The firm behind the deployment of DVD-rental kiosks has been sued by an advocate group that claims that they discriminate against blind customers.

Redbox has been taken to court by a San Francisco group that is campaigning on behalf of the visually impaired, who allege that the rental touch screen kiosks make it impossible or difficult for visually impaired customers to use the technology.

The activists, “Lighthouse for the Blind and Visually Impaired”, say that the advancement of technology is limiting for the visually impaired. One legally blind supporter argues that she enjoys sharing movies with her sighted husband and their son but that she is left feeling embarrassed and helpless when trying to use the units.

Kiosk technology has been installed across industry sectors in airports, retail, and hospitality, but the design needs to consider accessibility for everyone.

Protouch kiosk manufacturers offer guidance on the placement of touch screen technology in order to enable all users use the kiosk. By featuring internet access on the machines, help instructions can also be offered to those few people who find it difficult to use, not just the disabled. Further advice is to provide audio features to help instruct consumers use the technology.

The advocates reported that they sued Redbox in the hope it will encourage other companies to include accessible software.

Here at Protouch, we believe that it is vital that all units tend to a customer’s needs and are designed appropriately to ensure the person can access it with ease and without effort.

Whether someone has difficulties reading and needs a specially designed kiosk that increases their confidence and ability; or a wheelchair user cannot reach the interface display, it is important that the touch screen technology is accessible for all and does not discriminate.

Image Courtesy of Nara J and reused under the terms of the Creative Commons Licence

Some of the world’s finest architectures are just that because they have been unaltered or amended over time. Many archaic buildings that are thousands of years old remain intact and its preservationists try to ensure that its natural magnificence stays unharmed despite modern machineries.

Due to architecture’s historical significance, some people wish to keep the building conserved with traditional times. But one of India’s most prized architectural sites has decided to reap the benefits of touch screen technology and it has installed a kiosk.

The Big Temple at Thanjavur in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu is renowned as one of the grandest temples ever built on the subcontinent. It is a tribute of its patron RajaRaja Chola and remains one of the greatest glories of Indian architecture. And officials have deployed a touch screen kiosk as part of World Heritage Week celebrations.

Big Temple is considered one of the tallest structures in India and last year marked its 1,000^th birthday but the Archaeological Survey of India, (ASI), the department of the Government of India, has erected a self-service kiosk at the first gopuram i.e. the rising tower at the entrance of the temple.

The unit will provide visitors information and details on the history of the Big Temple, its sculptures and paintings. Another kiosk is being put in the interpretation centre inside the temple. All displayed info will be narrated in English, Tamil, Hindi and French.

Touch screen technology can enhance a visitor attraction as well as in-keep with the architectural features. There are many uses and functions to touch screen kiosks and one of them which is the most common and popular choice for deployment, is information providing and storing.

By deploying a kiosk or touch screen monitors, one can provide sightseers with important information that is easy-to-read and more engaging. But that doesn’t necessarily mean that the setting is compromised. What is vital is that a kiosk design is chosen that is fairly low-stated and discreet but that is also visible.

Contact Protouch today to see how they can provide you with the touch screen technology to enhance your architecture and visitor attraction.

The concept of being environmentally friendly and having a positive impact on the earth is a huge aspect of any business nowadays. And many industry sectors in the UK have placed an emphasis and drive to reducing its carbon footprint and becoming ‘green’.

Trading firms are striving to be eco-friendly alongside retailers, banks and health services but it has been claimed that the self-service sector is lagging behind in going conservational.

However, it is arguable that touch screen technology is already trying to be environmentally friendly. There are many kiosks and digital signage on the market that are made out of recycled and renewal materials and there are numerous manufactured kiosks that specifically help the environment.

Here at Protouch we have written several posts on kiosks aiding the world. Information units have been installed in varying countries across the globe to offer help and advice to consumers on how to help the environment and manage the unit’s power and energy consumption; and there is evidence of solar powered touch screens.

Back in 2010 Pepsi announced an innovate strategy to fight
pollution and encourage recycling through the use of intelligent kiosks; and in 2009 a self-service kiosk was created to recycle old mobile phones.

Kiosks do promote ‘greener’ issues by educating and communicating with the public. Only last weekend when a member of our team came back from a holiday and landed at Manchester Airport in the UK, did they notice some deployed touch screen monitors by the train station to inform travellers on how they can be more sustainable.

