Wave your RFID credit card to get a burger

BURGER OUTLET McDonald's said it will accept payment for its meaty products later this year using radio frequency tech implemented on Mastercards.

It will trial the method at some of its fast food joints in the US - in particular in Dallas and the Big Apple - using Mastercard Paypass.

This will let you, according to McDonald's, "wave" your card near a till that uses RF chips to complete payments.

Verifone card tills which can interpret the wave and charge you for your burger and chips will be used to detect your Paypass credit card, said McDonald's.

The idea conjures up a strange vision in the otherwise banal business of buying and stuffing your face with burgers. A whole fast food joint full of hungry and possibly overweight people waving their credit cards at a cash till while smurfing the net, using the awesome power of the Centrino, is an image that verges on the surreal. µ