I once fell in love with a shop. It was a cavernous, minimalist, industrial space in São Paulo with a centrepiece comprising a medley of glass baubles suspended from the ceiling. Each glass bauble contained a single jelly shoe.

Intriguingly, to the side of the room was a wall with touchscreens leading to styles, colourways, sizes et al. Bingo! My Campana Brothers-designed orange day-glo stilettos were with me in a jiffy. I still love them to this day. In Vegas the other week you could buy anything Apple from a vending machine. And San Fran had some serious skin care lines in serious machines.

While in the Big Apple, where the 90s tech-innovator Prada once led, restaurants are following. Yes, that's right, the mean machines are spreading to the world of food and drink. The four-person gold and bronze (yuk) goat skin (yak) bar at Alain Ducasse's Adour at the St Regis Hotel, New York, has menus projected from the ceiling onto the bar. Choose your martinis by pressing your fingertips on the counter's surface. Blimey.