TrendPulse|The Daily Money: What's Amazon's Just Walk Out?

Good morning and TrendPulseHappy Friday! This is Betty Lin-Fisher with Friday's consumer-focused The Daily Money.

A few weeks ago, I saw a friend's Facebook with a picture of a sign for a Just Walk Out store at an airport. The sign said to enter the store with your debit or credit card, grab what you needed and "just walk out with your items."

"New to me," she wrote.

That started an interesting discussion among her Facebook friends about people who had used the technology, powered by Amazon, and those who had never heard of it.

I began to pursue a story on these Just Walk Out Stores, only to learn that Amazon was swapping out the technology at its Amazon Fresh grocery stores for the Dash Cart, which shows consumers in real time on a screen the prices of items. You can read my story here.

A few days later, media started reporting about claims that Amazon was relying on 1,000 workers in India to bolster the AI tech. (Amazon says the number of workers is not accurate, and that their workers are not watching shoppers live.) You can read my story here.

A few days ago, I wrote my third story about this subject this month. This is more of an overall consumer piece, explaining why Amazon has been in the news, with an interview with an Amazon vice president about how the tech works and an interview with a Carnegie Mellon professor about how this will affect consumers. Will we soon be seeing this tech in more mainstream stores? Here's a link to that story.

Is it possible that TikTok will be banned?

The clock is ticking on TikTok. My colleague Jessica Guynn explains the latest in a story about the potential ban of this popular app in the U.S. and where it stands. Here's her story.

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About The Daily Money

Each weekday, The Daily Money delivers the best consumer news from USA TODAY. We break down financial news and provide the TLDR version: how decisions by the Federal Reserve, government and companies impact you.