Smart vending machine

At Tokyo's Shinagawa Station visitors can now select beverages from a 47-inch touch panel.

An embedded camera will recognize your gender and age, allowing the machine to recommend a beverage suitable to whatever stereotype is attached to your particular circumstances. It will store your purchasing history too, so you can be freaked out by tailored ads every time you use it. 500 more of these units are planned to be installed in and around Tokyo over the next two years, with operating company JR East expecting them to tally up 30 percent more sales than their analog brethren. Via engadget.com

Smart vending machines in the streets show that Big Brother is being naturally accepted in a pixel consuming society.