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PayPal Demos Auto-Debit Gumball Machine
ForgedArtificer writes "At their recent developers conference in San Diego, CA, PayPal unveiled a proof-of-concept gumball machine that would instantly pay for a gumball through a PayPal account using a smart phone and a QR code, sending a confirmation of the purchase through Twitter. Ok, maybe we all don't really care if we can get a gumball without a quarter, but the possibilities for this technology are endless."
"but the possibilities for this technology are endless."
Seems Slashdot editors can't even seem to spell 'beginningless'
My wife is looking forward to when the local strip club starts using this technology. Privacy be damned.
How is PayPal *not* a bank again? O.o
My smart phone does. This will never be able to replace other forms of money until they get that one sorted.
I dream of a nation where a man is not judged by his skin color but by an number assigned by a credit rating agency.
Gumball no.
My wife is looking forward to when the local strip club starts using this technology. Privacy be damned.
...but it would be a great application for a lilypad arduino. (http://www.arduino.cc/en/Main/ArduinoBoardLilyPad)
Q: Why is starting a comment in the Subject: line incredibly irritating?
Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
Endless possibilities! For PayPal. They're salivating at the thought of all that new money they can freeze indefinitely for whatever reason they can come up with.
paypal gets a penny on every gumball
Paypal - no way. Paypal with Twitter - absolutely, positively no way.
Wonderful. Since Paypal is linked to checking accounts now you can expect that should a hold be placed on a check you deposit or if there's a bank error you'll be in for a $33.05 gumball.
In the future your money will just slowly leak out of you?
May this innovation help people impulsively spend their money that they don't have
So let's see. The gumball is a simple sphere that cost a penny to produce, and was produced in a batch of thousands. The gumball machine -- read dispensor -- cost ten dollars to produce, adn was produced in a batch of hundreds. The consumer is standing not twelve inches away from a needless and insignificant candy treat.
The perfect solution is not:
a more expensive dispensor, more competant consumer, a mobile phone, a fancy barcode -- read smart phone -- a web-site -- read web browser -- a privacy policy -- actually four -- Internet infrastructure, cellular infrastructure, a phone plan, a data plan, customer service, tech support, a collections agency, anti-fraud measures, and a PIN.
The perfect solution is a hammer. The quarter was already a nuissance. This is just stupid.
Oh yeah, and a bank account. How silly of me.
I think Japan is the among one of the first to widely adopt to this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_payment
n/t
A more interesting type of system would use a QR code challenge-response. A small screen on the gumball machine, or at the supermarket checkout flashes a QR code. You point your phone camera at it and details of the transaction come up on the screen. If you hit "confirm", your private key is used to sign the transaction and produce a response QR code which appears on your screen and is read back by the merchant.
This way, your phone doesn't need to connect back to the payment gateway provider at all. This is an advantage if there is bad reception inside the store, or your provider is having a bad day, or your pre-paid plan ran out, or you only have an iPod and not a smart phone. Banks could probably even produce dedicated devices that performed only this function and provide them to customers.
Be careful. People in masks cannot be trusted.
"I just gave PayPal access to my bank account, and all I have to show for it is a stupid piece of gum*."
Then, in small print:
"* I chose to pay cash for this T-shirt."
"In prison you just have to shut your eyes and take it. Here you have to shut your eyes and give it."
Why run this through Twitter? If the server wants to send an SMS message, it should just send an SMS message using an SMS gateway. Why package it as a "tweet?"
(I suspect why. So they can spam you. It's illegal to send unsolicited commercial SMS messages in the US. If PayPal makes you "follow" them on Twitter to get transaction confirmations, they can then send you ads, too.)
... from the 'Prophylactics' brand machines. Their chewing gum tastes like rubber.
Have gnu, will travel.
Can't lose it, can't be stolen, and just as hard to copy as your cellphone. Also everyone has one! Except for the MIB of course
The possibilities end before they even start.
I like many people here will avoid PayPal like the plague if I can. So let's take paypal, add the privacy issues of Twitter, and the insecurities of being able to deduct money without requiring a passcode that is immune to someone stealing my mobile phone. I think people who use this kind of payment system deserve whatever they get.
