Ambient Tech That Actually Works: H&M Launches A Voice Activated Mirror

Revealing its naked ambition to motor into the digital fast lane, Swedish fast-fashion supergroup H&M has opened both barrels on the smart mirror phenomenon by launching a voice activated mirror in its Times Square, New York flagship. Using dulcet-toned conversation-led tech - no touch-screens, no buttons, no typing - it encompasses selfies, styling recommendations and also a relatively smooth route to e-commerce. Crucially, it's also underscored by a smart new attitude to user experience (UX) design, which views the mirror as a space to kick-start relations, not a personal confidante making private connections. Created in tandem with Microsoft and two Stockholm-based agencies Ombori - a specialist in UX Design and digital signage experts Visual Art, the mirror is quietly'sleeping' until facial detection technology (strictly speaking not facial recognition tech - the concept errs on the side of anonymity) senses someone has been looking at it for long enough to be reasonably engaged and then awakens the fixture. Its feminine-sounding superintendent invites people to take a selfie, giving them a countdown to prepare, which then appears on screen in the form of several magazine covers.