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Google Is Testing Voice-Activated Payment App, Hands Free (cnet.com)

New submitter eedwardsjr writes: If you've ever wanted to pay just by saying something out loud, then Hands Free is the way to go. Google has released to the public a new app called Hands Free, which lets people pay for items in stores by simply telling the cashier, "I'll pay with Google." The app, available for Android and iOS, is only being piloted in a few locations in the San Francisco area, including some McDonald's and Papa John's restaurants. Hands Free works by tracking your location using Wi-Fi and other sensors in your smartphone to detect whether you're near a participating store. After you say "I'll pay with Google," the cashier confirms your identity by using your initials and the photo you've loaded onto the Hands Free app.

15 of 50 comments (clear)

  1. The interesting part... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting

    is that the Google team's goal wasn't a payment system. It was how to get more people to upload profile pics.

  2. Just keep saying "Google" by rainwalker · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Why do all of their voice-activated prompts require me to repeat the name of the corporation, over and over? I already know I'm using a Google phone, it says so right at the top of every screen, and I have to say their name every time I want to use voice search anyway. It's kind of creepy.

    1. Re:Just keep saying "Google" by penguinoid · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Why do all of their voice-activated prompts require me to repeat the name of the corporation, over and over?

      Probably so that the on-device voice recognition can recognize you're talking to it, so that it doesn't have to send a live feed of your microphone to Google HQ, and also so it doesn't randomly hear commands in your regular speech.

      --
      Don't waste your vote! Vote for whoever you want, unless you live in a swing state it won't matter anyways
    2. Re:Just keep saying "Google" by shawn2772 · · Score: 3, Informative

      Why do all of their voice-activated prompts require me to repeat the name of the corporation, over and over?

      Probably so that the on-device voice recognition can recognize you're talking to it, so that it doesn't have to send a live feed of your microphone to Google HQ, and also so it doesn't randomly hear commands in your regular speech.

      Then why can't I set up my own phrase to activate the on-device voice recognition?

      You can.

    3. Re:Just keep saying "Google" by thegarbz · · Score: 2

      You're right. Just "I'll pay" will do. I look forward to 10 years from now when I have this conversation with the cashier and I get charged for my big Mac 10 times with 10 different services. Bonus points if I'm actually about to order a happy meal and I'm actually paying for the big Mac of the stranger next to me :)

  3. "I'll stay with Judy" by rmdingler · · Score: 4, Insightful

    What could go wrong with voice-activated dollars departing my wallet?

    --
    Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.

    Ernest Hemingway

    1. Re:"I'll stay with Judy" by 93+Escort+Wagon · · Score: 5, Funny

      What could go wrong with voice-activated dollars departing my wallet?

      Don't worry, there are stringent safeguards built into the system. First and foremost - no statement of payment will be authorized or processed unless it is preceded by "Simon Says".

      --
      #DeleteChrome
  4. Re:Jesus. Lazy much? by Archangel+Michael · · Score: 4, Funny

    Okay. It looks like you're trolling /. , which of the following do you wish to use*?

    [ ] GNAA
    [ ] Goat.cx
    [ ] Beowulf cluster
    [ ] Natalie Portman / Hot Grits
    [ ] Netcraft

    *We have recently removed the "SCO" option.

    --
    Agent K: A *person* is smart. People are dumb, stupid, panicky animals, and you know it.
  5. Surprise! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    1) Load goatse image as profile pic
    2) Go to participating place and pay using new method
    3) ???
    4) Profit from the sheer horror that will unfold

    You know it will happen.

  6. Not voice activated by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    The headline in the story is misleading. It is not voice activated.

    http://googlecommerce.blogspot.com/2016/03/testing-testing-one-two-hands-free.html

    It allows you to pay hands free. When you say you're paying with Google, it's just so the teller can charge you through their system. The teller verifies you through your pictures/initials.

  7. speaking to computers is annoying by PhantomHarlock · · Score: 5, Insightful

    There's nothing more annoying than speaking trite phrases to a machine as if it were a human. Especially if you're an introvert. You just want to type it or a push a button.

    I never use voice anything, and I have it on my phone and in my car. I tried the car thing the first few days I had it and it felt so stupid talking to the thing and it was so slow I wanted to punch it.

    The worst is voice based tree menus on corporate voice jail systems. Please let me punch numbers.

  8. Not voice activated by Guillermito · · Score: 2

    You just tell the cashier that you want to use this payment method. There is no voice recognition software involved in the process.

  9. Crazy pills by Mantrid42 · · Score: 2

    Am I the only one that thinks credit cards are already convenient enough? Stuff like this and NFC and such feel like solutions in search of a problem.

    1. Re:Crazy pills by DogDude · · Score: 4, Insightful

      The problem they're trying to fix is how to skim money off the top of every transaction a user makes.

      --
      I don't respond to AC's.
  10. My name is Werner Brandise... by kimgkimg · · Score: 2

    ... verify me.