Actually here's silently hoping that these are rolled out everywhere, a hacker gets access to a few accounts and rips people off for millions. Crossing my fingers that this puts paypal out of business.
We already have something similar here in Finland. We have some Cola vending machines that you call with your cellphone which in turn is some sort of service number that charges the amount for whatever drink you want onto your cellular bill. Really handy no cash needed. Although in comparison to the article this is somewhat different but almost the same. Things like this really take off here since _a lot_ of people here basically live a cash free life.
What would 4chan do with this?
While it's not linked to a paypal account we've had IC payment here in Japan for a very long time. I've been buying things from vending machines with my phone for maybe 6 years now and as far as I know I was a late adopter.
MFW Naked Lady: 8->
>>Smartphone billed for receiving entertainment.
MFW Police Department LOLI-entrapment on street-corner: :-/
>>Smartphone billed for not reporting Child Endangerment to Social Services.
MFW George Carlin: 8D
>>Smartphone billed for receiving Phylosophy degree.
MFW Saturday Night Live: ;_;
>>Smartphone not billed for entertainment, SNL billed for uppers-drugs assigned from Suicide Booth.
MFW Goatse: ;-(
>>Smartphone not billed, BATFE(ces) is on the Scene to seize your Smartphone for interacting with Terrorists.
Paypal has withheld your gummy bear for 180 days. Because you accessed the gummy bear from a location other than your usual location, we will also hold your $.25 while our anti-fraud department investigates.
To increase trust in the Paypal community, verify your account. To verify, fax a recent utility bill, send your debit card PIN and a half-chewn gummy bear as a DNA sample.
I'm not a lawyer, but I play one on the Internet. Blog
I've been trying to avoid posting on my own story, but I think I do have to clarify a statement I made, from what I've seen here.
Yes, you're all absolutely right that nobody really wants PayPal to be the ones in charge of this, first off. Never said we did.
Beyond that, though... I think there's a serious point that everyone is missing, perhaps just because PayPal was what a lot of people focused on.
People are mentioning credit cards, debit cards, EFTPOS... and yes, they are all capable of doing much of what this does already. Absolutely, a credit card could be used for this purpose if you wanted to buy a gumball with a credit card and someone was silly enough to set up a machine for that purpose.
What can't be achieved with any of those is the ability to purchase anything, instantly.
For example: let's say you're sitting in a doctor's waiting room, you pick up a book and read the first chapter. Then you have to go for your appointment. You want to finish the book - you think it's fantastic. So you scan the code on the book and instantly buy a copy and have it shipped to your house.
Another example: you see an amazing movie in the theatre. On your way out, you scan a code and instantly preorder your DVD copy.
Going further, you can tie other functions into the payment - scan a code at a restaurant, your table is reserved and you will receive an SMS when your table is ready. Scan a code, you've reserved the next game at a pool table, and now the next game is keyed to your phone and won't start without it. Reserve tickets to a concert, your phone directs you to your seat and the seat is locked upright until you scan in. Reserve plane tickets, same thing, and your phone also functions as your passport and flight documents.
That's what I mean by the possibilities being endless. It allows for tying far more value to an EFT device, to the point where we will be able to buy nearly any standardized manufactured product the moment we see it without ever having to go to a store or find it on ebay.
Scary? Oh yeah. I can't even begin to imagine my own spending habits - which are bad enough as it is - with the ability to instantly purchase anything I see. It's exciting too, though, and will add a whole new level... no, will completely redefine our economy and marketing. Advertisements become more valuable, as anyone can buy directly from them. Storefronts lose value... I'm not so keen on that, but on the other hand, it means that stores will have to find new ways to be unique, and not just cookie cutter big box stores... and it will probably lower prices across the board.
I don't exactly hold an economics degree, but I'm still fascinated to see where this all leads.
The right to offend is central to the right to free speech.
PayPal Innovate conference was in San Jose, not San Diego.
There are no karma whores, only moderation johns