The Hard Edge

摘要

Alice and bill get a lot of inspiration while waiting: waiting in line at the grocery store, waiting in traffic, even waiting for a cell-phone call to go through. In fact, nothing makes the dynamic duo search for technical solutions and hard-core, hard-edge innovation more than the act of waiting. (Try waiting for this column to come in each month! -"Hard Edge" editor Nancy) In many ways, this is why Alice applauds Wal-Mart's recent decision to basically force its top 100 suppliers to include radio-frequency-identification (RFID) chips on all their cases, cartons, and pallets. RFID chips, for those not in the know, enable the high-tech equivalent of finding a needle in a haystack, or, in Wal-Mart's case, finding the last carton of Cheetos in a crowded warehouse.