled that Amazon should only fulfill orders for essential products, like food and hygiene and medical products, TechCrunch reports.
Chipotle is redesigning its restaurants to better serve mobile orders
No one wants to wait in line for their Chipotle order, and honestly, most people don't want to talk to anyone either. For those reasons, Chipotle's "digital business" -- orders placed through the app, online or via third-parties like DoorDash -- has grown to $1 billion. Now, Chipotle says it's going to make the digital ordering process even better with new restaurant designs optimized for pickups.
Google Wallet's new 'Orders' feature lets you track online shipments
Nice to see Google is keeping the regular Google Wallet updates coming. A few weeks after introducing loyalty card scans, the company is adding a feature called "Orders," which lets you track your online shipments using Google Wallet's iOS or Android app. In particular, you can view receipts for purchases you made online, as well as check the shipping status (Google says it's made arrangements with "primary package carriers in the US"). The roll-out appears to have already begun, though it could take a while for the update to reach some devices -- yours truly, for instance, is still waiting.
Pebble says a million apps have been downloaded, updates status of outstanding Kickstarter orders
To say that Pebble's Kickstarter-launched smartwatch has been more popular than it expected would be a slight understatement. In fact, the company touched base with us today to let us know exactly how much demand there's been for the wearable, how it's going to fulfill that demand and what it's doing to help developers. For a small startup, Pebble's taken a huge amount of orders for its $150 device. Along with the initial 85,000 Kickstarter pledges, the company told us today that it's had over 190,000 pre-orders to date. On top of that, over a million Pebble "watchapps" have been downloaded from Pebble and its developers. Naturally, all that success has created some issues -- to see what the company's planning on doing about it, head after the break.
India's sub-$50 Android tablet claims 1.4 million orders in two weeks
How popular is the world cheapest tablet? Pretty darn popular, it seems. The Aakash has already notched up 1.4 million bookings since going up for sale on December 14th, not massively surprising given the $41 (2,500 rupee) price tag. An upgraded version is already planned for March, with three new factories planned to each produce 75,000 new units per month. If a sub-$50 tablet is still too expensive for your tastes, then you may be happy to hear that the price should still sink as low as $35 and could even be pushed as low as $10. At that price, we'll take five.
Apple may be looking to add another iPad manufacturer
We've heard that the next iteration of the iPad will be thinner, have a Retina Display, and will bring peace to the Middle East. Here's a rumor that's a little more mundane, and much more likely to be accurate though -- Apple may be adding another manufacturer, alongside Foxconn, to produce its tablet. According to a DigiTimes source the explosion at the company's Chengdu plant in May has created some serious supply issues. Additionally, tablet sales are expected to grow even higher this year, according to the IDC, and the Cupertino Crew already has trouble keeping up with demand. It seems there's little choice but to bring on board the likes of Quanta Computers or Pegatron Technology, the two front runners for the orders.
iPad 2 online orders start arriving on doorsteps
The old saying goes "the early bird catches the worm," and it certainly appears to be holding true for the insomniacs who stayed up for iPad 2 pre-orders to go live online. We've received our own orders that were placed as soon as the switch was flipped, as have several MacRumors forum contributors (as pictured above). With shipping estimates slipping longer and longer, maybe waiting on a real line isn't the most unattractive option any more.
Nissan books 8,000 Leaf orders in nine days, gets turned on with that electric feel
Who says people aren't willing to pay upwards of $30k for a car that can only go 100 miles before needing to be tethered to a wall outlet? Evidently Nissan has struck a chord with the US populace, as the automaker just announced that 8,000 orders for the all-electric Leaf were booked in a mere nine days after orders went live. According to Mark Perry, the company's North American director of product planning and strategy, Nissan is "on its way to have 25,000 firm orders by December," and considering that it'll only ship initially in California, Arizona, Washington, Tennessee and Oregon, that's a pretty bold assumption. Better still, Nissan plans to "make money at the price that it announced," though we've no doubt that the $7,500 Federal tax credit has urged fence-sitters to jump in the pre-order line. Still, it's good to see consumers putting their money into unconventional automobiles, but we can't say we're eager to see a special run of Parking Wars dedicated to brawls over what motorist gets the last charging socket on Main Street. Or maybe we are, in a sick and sadistic sort of way.
