Digests

Touch and go: Bookseller Waterstones has installed the first of 30 interactive touch-screen kiosks in a number of its stores throughout the UK. However, London stores will have to wait until next month for the kiosks, which were developed and designed by London multimedia agency Hyperlink, to help shoppers find specific titles, search through stock and print out details for the customer. Project leader was Justin Mencher, with interface design by the design team. Meanwhile, Europe’s most important event covering all aspects of touch-screen technology takes place next week: KioskCom Europe is on 25-26 January in Munich, Germany. Details, tel 0171-430 7300 or at www.iqpc.co.uk

Entry level: Another year, another round of awards. Many of the most well-respected awards begin their call for entries around now, so it’s worth taking a quick peek at the following websites to check entry details: BAFTA (bafta.org); UK Internet awards (internet.co.uk); BIMA (bima.co.uk); D&AD (dandad.org); The Yell awards (yell.co.uk); The Webbies (webbies.com); MILIA (milia.com); dotmusic awards (dotmusic.com.); High Fives (highfive.com); Internet Professional Publishers Association (ippa.org) and, last but by no means least, the New Media Age awards (nma.co.uk), whose deadline for entries is 1 April.

Bank count: Multimedia and design consultancies looking for clients should perhaps investigate the UK’s apparently technophobic financial sector. A survey by research and Net consultancy Intervid of the UK’s largest financial companies and authorised banks revealed that, while 35 per cent had a Web presence, only 20 per cent of the 191 banks canvassed had sites. The vast majority of sites do not allow any form of on-line transaction, although some 85 per cent operate an enquiry system. For information, e-mail Nick Rosen at nick@intervid.co.uk or call Intervid on 0171-240 2200.

Never say diet: Broken that ‘must go on a diet” New Year’s resolution yet? If so, feed the madness at Carlton Online’s new website Simple Food. The site, developed and designed in-house, uses bold graphics and colours to highlight impressive contents, including restaurant, equipment and food reviews, nutritional information and recipes, suppliers and a transaction area. Taste it yourself at www.simplyfood.co.uk