All industries can continually progress and do better to be conservational but it does take time and there are stepping stones to cross. The self-service sector, like many others, is determined to do its part to reduce the world’s overall carbon footprint; we’ll all just have to wait and see what it brings.

ass=”alignright” src=”http://t2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcR1goh_8vrg_fRxcH7rpYuhwn0iJqk7nR1MNI7hygkS6wyEDkxy” alt=”" width=”273″ height=”185″ />When baking a cake, there are certain ingredients to use that make the perfect mixture. With a sprinkle of sugar and a dash of icing you can create a delicious masterpiece, so long as the instructions are followed closely and to each and every step.

Just as with cooking, a kiosk has many ingredients to make it a recipe success but if certain elements and items are added into the mix that are not required, the technology can fall flat.

Too often kiosk technology is manufactured without the customer in mind, so to deploy an efficient and fruitful touch screen that is beneficial to all learn from some of these common mistakes.

The main reasons why kiosk projects fail are because…

- There are not enough kiosks installed so there are long waiting times.

- The units are placed in inconvenient locations that are inaccessible to consumers.

- The kiosk has poor browsing mechanisms that are frustrate and turn people off from using it.

So here are some top motives and obstacles that wind consumers up and irritate them to the extent, that they become not interested in using your technology; and if a kiosk in unused then what is even the point in its deployment.

- A pinch of location

This is an important aspect of installation to ensure it is visible to all. If a customer cannot reach a kiosk or doesn’t even know where it exists, it won’t be used. Locate it in a prime location so people know where it is but also balance the concept so it doesn’t stand out too much and becomes an eye-sore.

- Sprinkle some presentation

Just as decorating the cake is vital, so is a kiosk appearance. Bad first impressions often put consumers off from ever returning so keep the interface software simple and the kiosk looking appealing to attract and engage with its users. Computers can be deemed as boring, time-consuming and often associated with work. Make the kiosk design have a toy-like quality with bright colours so it is less like an ATM machine and people are encouraged to interact with it.

- A dash of multiples

Many installations distributed throughout the store will ensure people are not waiting for long periods of time behind each other queuing. It will also reduce the fact that people have to walk a far distance to use the kiosk. As well as waiting to use a unit though, consumers don’t like waiting for the software. It can be frustrating lingering on the spot waiting for a page to refresh, so all browsing delays should be limited to less than 0.5 second and put multiple products on one page so the user doesn’t have to flick from screen to screen.

- A cup of privacy

In locations like a doctor surgery or healthcare facility, privacy is vital for patients especially in terms of medical records. A larger screen is ideal for customers who are partially sighted however to maintain privacy keep the screen small.

So make sure you have all the ingredients for Touch screen success with Protouch by clicking here.

Source: Whitepaper by RedDotNet

A postcard is most often found in holiday destinations to allow tourists and holidaymakers to send a message home to their family and loved-ones to let them know how the vacation is going.

For people who are unaware, postcards are rectangular pieces of paper or cardboard purposely intended to write upon and mail without the need for an envelope.

However, they have become rather old-fashioned and out-of-date as of late due to the fact that by the time the card is delivered to the receiver, you have in fact returned from your holiday and already filled them in on the whole trip.

However, as with many industries across the world Touch screen technology is aiding consumer’s encounters and experiences and the travel and tourism sector is also one to jump on board and reap its advantages.

Sightseers and vacationers can now send postcards virtually via a Touch screen kiosk. Hotels and sunny destination spots in the world are deploying the units so families and single travellers can stay in touch with their relatives at home in a quick and easy instance.

The technology allow a user to create and send the virtual postcard using their own photos, so snaps from the holiday already can be transmitted making the receiver envy of how much fun you’re having.

Postcards can be custom-designed from the machines and sent via email and text message or posted directly onto social networking sites such as Facebook or Twitter. Imagine how much that would save in stamps!

The kiosks, dubbed Send A Message, were created by Kristen Tsitoukis and Send A Message Inc designed the kiosks. She said: “It takes vacation photos to a whole new level, providing guests the unique opportunity to create photo postcards with their own personal media in just minutes.”

The technology works by inserting a memory card or stick from a camera into the unit and via the touch screen interface choosing from your photos. There are also photos stored on the kiosk based on the locale, such as local popular attractions and tourist venues.

The SAM kiosks are already installed in certain locations and resorts in Florida and Pennsylvania, America and she is also working with the United Kingdom Trade & Investment to place them in time for the 2012 Olympic Games.

