2017Issue4_Alabama_v3_COVER_Proof

OUTSIDE THE BOX

KING CA$H

Research company PYMNTS.com said cash purchases are on track to hit $3.5 trillion by 2020. While consumers in the 35-44 age group are increasingly using card and mobile payments, younger millennials show a higher propensity for cash.

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If you’re tired of hearing about millennials, you now have Gen Z to worry about. Also called the iGeneration, post-millennials, plurals or the Homeland Generation, the group includes people born roughly between 1995 and 2015, meaning that the oldest members are graduating college or starting careers while the youngest haven’t yet entered kindergarten. According to some observers, Gen Z consists of about 60 million people, making it larger than the baby boomers and millennials. While there is considerable debate over where these people fit in demographically, they all have one thing in common – none of them have lived in a world without the Internet or mobile phones.

DAY of the CYBORG

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If you’re wondering what your employees are up to, a Stockholm- based tech startup called Epicenter has developed microchips the size of a grain of rice that can be implanted by syringe between the thumb and index finger. It sounds like something out of 1984 but the chips function as swipe cards to open doors, operate printers or even buy a smoothie with the wave of the hand. The idea is so popular at Epicenter that workers hold parties for those being implanted. While everyone is partying, it does raise some security and privacy issues since it shows how often an employee comes to work, what they buy and where they go.

Starbucks is testing a location at its headquarters in Seattle where employees can only order via the chain’s app. Customers can see their orders being made through a window where they can also pick it up. One has to wonder if it will really speed up the painfully slow process of getting a cup of coffee. While this is designed to speed up service, the chain is working on its Reserve stores, high-end coffee shops designed for lingering, and offering small lot coffee beans, and food from a local Italian bakery. NOT REGISTERING

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