Woz to buy two iPads
Newsweek chatted with one Steve Wozniak the week before the iPad launch, and unsurprisingly, he's going all-in on the new device, and planning on picking up (at least) two, one WiFi and one 3G. He's ordered them up online already, but he says he'll still be stopping by an Apple Store on Friday evening, to "wait in line, just for fun." What a guy. He actually says he didn't think the iPad was for him, since he already had an iPhone, but he says that after thinking about it, he really is excited about the bigger screen and browsing. He also is sure that it will be popular with students and even people who aren't necessarily computer literate. "The iPad simplifies things," he says wisely. "It's like a restart. We all say we want things to be simpler. All of a sudden we have this simple thing." Sounds good. When the iPhone launched, Woz was at the San Jose Apple Store, we believe, so if you're planning on camping out in line there this weekend, keep your eyes open for a jolly computer designer carrying more gadgets than you can count.
"Overwhelming" demand limiting iPad in-store pickup
According to MacDailyNews, shoppers who placed iPad pre-orders this morning are being told by Apple Store employees that demand could affect their plans for in-store pickup. It seems that several customers ordered iPads this morning, opting for at-home delivery. For whatever reason, they later changed their minds and opted for in-store pickup. That's when things got tricky. When requesting the switch, those customers are being told that their existing orders will have to be cancelled and new in-store orders placed. However, the employees warn, demand for the iPad has been so "overwhelming" today that they can no longer guarantee that an in-store pickup order will be available on April 3rd if placed at this late hour. As of this writing, the online Apple Store notes that Wi-Fi iPads ordered today will be able for pickup at Apple Retail Store "...between 9:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. on April 3." In other words: Selling like hotcakes.
Authenticators are going out, via USPS
We had heard that there were problems with the Blizzard Authenticator (a few people who'd ordered them had gotten their money refunded by Blizzard), but apparently there are at least a few going out. Mania got hers -- she says that it works great, that she has already associated it with her accounts, and that she's thrilled with her purchase.Not everybody is so lucky -- reader Tweaky emailed us to say that his order was supposed to go out UPS Next Day Air, but after it didn't show up and he had a tussle with Customer Support, he then found out it was actually going through the USPS and that it would show up late. No word on whether he's seen his yet or not. A few people commented on our last post that they actually had shipping returned to them, so maybe Blizzard originally planned to send some UPS, and then had to switch to a cheaper mailing method.At this point, Blizzard has the keyfob sold out on their website, and there's no indication when we'll see any more (soon, probably). It appears that not only did they vastly underestimate demand for the Authenticator, but that people are seriously concerned about the security of their World of Warcraft account. No other game company has ever offered anything like this before, but given the response, it could soon become a standard.
Nokia inks $2 billion phone deal in China, shareholders unimpressed
As awesome of a win for Nokia as it sounds, it turns out that Espoo does a regular business with wholesale distributor China Postel, and this year's order of $2 billion falls short of the $2.5 billion ordered in 2007, leaving shares in Nokia to fall about 1.8 percent on the news. Analysts think that lower average handset prices account for at least a part of the lower order value, along with speculation that China Postel might roll deep with some additional orders later in the year. Here's the interesting part, though: the orders are apparently "framework agreements" which are totally commitment-free on both Nokia's and China Postel's parts, meaning that the $2 billion could vanish into thin air with no warning or explanation whatsoever. In fact, analysts can't even confirm whether last year's $2.5 billion worth of handsets was ever fulfilled. Wait, what's the point of these so-called framework agreements in the first place, then?[Via mocoNews]
Apple taking it easy on flash memory order this year
CNET is reporting that iSuppli announced Apple is "cutting" their flash memory order this year, and in this case "cutting" doesn't mean "cutting" the way you or I would use it (as in, "The doctor said I had to cut my sugar intake, so I'll only have one doughnut instead of six."). No, it means "cutting" as in they're only raising their orders for flash memory by 16% instead of the expected 32% (which is like saying "I'll only eat three more doughnuts instead of six").Still, it's enough to send a few folks into a tizzy -- as CNET's Tom Krazit says so perfectly: "If Apple coughs, the flash memory market gets sick." I don't know that there's too much to read into this, except maybe that we probably won't see a brand new iPod this year. With the iPod touch and all the iPod iterations out right now, Apple pretty much has the market covered on mp3 players. That doesn't mean they won't drop lots of new products (I hear that they used to make computers of some kind), but it probably does mean that in terms of the current iPod brand, growth has peaked. Until they bring out that gaming device, flash memory isn't their biggest need.
