Mr Pacey said Shop Direct call centres had seen a 55% decrease in calls, while there had been a "rapid increase" in mobile and self-service transactions.
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The system could be particularly useful for drones, self-driving cars or other mobile robots who have to do a lot of number crunching just to get round, said Mohanarajah Gajamohan, technical head of the project at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich.
With Nina, companies can quickly add speech-based virtual assistant capabilities to their existing iOS and Android mobile apps, greatly enhancing the self-service experience for their customers.
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Scan-as-you-go mobile devices are a logical next step after the self-checkout lanes that are now common in big food and drug chain stores.
Launched in 2008, Castlight works with self-insured employers to create an online and mobile space where each employee can shop for health care based on price, quality and how much of their deductible has already been spent.
Apps have transformed our mobile phones into all-in-one self-help devices.
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That sounds a bit premature, since Fleck also concedes that the company has a lot more work to do in the coming year, including instituting a self-serve system to attract more advertisers, offering geographical and mobile targeting, and providing real-time performance data.
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Joseph, from Sale in Greater Manchester, was jailed for a series of mobile phone robberies and had a history of psychiatric problems and self-harm, the jury at the Shrewsbury inquest heard.
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Bringing to life the hotel's namesake "M" for mobile, as in "mobile citizen of the world, " you're greeted by self check-in computers.
Mobile phone and car companies have cottoned on, with ads appealing to the self-made.
And advocates of mobile phones, including Iqbal Quadir, who has sparred with Mr Negroponte on the subject, point out that mobile phones provide immediate economic benefits, which enables them to spread in a self-sustaining, bottom-up way, without the need for massive government funding.
Writer Will Self is well-versed in modern technology but chooses not to get broadband, sat-nav or the latest mobile phones.
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