Google's new payments app means never having to pull out your wallet - CNET

Pay with your voice.

Google on Wednesday released to the public a new app called Hands Free, which lets people pay for items in stores by simply telling the cashier, "I'll pay with Google." But don't tell just any local store owner that this one's on Google then walk out with a Snickers bar. The app, available for Android and Apple phones, is only being piloted in a few locations in the San Francisco area, including some McDonald's and Papa John's restaurants.

Hands Free is just one of many experiments that payments and tech companies are trying out to find ways of getting people to pay for their stuff in new -- and, hopefully, easier -- ways. While magnetic-stripe cards have been the only significant alteative to paying with cash or check over the last 40 years, there are now all kinds of new ways to pay with your phone, watch, refrigerator or car.

Consumers, though, seem to be slow to adopt these new methods, partly because they are happy paying with plastic. But, if an app like Hands Free can save them time and remove the hassle of even having to pull out their wallets or dig through their purses, it could have a chance at gaining supporters.