Silicon Graphics, which uses the 3-D technology in its own workstations - desktop computers that are faster and more powerful than personal computers - previously licensed the technology only to International Business Machines Corp. and Microsoft.
K MART COUNTS CUSTOMERS
K mart Corp. is taking computerization from the checkout counter to the sales floor to track customers as they shop from housewares to automotives.
The discount giant plans to test ShopperTrak, which will help it determine not only how many people shop in a store, but where the store needs more clerks and when it should open more checkout lanes.
Customers won't know ShopperTrak is there, says David M. Carlson, senior vice president of corporate information systems.
"It's like putting a rubber hose across the highway and counting cars," he says. "Literally all you are are patterns on a screen or patterns on a disk. The individual being counted is totally anonymous."
K mart will test the system for two months at its Westwood, N.J., store, starting this month.
K mart will then use the ShopperTrak data with information from point-of- sale computers to see how many browsers become buyers, how well specific promotions do, and how long customers spend in stores.
ODOR-EATING ROCK
Remember the Pet Rock craze a few years ago? Now here's a rock for your pet.
NonScents is an odor-eating rock being introduced by Van Cleave & Associates to help out American, Canadian, and Australian noses.
The non-toxic mineral absorbs gases to control residential, commercial and industrial odors such as those created by ammonia (human or pet), smoke, mildew, formaldehyde and chemicals.
Van Cleave is offering the powerful dessicant in powder form for carpets, concrete, ashtrays and litterboxes.
