MUMBAI: CNN’s show Spark, hosted by Kristie Lu Stout examines the latest in cutting-edge technology by exploring the use of high-tech digital tagging devices.

Stout kicks off the program with a look at Future Shopping, unraveling the latest trends in Radio Frequency Identification Devices (RFID) that are being used by retailers to radically change the way customers shop. The program profiles Germany’s Metro ‘Extra Future Store’ as one of the first of its kind to tap into this technological advance.

The half-hour program then shifts in Running on Empty and reveals how two Japanese electronics companies compete to perfect the prototype power source for mobile phones. As more and more interactive services are crammed onto our handsets, conventional batteries are finding the extra work too draining. Spark investigates the new energy boost for the mobile generation. Nokia’s mobile phone designer, Frank Nuovo, also gives CNN’s viewers insight into the design strategy of the world’s leading mobile phone maker.

Spark concludes by taking international viewers to The Baja Beach Club in Spain, where an RFID chip implant will allow customers to pay for their drinks by simply waving their arm, and even gain them a VIP entry.