Starbucks and smartphones

Those of you including myself, who own smartphones have probably ordered pizza or some other delivery food with their smartphones. Now Starbucks has decided to put a little twist on the online ordering by having the customer pay up front for their orders through their phone and have the cashier scan the upc on their screen. Really? Now don't get me wrong but it sounds a little bit silly to me. Let me explain why. First, when I go to starbucks half the time I have to ask whats in certain drinks in order to figure out what to get. Now I grew up in Miami but have been living in north Broward county for the last 5 years. I walk into a Starbucks and ask for a cafe con leche and they look at me funny. Then when I explain to them how to make it they say "oh thats a Caffe Misto." Oh and by the way, yes I had to look up that name on their website http://www.starbucks.com/ because I still can't remember it. See? I already forgot. I'm sure that I am not the only one though that can't rely on just a plain menu to order specialty cofee. So the point is that I don't see this catching on unless they are very careful. For one not everyone who actually has a smartphone is going to want to spend money on the data required to order the cofee unless theres an incentive involved. I know that the fun of using your phone to pay and that half a minute that you shave off your visit. I think though that this will probably only be used by the regulars that don't differ in their orders very often. Any ways if you're interested in learning more about this heres a link to a helpful news clip. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hXCPDeMyAL4

Sources:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hXCPDeMyAL4

http://www.starbucks.com/

New innovations from the federal government

So I open up my business week magazine and I read a interesting article. Talking about how the government is basically trying to make password protection a bit easier and more secure. How do they plan to do this? Take away the need for passwords! So far the idea is that there is going to be some other way that is directly linked to yourself in order to access your accounts or even get into your cellphone! Some ideas that they have for doing this is one by fingerprint, or even possibly by smartchip. Seems to look good on paper but then comes the question of what if I want someone to have access. Lets say I need to get logged into my account but dont have any internet access so I call my trusted friend or family member to log into my account so I can get the info? Obviously they wouldn't have my fingerprint. So in my opinion its a great idea but is gonna be more of a pain than its worth.