Facebook Uses Gadget Vending Machines To Save Lots Of Money

Facebook CIO Tim Campos is using vending machines that dispense items like keyboards, headphones, and power supplies to employees. It's part of what he calls "frictionless IT."

Employees swipe their ID cards to activate the machine, then help themselves to whatever IT gear they need.

Items are always free, but the retail price is clearly marked as a reminder that it costs the company money.

Campos estimates that the new vending machine system has helped reduce the cost of managing Facebook's replacement accessories by 35%. Check out the video below for more.

[Fortune]

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See Also:

• Facebook's Big Surprise Next Week May Be Skype-Powered Video Chat
• Facebook Takes A Passive-Aggressive Slap At Google+
• Facebook Announces Video Chat Powered By Skype

Facebook Uses Gadget Vending Machines To Save Lots Of Money

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Proof Groupon Still Has LOTS Of Room To Grow

Google's reported $6 billion offer for Groupon has the doubters saying that this two year-old business model has already peaked.

We think that's very far from the truth. As huge as Groupon and its leading competitor, LivingSocial, have become, and as many imitators, aggregators, and related businesses have piled on top of it, we think this is still a young market with lots of room for growth.

One sign that daily deals are just heating up: daily deals are just starting to catch on in some of America's biggest markets.

The Local Offer Network, which runs deal aggregator Dealradar, distributes deals to publishers, and offers a white label deal product, gave us this data on the top U.S. cities by volume of deals offered. Broken down by percentage of total U.S. deals:

1. Chicago: 8%
2. New York, Boston, and San Francisco: 5% each
3. Los Angeles, San Diego, and Washington D.C.: 4% each

In other words, the home of Groupon, followed by the three major cities for venture backed startups. New York is roughly three times the size of Chicago. Boston and San Francisco are tiny compared to cities like Houston, Philadelphia, and Phoenix, which are far behind in daily deals. D.C. -- home to LivingSocial -- is even smaller.

Basically, daily deals are still biggest in the markets where daily deal startups have been founded, not in the markets with the most consumers.

Even if we suppose that Chicago is 100% saturated, the daily deal market still has huge growth potential as the rest of the country catches up.

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See Also:

• Here's Google's Real Offer For Groupon: $6 Billion ($5.3 Billion Plus $700 Million Earnout)
• No, Google Has Not Bought Groupon Yet
• Here's Why Facebook "Deals" Won't Kill Groupon

Proof Groupon Still Has LOTS Of Room To Grow

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