For all that Saturday line-sitting , you’d think that every iPad in the world would’ve been snatched up by lunchtime. Nope! Many Best Buys are sold out, but most Apple stores have iPads in stock with more on the way tomorrow. More

Wireless checkout is many a grocer’s dream. It’s like Amazon’s one-click shopping in the real world, maximizing efficiency for the customer and cutting costs for the supermarket. A new printable RFID tag could make it a reality. More

Google Product Search was already a handy shopping aid, but today’s addition of local inventory info makes it essential. And like most great ideas, it’s only going to get better with time. More

Online retail is nothing new, but now brick and mortar stores want to get in on the high-tech action. The New York Times has a disquieting look at new technologies that will make you shop ’til your signal drops. Take, for example, Norma Kamali’s boutique in Manhattan, which recently implemented a system called ScanLife that allows shoppers to find more information on products from their smart phones. So far, so good. But ScanLife also lets shoppers buy those products from their phones, even when seen in passing in a display window, even when the store is closed. Impulse buying just got a whole lot more impulsive

I have to admit, a robot that would help you buy groceries at the supermarket would be awesome. But I think that Robovie II could be even better. Currently, Robovie is designed to help the elderly complete their shopping rounds. At home, users enter their list into a special mobile device that Robovie senses upon entering the store. Robovie then greets the user and guides him/her through the store helping them find, carry and remember items from their list.

We saw one of Amazon’s UK centers yesterday, but it’s nothing like this center in Coffeyville, Kansas, populated by dudes in RVs , no doubt lured by the promises of this epic promo video. But man, the jobs looks pretty rough: During the peak holiday season, for $10.50 an hour during the day, or $11 at night, you need to be “able to stand on feet for 8-10 hours, walk 10-15 miles a day, must be able to repetitively lift, bend, stoop, and squat while selecting items.” If you’re in receiving, it doesn’t sound much better, standing “fairly stationary throughout shift for 8-10 hours” while being able lift, bend, stoop and squat repetitively. I hope Santa Bezos is offering knee surgery for Christmas, even if there is free RV camping. [ Express , via Joel ]

We saw one of Amazon’s UK centers yesterday, but it’s nothing like this center in Coffeyville, Kansas, populated by dudes in RVs , no doubt lured by the promises of this epic promo video. But man, the jobs looks pretty rough: During the peak holiday season, for $10.50 an hour during the day, or $11 at night, you need to be “able to stand on feet for 8-10 hours, walk 10-15 miles a day, must be able to repetitively lift, bend, stoop, and squat while selecting items.” If you’re in receiving, it doesn’t sound much better, standing “fairly stationary throughout shift for 8-10 hours” while being able lift, bend, stoop and squat repetitively. I hope Santa Bezos is offering knee surgery for Christmas, even if there is free RV camping. [ Express , via Joel ]

Kids imagine that their Christmas presents come from a huge, crowded workshop full of elves at the North Pole. In reality, they come from huge, crowded warehouses full of workers in the ‘burbs. These insane shots come from Amazon UK’s distribution center, but you can be sure that there are a bunch more just like this in the States. And that a decent percentage of what you’ll be opening later this month will have passed through one of them.

It isn’t much, but I have to give Target credit for trying yet another unique approach to gift cards . This time, they are attempting to make the card two gifts in one with remote control functionality. In addition to storing money, each card can wirelessly control a tiny Christmas mouse inside a shopping cart. The mouse comes free with the purchase of each gift card, but it appears that the minimum value that can be placed on it is set at $25.

Before you confirm that Cyber Monday HDTV purchase, make sure to check out HD Guru’s list of the best deals going. According to the list, if you are looking for a 1080p HDTV over 40-inches, you definitely have some options: like a 42-inch Panasonic VIERA plasma for $712 (with coupon code and price protection adjustment, see list for details) and a 50-inch Panasonic plasma for $1096 (Buy.com, after the jump). Not only the list save you time, it will help you avoid wasting money on a bad deal. In fact, HD Guru confided in us that “most of the other so called sales are BS.” That’s not really surprising when you consider that the same could be said for Black Friday deals . [ HD Guru ]