life as we know it

Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Is there an app for that?

I thought I should follow up on Kelly's post about how smart our tech has gotten. She made me think of a recent trip we made to the mall, in particular the Apple store. It's one of those places you walk in and if you aren't careful someone may catch you drooling over all of the shiny new i-things.
This particular store had about a zillion people shoulder to shoulder in it so I wasn't interested in the latest and greatest, all I wanted was a charger that actually worked! After bothering the nearest 18 year old who will one day be my boss, Kelly and I chose the cheapest charger we could find and went to look for the check out counter..... We would still be looking if we hadn't found another employee who explained how things work now-a-days.
My heart rate elevated just a bit as he took my card and swiped it through this card reader that was attached to an i-phone he had slung on his hip like he was Quick Draw McGraw (feel free to google that one). After the receipt was emailed to me and I was convinced my identity had just been stolen, this fine young gentleman told Kelly and me that people don't need to check out at a register (or at some guys hip) if they have an i-phone. He explained that there is an app that lets you read bar codes of the items in the store and charge them to your i-tunes account just before you walk out of the store with them!
How in the world do they keep people from i-stealing? I feel like I would totally exaggerate my i-purchase if we ever went that route (we probably won't have an i-phone until nobody wants them anymore, but if we did...). I could see myself being a complete dork; holding the charger up in the air as I scan it like I'm saying, "I'm i-buying this! Don't think I'm i-stealing it when I walk out with it! The i-receipt is in my e-mail I promise!"

Anybody remember actually walking to the TV to change the channel? How about moving the rabbit ears to  get reception? After our experience at the Apple store I get the feeling that our kids will be saying things like, "Hey do you remember when you had to wait in line to check out at the store? How about when you had to talk to people?" 

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