Technology at its best

• In Japan, a person can wave a Casio watch over a scanner to purchase products from a vending machine, pay for food in a cafeteria, or pay for gasoline.
• Dryers and washers in some American college dorms are hooked to the web. Students can punch a code on the availability of laundry machines. Furthermore, they can pay with their student ID or with a credit card and receive email alerts when their wash and dry cycles are complete. Once in the laundry room, a student activates the system by swiping a student ID card or keying in a PIN number. The system automatically injects premeasured amounts of detergent and fabric softener, at the right cycle time.
• Several banks in Japan issue smart cards that can be used only by their owners. When using the cards, the palm vein of the owner’s hand is compared with a prestored template of the vein stored on the smart card. When the owner inserts the card into ATM or vendors’ card readers that are equipped with the system, it will dispense the person’s money. The police are alerted if anyone other than the card’s owner tries to use it.
• VIP patrons of the Baja Beach Club in Barcelona, Spain, can have radio frequency identification (RFID) chips, which are the size of a grain of rice, implanted into their upper arms, allowing them to charge drinks to a bar tab when they raise their arm toward the RFID reader. An RFID is a tiny tag that contains a processor and antenna and can communicate wirelessly with a detecting unit in a radar over a short distance.

Source:From one of my text books.