this post was submitted on 28 Jun 2026
297 points (99.7% liked)
Programmer Humor
32031 readers
1088 users here now
Welcome to Programmer Humor!
This is a place where you can post jokes, memes, humor, etc. related to programming!
For sharing awful code theres also Programming Horror.
Rules
- Keep content in english
- No advertisements
- Posts must be related to programming or programmer topics
founded 3 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
I think they’re just e-reader technology that accepts input by RF or something. Probably has an RFID on it, so a control node just (1) scans the RFID, (2) looks up price of product for that RFID, (3) send signal back to update the display. Meaning, someone still has to walk up to the price tag in order to update it.
My worry is live updates to pricing tags based on things like facial / behavioral recognition from the cameras in the ceiling.
I’ve looked at these things. I don’t see any modules for wireless communication over lan, Bluetooth, or anything like that.
See that window in the top left? It's a combination photovoltaic cell and IR receiver, so the tag can be powered indefinitely from the shop lights and they can use ceiling-mounted IR blasters to update them. There's no return path so the blasters just repeatedly transmit the entire inventory and price list, over and over.