Where digital meets travel + lifestyle … A collection of can’t-miss news from this week. Sign up to get the TURNER Weekly Download in your inbox every Friday.
Carrying cash is so last year. This week, Google released an Android-only Gmail feature that allows you to send money using its app. Gmail users can already send payments via Google Wallet on the desktop, but this brings you an on-the-go option. Sending payments using this app feature is completely free, but only currently available in the U.S. Time to start spending!
Is there anything she can’t do? Now, Amazon Alexa is making ordering food even easier. The voice service now gives you access Grubhub’s impressive network of more than 50K restaurants simply by asking. Available to all Grubhub users who have an Alexa compatible device, the new feature also lets you reorder from preferred vendors. Alexa – find us some green beer!
If you are an avid Snapchatter, you know about Bitmojis. Snapchat clueless? No problem — a Bitmoji is an avatar that represents users in cartoon sticker form, and you can send them to other Snapchatters. Now that you’re caught up, Snapchat has rolled out a way to include your Bitmojis on your home screen, instead of searching through the Snapchat app to chat with your friend. Sounds like the modern-day MySpace Top 8 - who will be on your home screen?
In 2017, mobile payment apps are a must-have, especially when almost everyone carries a cell phone McDonald’s is finally jumping on the bandwagon and introducing mobile payment and order ahead features (similar to Starbucks). The app will use geo-fencing technology to track a customer’s location and the nearest restaurant. McDonald’s shared that the typical order process for 2-3 items takes 17 seconds on average at drive-thrus, while mobile ordering will bring the averages down to 10-15 seconds. Now that’s fast food.