smartphone and free coffee

london 7.10am 12.7C monday 2016

this advert came up in the telegraph webpage just now, i have seen it often, but am puzzled how it works. at first i thought u have to pay a bus fare or tube fare using your mobile with this app  and show proof that u paid, but it seems u dont even need to do that. just show them u got this app in your mobile phone and that is it, u can get a free coffee from cafe nero. and is it all day on mondays? that cant be right… surely? or can u claim that free coffee just once.  times like this makes me wish i have a smartphone. ( until i read the conditions) .have you used it, and do u really get it for free? what is the catch i wonder? added. read the conditions, should have read it first of course before i make any comments, and found out it is for one free coffee on monday between 3 oct and 24 oct. so basically valid for the month of october only. 

when waitrose is making people buy something before they can get their free coffee, and that is once a day…(it is being tested at some stores , so i dont doubt that it will be extended to all stores soon…and about time too i think). though now u can still get a free coffee to takeaway.

i dont go there and get their free coffee everyday,( i dont believe that if something is there for free, i must take advantage of it. in fact sometimes i do go there to browse and still refrain from getting their free coffee )  but even if i did, i think it too generous of them.

added.19.10.16  and now it seems they are increasing the £5 spend that gets u the free newspaper to £10. people are complaining, but it is natural that they do, when u take away something that used to be free, people feel it more. 

this offer from mastercard is a promotion i think to try to get people to load the app and use it for all their smartphone contactless payments. from my own observations, on the buses, i dont see many people using their mobile phone to pay. and those who do are apple users. but maybe now that android is allowing it , perhaps i shall be seeing more people use their mobiles now to pay.

the question to ask is will all the usual limits , daily limits and weekly limits and free hour use apply to the smartphone payments as it does for the contactless cards? i must say the engineers who can program all that into the system must be real clever for it to recognise all those conditions of use and automatically allow it to apply for the millions of transactions every day. added. this news article gives more detail. u need a mastercard credit card. i noticed even i dont have one. mine are all visa. banks have used visa that is why i got visa . mastercard have disappeared from the scene, it is a v gradual process, now i think they are trying to get back their market share. i wonder why they disappeared. perhaps they have a falling out with the banks, because banks have a strong influence as to which card u get. 

 

Digital StillCamera

Digital StillCamera

Digital StillCamera

just some architectural detail window ledges and surroundings and balcony

added. 11.33pm 11.9C very mild this weather we are having. it feels comfortable in the flat even without the heating on.  the met office predicts this winter will be very cold and dry. they say their powerful computer can now predict the winter weather a year ahead. well, we shall see. that computer had not been very reliable before.  i am sceptical but i guess it will help businesses to plan ahead and to let council store grit for the roads , or not if what they say is true and that it will be a dry winter so no need to grit the roads as much as normal… though i think if i were council i will just rely on their short term forecast and still order the usual amount of grit. not worth saving that little bit and risk being caught short of grit if their prediction turns out to be wrong again. added. this guy who forecasts the weather without technology, also agrees. so it might be this winter will be cold though he predicts snow in london so not dry. unless they can argue snow is not rain, so can be considered dry. haha.

 but i have a feeling i will still not need to put on the heating.

the bbc ditched the met office this year so they hope to be proved right and make the bbc feel they have dumped them too soon. haha. their £100m computer can only do a 62% accuracy. not much different from 50-50 really. for that money i want 80% accuracy or more at least!!