Protouch can enhance a holiday experience with their Kiosks that speed up check-in times.

A business can’t force its customers to do what it wants. A consumer has its own mind and due to human free-will, we cannot make someone use your services.

But how can we entice and convince them to want to use you without pressure or hassling?

There are many tactics that can be put into place that will make a consumer more likely to want to use your Touch screen kiosk as it is appealing. The most important concept of all is that the unit must remain user-friendly and simple. By definition, it means how usable an object is and how easy it is to interact with it, learn how to use it and have a satisfied experience upon completion.

How can a kiosk be made user-friendly though?

The following functionalities better consumer usability and therefore increase customer loyalty and ultimately, sales;

- Multi Lingual

Language is essential to communicate to the customers to express what we want to say. Societies are ever-growing in multi-ethnicity and nationalities and it is because of this that multiple languages are required to target an expanded number of citizens. The more customers one appeals to and the bigger range of type of consumers, in effect increases the business chance of success.

- Accessible

A kiosk needs to be accessible physically. If a customer cannot reach it, or get to the unit due to obstructions then there is no point in it even being deployed. And if it is inaccessible to certain demographics and groups then it might be unlawful; such as the blind, disabled or deaf.

But as well as physically being able to reach the machine, it also needs to be noticed and easily identifiable. A consumer needs to be able to see it to want to use it, so the design needs to be eye-catching and visible. The balance between standing out but not being obtrusive and not blending into the background needs to be mastered.

- Easy To Navigate

As well as being accessible, it needs to be easy to use. What is the point in a consumer making all the hard effort to get to the machine, if upon arrival it then cannot use it?

Large buttons and big text sizes simplify screen navigation and ability to understand the services. Eyesight and hand coordination are challenges to overcome but ultimately, they are essential to tackling machine comprehension.

Protouch are Europe’s number one manufacturer and distributor in Touch screen technology and are experts in designing Kiosks

that are user-friendly.

A kiosk is extremely diverse and can have multiple purposes, roles and functionalities.

From ticketing, information giving, purchasing, ordering and checking-in; a touch screen unit can serve almost any industry for any affair; and one of these is body-scanning.

We all know what it can be like to go clothes shopping and to try on a million and one things before buying because it just didn’t fit right. Multiple stores have their own dimensions so a size in one shop can be two sizes larger in another retailer. According to research in a women’s publication, the average woman tries on 15 pairs of jeans before buying one pair.

And it is due to this that a body-scanning kiosk can help. It can match shoppers’ bodies with the perfect fit and style of clothing so you can ditch trying on clothes in the changing rooms for hours on end and get out there and wear the new attire!

The touch screen technology can take body measurements and then match the results to the sizing specifications of their particular brand listed in the kiosk database. In no time at all basic demographic information is registered, whilst full clothed inside the booth and then a printer feature then enables the shoppers to print out the outcomes and give choices and options of what is available in-store that will fit her body best.

A Shopping Guide at one of the touch screen monitors and kiosk then guides the consumer on style, price and retailer that would fit perfectly. The reported high scores are said to bring the shopper more confidence in purchasing.

Where would it be ideal to locate the unit?

Perfect locations include in shopping malls and retail outlooks that give some form of discretion but are also right bang in the centre of where the consumers shop.

The system, called mybestfit kiosk, has be designed by Unique Solutions.

Protouch is the number one manufacturer and distributor of Touch screen

technology in Europe.

If kiosk success was like a recipe, what would be the perfect ingredients?

A student competition to find new and exciting ideas for a sensational kiosk took place last month at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, United States.

The contest, dubbed Whiteboard Challenge by Coinstar, involved several teams that presented kiosk concepts to a panel of university professors and Coinstar executives.

The winning team DrugBox was crowned the victors as they were judged on the kiosk idea, business case and presentation.

Their drug-dispensing kiosk came top and won the $6,000 prize money. Runner up entrants was awarded $3,000 and $1,000.

Gregg Kaplan, president and chief operating officer of Coinstar, said: “We were delighted with the level of creativity and depth of thinking that the students brought forward.

“We believe there are countless untapped ideas in the automated retail space, and with anticipated self-service retail transactions expected to reach $1.6 trillion by 2013, we want to continue fostering new ideas.”

DrugBox, the winning kiosk initiative, was designed by David Schottland, Sheila Schottland, and Raphael Tse which involved a self-service kiosk that would be pre-stocked with non-vital, high-demand, prescription drugs.

