Tag Archives: security

No Card Needed: Pay at Panera using your Palm

Have you ever bought something only to realize you did not have your credit/debit card with you? Oops, how embarrassing. But that may be a problem of the past at Panera Bread (at least in St. Louis).

Panera Bread is now testing Amazon’s palm-screening technology at two of its St. Louis restaurants. This means that instead of using cash or charge, just place your palm on the scanner to pay for your meal – and connect to the Panera loyalty program. Panera has long been considered a leader in using technology in its restaurants with more than 2,000 locations and 52 million loyalty members.

While there has been consumer concern about palm-scanning, the positives are that it’s contactless and biometrics give a unique identifier for customers. No two palms (like fingerprints) are identical. Biometric data is also common for consumers who use face ID or fingerprint scanners. Palms provide yet another option.

Amazon’s palm-scanner technology is already being used at its Whole Foods stores in California as well as Amazon Go stores plus a handful of sports arenas such as T-Mobile Park.

How will you pay?

Group Activities and Discussion Questions:

  1. Poll students: Who has used face ID or fingerprint scanning? What has been their experience.
  2. Divide students into teams. Have each team list the positive and negative factors for using palm-screening for consumers? (Can do the same poll for Face ID as well.)
  3. What are the positive and negative factors for businesses?
  4. Show Amazon’s information page about the scanning: https://one.amazon.com/how-it-works
  5. Show video about Panera’s use of palm-scanning: https://youtu.be/7ZuYHXuesGA
  6. Also check the site for Amazon one locations in your geography. If there are any, consider having students shop at those locations to try the scanners and get their feedback.
  7. How should Panera explain and market the new scanning?
  8. Have each team develop three different promotional tactics to ease consumer fears about the technology use.

Source:  Panera Break tests Amazon’s palm-scanning technology in St. Louis. (22 March 2023). CNBC.; NPR; The Guardian; The Verge; other news sources.

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Consumer Electronics Show 2023

If you love technology and new gadgets, the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) is the place to be. CES is one of the largest and most influential showcases in the world for introducing innovative technology products from around the globe.

This year the Las Vegas-based show brought in 115,000 industry professionals, making it the largest audited global tech event since 2020.  With more than 3,200 exhibitors, including 1,000 start-up companies, CES 2023 gave us new innovations in mobility, health, transportation, sustainability, and more.

A diverse group of companies from around the globe showcased the latest innovations in the technology industries to attendees from more than 140 countries. In all, 60% of the Fortune 500 companies were represented.

The show also provided looks at products in the marketplace as well as products-yet-to-be-launched highlighting key trends such as:

  • Human security for all
  • Automotive and mobility
  • Electric vehicles
  • Digital health
  • Sustainability
  • Web 3 and Metaverse

New products demonstrated how technology can conserve energy, increase power generation, address food shortages, create sustainable agricultural systems, power smart cities, support access to clean water, and improve life for people with physical challenges.

The last category – physical challenges – may be one of the most innovative as companies worked on technology to improve lives of people who may often be overlooked. Some of the highlights include power wheelchairs, augmented listening, new earbuds, speech amplifiers and more. It’s one of my favorite categories.

What’s your favorite innovation from CES?

Group Activities and Discussion Questions:  

  1. Discuss the purpose of CES show and how innovation fits into it.
  2. View the CES Web site: https://www.ces.tech/
  3. Also discuss the use of trade shows and exhibits as part of a marketing plan.
  4. Show a video overview of CES 2023: https://youtu.be/fAJ1LCO4cV4
  5. Show a summary video covering new innovations for accessibility: https://www.wsj.com/video/series/dalvin-brown/ces-2023s-most-innovative-assistive-tech-jabra-whispp-and-more/F7DEC067-2116-4C51-A173-E0A071E28EEA
  6. Divide students into teams. Have each team select a product featured at CES.
  1. Scewo Bro: https://www.scewo.com/en/  (Power wheelchair)
  2. L’Oreal Hapta: https://www.loreal.com/en/articles/science-and-technology/hapta-ces-2023-lancome-innovation/  (For beauty lovers with limited hand and arm mobility)
  3. Xander Glasses: https://www.xander.tech/  (Augmented listening for people who are hard of hearing)
  4. Jabra Enhance Plus: https://www.jabra.com/hearing/enhance-plus?gclid=Cj0KCQiAiJSeBhCCARIsAHnAzT_SGnooIY_nEW554M23GwsvGWKrIKnazpnbsvmc1Rh1Gi87YUm8kQsaAhwGEALw_wcB##21879090  (Earbuds for enhancing your hearing)
  5. Whispp: https://whispp.com/?lang=en  (Speech amplifier for people with a voice disorder)
  6. Instruct students to research the products online, and define a target market for the product?
  7. Which ones do they think will be winners in the marketplace? What products miss the mark?
  8. Discuss the use of trade shows and exhibits as part of a marketing plan.

Source:  C/NET; TechRadar; The Verge; Wall Street Journal; other news sources

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Consumer Electronics Show 2022 Tackles the Future of Tech

The Consumer Electronics Show (CES) is one of the largest and most influential showcases in the world for introducing innovative technology products from around the globe. Even during the ongoing pandemic, the Las Vegas-based show brought in nearly 45,000 attendees to the show floor. Plenty of people also ‘attended’ online with companies showing both concepts and real-life products. Attendees arrived from 119 countries to engage with emerging technologies and products across 11 different indoor and outdoor venues.

A diverse group of 2,300 companies (including 800 start-ups from 19 countries) showcased the latest innovations in the metaverse, NFTs, cryptocurrency, sustainability, wellness, transportation, entertainment, robotics, automotive, consumer goods, and more. And while the metaverse may be mostly just a concept today, CES illustrated how the building blocks it needs are already around, including blockchain, cloud, AR, VR, 5G, and more.

The show also provided looks at products in the marketplace as well as products-yet-to-be-launched in categories including:

  • Wellness and beauty
  • Smart devices for the home
  • Content creation
  • NFTs and crypto
  • Healthcare
  • Shopping and ecommerce
  • Artificial intelligence
  • eSports and sports tech
  • FinTech
  • Food tech
  • Pet tech
  • Workplaces
  • And of course – robots!

One of my personal favorites – BMW’s color-changing car!

What’s your favorite innovation from CES?

Group Activities and Discussion Questions:  

  1. Discuss the purpose of CES show and how innovation fits into it.
  2. Also discuss the use of trade shows and exhibits as part of a marketing plan.
  3. Show a summary video about COVID-19 products at CES from the Wall Street Journal – CES in photos: https://www.wsj.com/story/ces-2022-in-photos-a-strange-time-for-the-worlds-biggest-tech-show-a247b630?mod=djemfoe
  4. Additional summary videos can be found on YouTube, such as: https://youtu.be/GAzygeV_AsM
  5. View the CES Web site: https://www.ces.tech/
  6. Divide students into teams. Have each team select a product featured at CES.
  7. Instruct students to research the products online, and define a target market for the product?
  8. Which ones do they think will be winners in the marketplace? What products miss the mark?

Source:  C/NET; TechRadar; The Verge; Wall Street Journal; other news sources

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