Amazon's Palm-Scanning Payment System Coming To All Whole Foods Stores (fastcompany.com) 27
Amazon has announced that its palm-scanning payment technology, called Amazon One, will roll out to all 500-plus Whole Foods locations by the end of 2023. From a report: Amazon first introduced the contactless Amazon One payment system in 2020, but its expansion by the end of 2023 will be its largest to date. Amazon One works by the user scanning their palm above a reader -- in other words, it's another form of contactless biometric authentication, like Apple's Face ID. But instead of reading your face, Amazon One reads the lines and ridges of your palm and the unique vein patterns beneath it. This reading of deeper subcutaneous features means that someone can't just photograph your palm and start loading up on costly cheeses at Whole Foods at your expense.
Your palm signature is associated with your Amazon Prime account or just a credit card, and it means you don't even need to bring your phone or wallet with you to shop and pay for goods. Currently, Amazon One is available at 200 Whole Foods in the United States as well as 200 locations at other retail outlets. Amazon's rollout will bring the total Amazon One payment locations to over 700 by year's end. Other locations where you can currently use Amazon One include Coors Field in Colorado and select Panera Bread restaurants.
Your palm signature is associated with your Amazon Prime account or just a credit card, and it means you don't even need to bring your phone or wallet with you to shop and pay for goods. Currently, Amazon One is available at 200 Whole Foods in the United States as well as 200 locations at other retail outlets. Amazon's rollout will bring the total Amazon One payment locations to over 700 by year's end. Other locations where you can currently use Amazon One include Coors Field in Colorado and select Panera Bread restaurants.
Forehead please? (Score:5, Funny)
I think imprinting a unique barcode or even just a number on our forehead could be even more convenient! Can you please do it like a tattoo?
Re: (Score:3)
On the forehead or the back of the right hand.
#whatcouldpossiblygowrong
Re: (Score:2)
Everybody knows it's a barcode on the back of the neck. Come on. Get with the program.
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
If I get your reference correctly then it doesn't have to be a tattoo to match the description:
https://paybyface.io/ [paybyface.io]
https://www.scmp.com/tech/apps... [scmp.com]
Re: (Score:3)
No Thank You.
eeeww (Score:2)
That'll make for a nice sweaty palm print soup to pass around.
Re: (Score:3)
Re:eeeww (Score:4, Funny)
You don't actually touch anything.
Sounds like something Chevy Chase would be caught saying, way back, on the phone at the beginning of a Weekend Update sketch on SNL, like "No, you don't actually blow on it." -- followed by a deer in the headlights stare into the camera and a "I gotta go."
Re: (Score:2)
Remember when? (Score:5, Insightful)
Remember when WF was an antidote to corporate food? Remember when it fit right in as part of Austin, TX? Remember when it became so successful that it started to acquire other similar chains like Bread and Circus and I think Wild Oats and perhaps a few others? Remember when it got acquired by Amazon? Remember when it became a dystopian corporate nightmare? Remember when boiled frog was on special there for $35/lb?
Re: (Score:3)
Remember when it got acquired by Amazon? Remember when it became a dystopian corporate nightmare?
Remember when Too Big To Fail clearly defined the future socialist financial loss structure of every mega-corp, making it clear what will happen every time when it comes to privatizing gains while socializing every loss?
It's not hard to predict what will happen next with capitalist scales that far fucked in favor of those who will eventually own everything. Sadly, we may be quite delusional with the current version of "dystopian" when a planet no longer has a need to value employees, because they're slaves
Re: (Score:2)
Remember when boiled frog was on special there for $35/lb?
Why I’ve been getting my boiled frog for free. It was decent, although for some reason I can’t feel my legs.
Re: (Score:1)
Remember when boiled frog was on special there for $35/lb?
Why I’ve been getting my boiled frog for free. It was decent, although for some reason I can’t feel my legs.
They BETTER NOT stop making crunchy frog! Its my favorite!
Can't change (Score:5, Insightful)
Re: (Score:1)
Not a fan of passwords you can't change. Biometrics are like passwords you can never change.
Indeed, what happens if you lose your hands in accident? Maybe we will see in news of some ravenous homeless chopping customers' hands off to get all food they can eat.
Re: Can't change (Score:3)
Some back alley salesman opens their huge trenchcoat. "You want hands? I got hands." Many human hands dangle from racks inside their coat.
Sounds like a booming market for prosthetic providers.
Target Audience? (Score:5, Insightful)
I'm not really sure who the target audience of this is. Pretty much everyone who shops at whole foods and would be able to sign up for this already has a smart phone that they're carrying around anyways and can perform the transaction much more securely.
It's only slightly more convenient to put your whole palm on a scanner than to wave your phone in front of one, but that doesn't seem like something that would make it worthwhile
Re: (Score:3)
I'm not really sure who the target audience of this is. Pretty much everyone who shops at whole foods and would be able to sign up for this already has a smart phone that they're carrying around anyways and can perform the transaction much more securely.
Yup. Tends to make you wonder what data mining operation is being fed with this statistically unnecessary technology.
It's only slightly more convenient to put your whole palm on a scanner than to wave your phone in front of one, but that doesn't seem like something that would make it worthwhile
Clearly it's worthwhile to someone. Guess we'll find out when the IRS starts to require palm scans to sign your taxes.
Re: (Score:2)
What happens when... (Score:2)
Unfortunately, it doesn't work (Score:2)
Palm Will Be Scanned (Score:2)