We’re all looking to avoid the holiday rush and long checkout lines in stores. Well if you find yourself at Old Navy and you have an Apple iPod Touch, you can get in and get out quickly. They’re testing out a new EasyPay point-of-sale type system that Apple’s calling ZipCheck, with iPods, to minimize long check out lines.

Employees of Old Navy will just need your credit card and by using the device via wireless, you can have your bill ready thanks to wireless printers around the store.

Verizon has gone official with its plans to offer the iPad in its brick-and-mortar stores starting on October 28. VZW will be bundling the WiFi-only iPads with its own MiFi 2200 Intelligent Mobile Hotspot with pricing at $630, $730 and $830 for the 16GB, 32GB and 64GB versions of the tablet.

There’s just one access plan being offered for now, giving users 1GB of monthly data in exchange for $20 and no contractual commitments. AT&T will match the release date and upfront prices for each model, but its iPads will be the WiFi + 3G versions.

Way back in May we told you that Walmart would be offering iPads this year and it looks like that is about to happen. A photo of an email sent to Walmart store managers received by MacRumors indicates that the Apple iPad will be rolled out to up to 1000 stores by the end of October, starting next week.

The photos show that Walmart will be offering all six models of the iPad with initial stock limited to just five of each model per store. Never fear, the standard range of iPad accessories will also offered along with AppleCare extended warranties. Sources say that an additional 800 stores will begin carrying the device in November, and each store will have a live demo unit inside a case that will include a looping video demonstration of the iPad in action.

If you spend much time in a FedEx office, we have some good news. FedEx has announced that it’s offering free Wi-Fi access to about 1,000 of its FedEx Office Print & Ship Center locations around the US. It will be powered by AT&T and will be arriving in its other stores by the end of October, bringing the total number of locations that offer free Wi-Fi closer to 1,600 in all.

That includes former Kinkos stores, which FedEx recently took over. The idea is to draw in extra business customers who need to keep working while they’re shipping packages.

PayPal is already the king of digital money transactions on the Internet and now it is looking to broaden its market by taking on the credit card merchants in stores. In an interview with the Wall Street Journal Paypal president Scott Thompson called the initiative a “top priority” and said “The tide is coming in and we will take advantage of that,”

With its 220 million active users PayPal is now looking to remove cards and the middle man completely and create a payment gateway that powers the point-of-sale itself.

Augen is offering its $149.99 7-inch Android tablet at Kmart. It just hit the circulars. It’s an Android 2.1 tablet with WiFi, 2GB of storage and 256MB of RAM for just 150 bucks. Augen says that it will have access to the Android “Market App Store.”

The price is certainly right and if you want to pick one up the device should be hitting shelves later this week, though the company was unsure it would ever be on Kmart’s online store. At that price it should have no problems finding buyers.

For some, a Kindle can be a large purchase. The kind of purchase that you would feel better about if you could see the device first hand. Plus it might be nice to be able to pick up some toilet paper and snacks at the same time, right?

Luckily for you, Amazon’s finally putting Kindles out into retail nationwide through Target stores. A trial run in April got the e-reader into Target’s flagship store and 102 other retail locations in south Florida, but now the $259 e-ink device will be available all over on June 6th.

You can choose from a bunch of protective screen films at Apple’s online or retail stores, but probably not for much longer. iLounge is reporting that Apple will stop selling all protective screen film products starting in May.

That includes film-only products and cases that have a protective film built into them. Apple hasn’t given any reason and hasn’t even confirmed it yet, but ironically the most popular iPod “case” in the Apple Store right now is a protective film for the iPod touch. Go figure.

I hear you. Many of you are sick of 3D already. Unfortunately it is just getting started. HD Guru has Best Buy’s schedule for rolling out 3D capable HDTVs and Blu-ray players from Samsung and Panasonic, and it’s all happening soon.

Sales and demonstrations of 3D gear will begin at 200 Best Buy locations on March 10. That initial outing will feature Panasonic’s 50″ TC-P50VT20 plasma 3D HDTV along with their DMP-BD350 3D Blu-ray player. On March 21, Samsung will apparently join the party, showing their LED 3D HDTVs, the 46″ UN-46C7000 and the 55″ UN-55C7000, along with the BD-C6900 3D Blu-ray player at 900 Best Buy locations.

For those who missed it, Microsoft hired former Wal-Mart exec David Porter to be its corporate vice president of retail stores in February. So it’s not much of a surprise that stores are on the way. COO Kevin Turner confirmed the plans at the Worldwide Partner Conference in New Orleans yesterday, saying the stores can be expected to open this fall (probably to coincide with the launch of Windows 7?).

He took the gloves off and didn’t mince words about taking the fight to Apple’s doorstep. “Stay tuned, because we’re going to have some retail stores opened up that are opened up right next door to Apple stores.”

There’s been some talk of a Pre shortage. Apparently they ain’t kidding. 4 Palm Pres will be available per Best Buy store on launch day. That’s a total of 4250 Pre phones for the entire franchise. BGR is also reporting that RadioShack stores will get only two Pres.

Many of you are in for a rough June 6th. These numbers put your chances of getting a Palm Pre on launch day somewhere around slim and none.

You knew it was coming. They’ve been dumb for too long. But it makes perfect sense for cash registers to get an IQ upgrade soon, and that’s what the Intelligent Cash Registers concept is all about. They are supposed to remember who you are know what your interests are.

Intel is going to release a prototype at the National Retail Federation show in New York on Sunday. It’s actually a collaboration between Intel and Frog Design. Frog Design will handle the hardware end, making sure its 3″ touchscreen terminal functions with Intel’s latest processors. The device will feature RFID card compatibility and rely on the Internet to up-sell and appeal to your impulse buying.

We’ve been hearing from a couple of sources that on Monday, Circuit City will be closing a whopping 155 stores and leaving the consumer electronics business for good. Most store closings are expected to be done by December 31, 2008. A full list of stores will apparently be revealed in the next few days. Not entirely unexpected, but still sad for those CC employees losing a job during the holiday season.