Service and counts NASA and Los Alamos Labs among its customers. If you've watched any of the alarmist news programs covering the topic recently, it's hard not to liken a trip to the grocery store to a 12-aisled con game. Though that may be a slight exaggeration, inaccurate prices are more common than you think. Infrared receivers in the shelf labels and checkout counters are connected with the store's data system. The benefits of such technology, which is being used in grocery stores, department stores and discount retailers like Wal-Mart Stores Inc., are twofold.
Customers get a sense of confidence that the prices are accurate.
The stores cut down on the arduous process of constant price changing and can liberate more associates for customer service. At Macy's in Monmouth Mall in Eatontown, N.J., ESLs are a retailer's dream come true. It's a question of when. But if you're someone whose workday includes frequent stretches of mobile phone conversation, you might welcome an earful of the latest research on that technology's potential hazards. Last year Henry Lai, a bioengineering professor at the University of Washington in Seattle, reported that rats exposed to 45 minutes of a level of microwave radiation slightly higher than what cell phone users receive performed their lab tasks slower than unexposed rats.