Category: Emerging Technology

Pizza Hut Interactive Table: order by touch

Multi-touch media that uses highly engineered glass and companion technologies feels like the future. So Pizza Hut partners with Chaotic Moon Studios in the USA to create an interactive concept table that lets customers in retail outlets create and customize their pizzas on the spot.

The promise is simple: instead of a static menu, the table becomes the interface, turning ordering into something you can explore, assemble, and adjust with your hands.

A table that turns ordering into a build experience

The mechanism is a multi-touch tabletop UI that walks you through base, sauce, toppings, and sides as a sequence of visual choices. Your pizza is assembled live on-screen, so the product takes shape while you decide.

In quick-service restaurants, the easiest way to increase customization confidence is to make choices visual and immediate.

Why it lands: it reduces friction and adds play

Ordering pizza can be surprisingly error-prone: misheard toppings, unclear sizes, forgotten extras, awkward group decisions. A touch-first interface turns that into a shared, visible process where everyone can see what is being built before it is submitted.

What Pizza Hut is really trying to prove

Beyond “cool tech,” this kind of table concept signals modernity in the dine-in experience. It frames Pizza Hut as a place where the experience is part of the product, not only the food.

What to steal for your own retail UX concept

  • Make the product assemble itself. Visual construction beats textual configuration for speed and accuracy.
  • Design for groups, not only individuals. Shared screens turn indecision into collaboration.
  • Keep the interaction shallow. The best flows are obvious in under 10 seconds.
  • Let the interface do the upsell quietly. Sides and add-ons perform better when they appear as natural next steps.

A few fast answers before you act

What is the Pizza Hut Interactive Concept Table?

It is a multi-touch tabletop ordering concept designed to let dine-in customers build and customize pizzas directly on the table interface.

What problem does a touch-table solve in restaurants?

It reduces ordering friction by making customization visual, shared, and less dependent on staff hearing, memory, or paper menus.

Is this an ordering system or a marketing concept?

It is presented as a concept experience to demonstrate a possible future dine-in flow, with the interface itself acting as the headline.

Why is multi-touch a good fit for pizza customization?

Pizza is modular. When options can be added, removed, and previewed instantly, customers feel more confident and order faster.

What is the main takeaway for experience design?

If you want people to customize, make the choices tangible. Let them see the product changing as they decide.

Replace your passwords with your heartbeat

Imagine never having to type a password, and never needing to pull out your credit card to make a payment ever again. A biometrics startup called Bionym is positioning exactly that future with Nymi, a sleek wristband that uses your heartbeat to authenticate your identity.

The promise is simple. If your identity can be verified passively, you can unlock everyday things without friction. Bionym presents Nymi as a way to unlock your favourite devices such as your computer, smartphone, and even your car. If this kind of wearable is adopted at scale, it becomes a first step toward replacing keys and passwords with something you already carry on you.

What is actually being launched

Nymi is positioned as a consumer-ready wristband with a clear job. Authenticate you, then unlock the devices and services you use most. The interesting part is not the form factor. It is the shift from remembering secrets to proving identity continuously.

The ecosystem requirement that decides whether it matters

A wearable authentication layer only becomes valuable when it works across many endpoints. That means third-party developers and partners need to build a thriving ecosystem of apps and devices that can use Nymi for access and verification.

Pre-order details

You can pre-order the Nymi for $79, but it is not going into production until later this year. Between now and launch, the real work is adoption. Getting integrations, partners, and use cases that make “heartbeat as login” feel normal.

A few fast answers before you act

What is Nymi?

A wristband from biometrics startup Bionym that uses your heartbeat to authenticate your identity and unlock devices.

What kinds of things can it unlock?

Bionym positions it as a way to unlock devices such as computers, smartphones, and cars, reducing the need for passwords and keys.

What has to happen for this to scale?

A strong third-party ecosystem of apps and device integrations, so the wristband works across many real-world use cases.

Macy’s iBeacon: Retail Enters Micro-Location

iBeacon moves from concept to real retail

Apple is working to bring iBeacon technology into retail stores. But the first real-world deployment lands fast.

On November 20, Shopkick deploys an iBeacon system at Macy’s, effectively bringing beacon-driven retail experiences live before Apple’s own retail rollout becomes mainstream.

At Macy’s, the implementation is branded as shopBeacon.

What iBeacon makes possible in-store

iBeacon, introduced with iOS 7, uses Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) signaling to enable micro-location services inside stores.

That matters because it changes what mobile in-store experiences can do. Stores can deliver information and value based on a shopper’s precise location inside the environment, not just on GPS-level proximity.

Micro-location enables location-specific deals and discounts, product recommendations by aisle or department, loyalty rewards triggered by presence, and contextual content that enhances the shopping journey.

The promise is simple. The store becomes a responsive, context-aware interface.

What makes Macy’s deployment noteworthy

This is not a lab demo. It is a live retail environment.

The shopBeacon trial runs as a closed beta at Macy’s Herald Square in New York and Macy’s Union Square in San Francisco.

This marks the shift from talking about beacons to operationally testing them in flagship stores, where footfall, density, and shopper intent are real.

In brick-and-mortar retail, micro-location only matters when it is permissioned, useful, and tied to measurable in-store behavior change.

The strategic signal for retailers and brands

Beacon technology is not another channel. It is an in-store intelligence layer.

If executed with permission and relevance, it can reduce friction in discovery and decision-making, increase the utility of mobile without forcing shoppers to search, and bridge physical browsing with digital personalization.

If executed poorly, it becomes noise. The win condition is not proximity. It is context plus permission plus usefulness.

A few fast answers before you act

What does “micro-location” mean in a store context?

It means detecting a shopper’s location at aisle or department level, not just “near the store”, enabling experiences that change based on where the shopper is standing.

Why is BLE central to iBeacon-style deployments?

Bluetooth Low Energy enables persistent, low-power proximity signals that make in-aisle triggers and experiences feasible without draining devices.

Is the main value just pushing offers?

No. Offers are one use case. The stronger value is contextual service, guidance, and relevance when it reduces shopping friction.

What should retailers measure in early pilots?

Opt-in rates, perceived usefulness, impact on dwell and conversion, and whether the experience feels helpful rather than intrusive.

What is the quickest way for this to fail?

When it becomes noisy, repetitive, or unpermissioned. Proximity alone is not value. Context and usefulness are the win condition.