The slow purr of the refrigerator motor is a well known noise to New Yorkers, with the same recognition factor as taxi horns and automated bus announcements.
Fresh Direct is similar - the food makes its way from the farm to the warehouse facility, stands still barely long enough to be put into a box and from there is driven to the customer's doorstep.
As deliveries are made they are scanned. Any deviation of more than a few minutes sets off an alarm back at the operations desk, and a human voice calls up the driver wanting to know why there is a delay.
Where we have really applied the technology is our ability to see everything that the customer sees in real time so our ability to control the experience is so much more than it ever was.
This food is a trust brand. People expect the quality that they want, the condition of the product to be excellent, the accuracy of the product, the on-time delivery etcetera.
A homeless man, Naeem Davis, has been charged with murder after allegedly pushing a passenger to his death in the Times Square subway station at the beginning of December.
Now, automated cars are being tested on roads. With companies from Google to Volvo putting large quantities of money into the technology, if it is to become legal, the thought of a commute without a packed train or having to concentrate on driving is an exciting one.
And with an estimated 90% of current car accidents thought to be caused by human error, taking people out of the equation is seen by many car companies as a massive boost to safety.
Less of a quick move towards wide adoption was high-paced mobile internet in the UK. 4G was going to be a thing that made it quicker to access the web from a mobile signal than it would be by wired broadband.
But at the end of the year, only urban areas currently have access to the signal and even then, an early large-scale test of the network indicated that less than half of Manchester city centre could use its high speeds. According to the study, outside the city centre there was no 4G coverage at all.
Everything Everywhere, the UK's only 4G operator, has promised 98% coverage by the end of 2014 but for the moment, quick mobile internet for everyone seems to still be a little way away.