Advantages to the unit included;

- Speed, convenience and discretion. Traditional long waiting lines at pharmacies will be a thing of the past as well as embarrassing situations with personal information.

-Help fill scripts and answer drug-interaction questions.

- Speed up the payment process with insurance providers and remind people to refill or pick up prescriptions.

- Substantial revenue opportunity as the US prescription drug market in 2009 was roughly $300 billion.

- Bettering patients would cut the overall cost of health care in the country.

Desired locations the kiosks could be deployed are said to be 24-hour convenience stores, petrol stations and office parks.

The challenge’s runner up ideas consisted of a kiosk that brings together buyers and sellers of used merchandise and an energy-drink kiosk.

Find new and exciting kiosk ideas at Protouch; Europe’s number one manufacturer and distributor of Touch screen technology.

A good or bad Touch Screen User Interface can make or break a touch screen kiosk. It is the point of access that allows the interaction between humans and machines and is made up of an operating system and software.

Kiosk software has several roles, a) it locks down the application in order to protect the kiosk from wandering users, b) it can offer remote monitoring to manage multiple kiosks from another location and c) it is the source that guides a user through the kiosk application. The operating system is the tool that runs the kiosk.

It has been reported a successful self service kiosk will attract customers and keep them engaged through its simplicity, functionality and content. Therefore, it is vital that you ensure your User Interface has been developed to maximise usage, popularity, accessibility, interaction and improve customer satisfaction.

So what are the crucial points of a Touch Screen User Interface?

- Make the home page and navigation clean and simple to understand by reducing the number of elements

on the screen such as icons, buttons, photos, etc. Various demographics must be able to use the unit; the elderly, children, disabled etc, without assistance.

- Use a limited number of colours, font types and font sizes in order to keep the screen clean, while retaining brand awareness and consistency. This is important for marketing usage to grab attention and for readability.

- Show content in stages by spreading it across screens and dividing it into steps. Displaying too much information in one space creates confusion and messiness whereas split up screens, topics and categories are easier to use and understand.

- The system and software need to ensure a successful integration between application, hardware and your back office system and arm you with a secure kiosk network delivering tailored content 24/7.

Ultimately, by paying attention to the specific needs of the customer and developing seamless interaction between hardware, software and user, you can safeguard your kiosk and develop a success application.

Check out the kiosk software on offer at Protouch today.

These days everyone is talking about what the customer wants, what the customer needs, how to improve customer service; however has everyone forgotten about the staff?

Your staff members are essential to keep your business going and if they are happy and receiving the top quality treatment they deserve then they will work hard for your business in turn keeping your customers happy.

There are a wide range of ways you can keep your staff member’s happy one being through the use of innovative technology such as an employee self service kiosk. You might be thinking this is a strange feature to offer staff members; however it can benefit your team in a variety of different ways and we at Protouch are here to explain how.

With a human resources kiosks,the direct savings you can make as a business are never ending. Through a HR kiosk you could potentially:

• Reduce HR staffing
• Reduce printing costs
• Reduce distribution costs
• Fewer resources needed for processing new staff members and other administration costs

On top of this, there are a variety of features and benefits to a human resources kiosks which include:

• The ability for staff members to access the kiosk when there are no desktop computers around or available.
• The deployment of kiosks outside of your offices gives your staff member’s the flexibility to access information or contact the team when they have no access to the Internet or a mobile phone.
• 24×7 access with a kiosk systems without the need for human contact. This will further reduce the costs and increases the convenience for employees who are supported with their workload and can further concentrate on other things.
• Online forms and pay stub printing through the kiosk reduces the amount of paper printed, distribution costs and administration costs.
• Introducing factory floor kiosks for staff members is a great tool for offering employee training, scheduling and other managerial functions.
• Using kiosks for pre screening and processing of applicant data makes the whole process a lot quicker and reduces common administrative delays.
• Touch screen interfaces are the perfect solution for computer illiterate people in your company to access digital information and data.
• A wide range of applications can feature on a kiosk system including, employee holiday application forms, medical forms, letter heads, enquiry and contact details etc which allows your staff members to be proactive in the company and locate the correct information they need.

If you are seriously considering a kiosk system for your staff members, why not contact Protouch today, the leading distributor and manufacturer or touch screen equipment across Europe. The team have designed and developed a wide range of kiosk systems for a plethora of industry sectors and can assist you in designing a bespoke kiosk system tailored to your needs and requirements.