Virtual 3D Grocery Stores are Closer Than Ever
Posted on: 09/20/2012 02:15 AM

Think about how we shop online - its really an awkward thing. We look at tiny pictures, can't hold the product, and can't compare what we want to buy. But, the massive British retailer Tesco is going to change that.

The supermarket has revealed that its getting close to launching a fly-through of a 3D-rendered Tesco store that will integrate the online experience with the classic in-store shopping trip. Its as awesome as it sounds - you can virtually walk around in aisles of products, then select items off the shelf to look closer at and/or put in your shopping cart.

Tesco.com head of R&D Nick Lansley said "Fulfilling the dream of a virtual store had, until now, been stymied by lack of computing power in a web browser and slow broadband speeds." But with today's fast bandwidth, HTML5, and 3D TVs , the goal of walking through a virtual Tesco store and grabbing 3D products is close to becoming a reality.

How do they do it? Using Samsung Smart TV's and an Xbox Kinect, Tesco can stream website data to your TV in real time.

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