Starbucks: Saving Us From the Burden of Debit Cards!

So, as you all know, Starbucks has gone completely modern and now out-moderned all of their snobby, posh customers.  According to this website, here we go with the new technological revolution...pay it off your iPhone or Blackberry!  Yes, you can pay your $4 coffee with your $400 phone.  All is well with the world.

Seriously, this fad is likely to revolutionize the way we view a common transaction according to this article.  Just pause a moment to think that your grandchildren will not remember what it was to carry cash or even cards!  My grandfather was concerned about the scare of debit cards, and now we're throwing even those to the wind.  Starbucks has developed a system to facilitate payment of your Starbucks products/services via an account on your Smartphone.  This is supposedly in order to cut down on the long lines by increasing efficiency.  My question is whether this really will save time.  The amount of time saved by not having to dig out a debit card and swipe seems negligible to me.  However, maybe it will truly affect the process.  It does seem to be convenient for the store, but what about the customer?  Doesn't maintaining an extra Starbucks account decrease convenience?  While the money is there idle, it could have been in the bank ensuring your assets or covering bills...not to mention the small lump of interest associated.  Therefore, while I commend Starbucks for taking a leap into the next age of technology, I wonder whether this will be worth the costs of the R & D associated with developing the venture. 

Piracy: Free Marketing?

Music piracy has certainly taken the nation by storm.  What the music industry at one timed hoped was a fad has turned into a revolution.  Many youth now see piracy as the normal mode of obtaining music.  While officials have cracked down on the enforcement of applicable legislation, this form of illegal activity is still on the rise.  Whether or not we agree with this activity, we must recognize it as illegal.  That is clear.  However, today I want to try to address some reasons that piracy will prevail and benefit some people in the process. 

First, I do not believe that legislation can keep up with the piracy.  Cases are being tried at a snail's pace, which leaves the regulation up to the music industry.  However, the techies producing this burn-proof discography are barely ahead of the techies on the other side.  Years can go into this anti-theft technology only for it to be cracked soon after its release.  As articulated in this article, the industry has billions on the line and is certainly motivated to find a solution.  But, where there is a will, there is not always a way...to outsmart the criminals. 

Therefore, let us consider that piracy is not going away any time soon.  If this is the case, does anyone benefit from such activity?  I say, "Yes."  Do they benefit more than they suffer?  I think some may.  As is suggested in this article, independent musicians without agent-representation are truly benefiting from this nearly viral exposure.  Releasing free music onto the internet for their followers allows them publicity that they could not garner by any other method.  Therefore, I say that if this activity is not going to be regulated sufficiently, let us view it for what it is...a new avenue of publicity for those without other options...a launching pad for the underrepresented...new opportunities for the future greats.