Items tagged with McDonald's
The Golden Arches are not so shiny today it seems, as the world's biggest fast-food chain, McDonald's, has been hit by an international data breach. The company reported today that hackers have stolen data containing employee and restaurant information from its South Korean, Taiwanese, and United States markets. Though it is believed that the data was not sensitive nor personal, it still raises concerns for the future. Recently, McDonald's discovered unauthorized activity on an internal security system, which prompted the company to lock things down and cut off access. Following this security incident, external cybersecurity consultants were brought in to investigate and found that indeed...
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Researchers at the University of Toronto, Scarborough campus were having a problem with a 3D printer they use in the lab. The device itself was working fine, but the resin material used to print the objects they needed in the lab was incredibly expensive at nearly $500 per liter. The team was in the process of looking for a cheaper alternative when one of the researchers analyzed the resin material and determined that it was similar to fats that were found in ordinary cooking oil. The team says that breakthrough led them to begin work to see if they could turn cooking oil into a resin for 3D printing. The next part was reaching out to fast food restaurants around the university to find someone...
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Do you have a weak spot for fast food despite the rampant criticism that consuming it in large quantities isn't good for you? Well, an "experiment" that has been carried out by Icelander Hjörtur Smárason is gaining worldwide attention, now that his McDonald’s hamburger and fries showcase has hit its 10-year anniversary. You see, Smárason had heard all of the stories about McDonald's food not decomposing over time, and he decided to put this claim to the test. McDonald's decided to pull completely out of the Iceland market way back in 2009, and as a last hurrah, Smárason decided to purchase a cheeseburger and fries On October 31st of that year, and kept it...
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When you have a hankering for a cheeseburger from McDonald's, the solution is simple—you hop in your car and go get one. There is nothing unusual about that, unless we're talking about an 8-year-old child jumping behind the wheel and escorting his sister to the golden arches for a bite to eat. Then it would be unusual. It also describes what went down in East Palestine, Ohio, the other day. Police say the hungry 8-year-old grabbed the keys to his family's van and puttered down to the local McDonald's, with his 4-year-old sister sitting in the passenger seat. Apparently the kid does not have an Uber account, but who needs one when you have access to YouTube? The streaming site that is home to...
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Virtual reality has captured the hearts and imaginations of consumers and developers alike. In keeping with modern times, even McDonald's is hitching a ride on the hype train with a VR solution of its own. It's the Happy Meal box, which customers can fold up into a set of virtual reality glasses similar to Google Cardboard. McDonald's Sweden is piloting the VR initiative. The fast food chain came up with the idea in conjunction with licensed child psychologists Karl Eder and Fadi Lahdo, who believe that the creation of Happy Goggles can be a learning opportunity for kids and adults alike, one that even brings them together. "New generations are growing up in a in a world where smartphones and...
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The allure of fast service and relatively affordable meals is no longer enough to attract a customer base that's increasingly concerned with health and food options. As a result, fast-food chain McDonald's saw its same-store sales in the U.S. decrease 4.6 percent in November, a backwards trend the company hopes to solve by giving users more choice over how their meals are made. At some point in the near future, McDonald's will announce the expansion of its "Create Your Taste" test platform. This is a something McDonald's has been testing on a small basis in California, in which customers are able to use kiosks with built-in tablet touchscreens to customize their entire burger....
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"Would you like a 3D printed toy with that?" That's a question that doesn't yet exist inside any McDonald's fast food restaurants, but give it time and it may become a mandatory query, at least when ordering a Happy Meal. In this day and age of the Internet of Things, society is becoming increasingly connected, and companies are harnessing technology in unique ways. What does this have to do with the golden arches? Mark Fabes, director of IT for McDonald's in the U.K., recently spoke at the Fujitsu Forum in Germany on the topic of the "disruptive customer" and his/her push for digital toys. McDonald's faces a new generation of customers, including kids being raised on digital gadgets like smartphones...
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Hearing that "someone is working on it" is one thing, but now the home of the Golden Arches (and those "all white meat chicken nuggets) has finally done the deed. No, we're not talking about swapping out those juicy, all-beef patties for veggie slabs. We're talking about in-house Wi-Fi, and lots of it. Making good on a promise it made earlier in the year, McDonald's has rolled out free in-store Wi-Fi in "most" of its US stores. As of 1/15, the vast majority of McD's eateries should have Internet signals floating about, and all you'll need to take advantage is a Wi-Fi enabled smartphone or PC. All told, Wi-Fi has been added to around 11,500 of the company's 14,000 locations, and of course, it's...
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McDonald's is about to up the ante in the wi-fi arena. While it has already been providing free wi-fi via AT&T's hotspot service to AT&T broadband customers as well as iPhone users, it will soon be providing free wi-fi, period. That new program will begin in January.Currently, for those not eligible for free wi-fi via an AT&T connection, McDonald’s charges $2.95 to access the Internet at its U.S. stores, in two-hour intervals. That program began with AT&T started about 5 years ago. However, the company has been encroaching on Starbucks' territory for a while now, with the recession an McDonald's McCafes emphasizing a "value-priced" sort of coffee lounge experience.With this...
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The wi-fi coverage plans that several U.S. cities have been entertaining have taken hits of late with the woes of Earthlink. Meanwhile, in the U.K., a partnership between BT Group and FON has opened up a huge number of additional hotspots in that country. Now McDonald's has announced plans to add themselves to the mix.Fast food chain McDonald's said on Saturday it would offer free wireless Internet access across its 1,200-strong restaurants in the UK, making it the country's biggest provider of free wireless broadband access.McDonald's, let's (ahem) not forget what country you got your start in when considering free wi-fi, eh?...
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