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WoW Insider interviews Ed Fries, founder of FigurePrints
var digg_url = 'http://digg.com/pc_games/WoW_Insider_gets_the_skinny_on_FigurePrints'; After a quick announcement last week, the FigurePrints site opened yesterday, offering Warcraft players an easy (if not necessarily cheap-- each figure runs about $115) way to recreate their ingame characters in real-life figurine form.But we still had lots of questions. How did these figures get made? What kind of material were they made of, and where did FigurePrints get the models and information to turn ingame characters into real sculptures? For the answers, we went straight to the source. Ed Fries has been in and around gaming for a long time, and after playing WoW for years (and creating games for years before that), he had the idea to create a way to bring Warcraft characters to life with a 3D printer. WoW Insider got a chance to talk to Ed on the day that his company's site went live, and all the answers to your questions about FigurePrints are right after the jump.
Has Apple cracked down on unlocker-resellers?
Is Apple hitting back at businessmen who buy, unlock and resell iPhones? Apple customers whose accounts show large, repeated iPhone orders are reportedly receiving emails canceling their orders and inviting them to enter the Apple reseller program, presumably with unlocking limitations. TUAW reader Silvio Duque sent in a copy of a recent email to an Apple customer: It thanked the customer for his interest in Apple products. "While Apple appreciates your company's support of Apple's technology and products, the Apple Store you placed this order with sells products to end-user customers only, and the order has therefore been cancelled. You may wish to review the Sales and Refunds Policy." TUAW has not confirmed this policy and we'd like to hear from any other readers whose orders got cancelled.
OLPC production line nearly ready after getting 3 million orders?
No, it won't be July, but it's looking like you won't have to wait until Q4 either to hear the production line at Quanta begin to crank out OLPC XOs en masse. According to the China Post, Quanta "will start production of low-cost machines for the One Laptop per Child project in September after a nine-month delay," and interestingly, it even cites the recent hardware alterations as a culprit for the latest hangup. Michail Bletsas, a network design executive for the project, states that the firm will churn out "40,000 XOs a month from September 22nd," and could increase that figure to 400,000 units a month by the end of this year. Bletsas was also quoted as saying that "three million would be made in the first round of production," insinuating that quite a few orders have either been booked or are looking fairly secure. Regardless, we're sure kiddos around the world are hoping that this all pans out, because judging by the looks on the faces of kids in Uruguay, it's pretty much the best thing to ever hit the classroom.[Via OLPCNews]
Quanta, Mitac getting AMD Dell orders?
We're all getting a mite bit ill of the recurring Dell + AMD sitting in a tree, c-o-m-p-u-t-i-n-g rumor, but a bit more fuel's been added to the fire by way of a supposed report out of China. According to Chinese paper the Commercial Times, it would appear Mitac and Quanta -- two well known and respected manufacturers -- have received orders for AMD equipped Dell machines to be prepped for the back to school buying season this September. Seems a bit late to tag this one as an impossibility; keep feeding fuel to the rumor blast furnace and eventually people will begin expecting these AMD-powered machines from Dell.
