Starbucks is testing a new mobile app that lets coffee customers in Portland, Oregon, order ahead, pay, and swoop in and out of stores quickly for pickup. Source: http://www.bizjournals.com

This site features news from across and about the region and features analysis, interviews and commentary by paid CentralAsiaOnline.com correspondents. Source: centralasiaonline.com

Traced to a Cote d’Azur villa by private detectives for the bank he once led, the Kazakh oligarch-turned-dissident is dwarfed by the masked French court guards flanking him. He is the smallest man in the room. Source: abcnews.go.com

Whoa… When it comes to mobile marketing strategies, brands love sending SMS promotions to customers on Black Friday. How much so? Out of the 100 largest brands using SMS marketing, 44 of those br… Source: http://www.tatango.com

Starbucks’ “Mobile Order and Pay” feature could make its digital wallet even more successful, says RBC Capital report. Source: news.investors.com

Culturally inclusive marketing has gotten more nuanced as the U.S. population has become more diverse. Even seasoned marketers worry that their team will make an embarrassing mistake. Source: http://www.forbes.com

IBM’s Watson Analytics service is now in open beta. The natural language-based system offers predictive and visual analytics tools for businesses. Source: thenextweb.com

Mastercard will soon issue new credit cards that include an integrated biometric sensor and the Zwipe secure biometric authentication technology that holds the cardholder’s biometric data, througho… Source: http://www.biometricupdate.com

Mobile payments may seem like a thing of the future, but the truth is it’s already happening across the globe. Read our blog for what you need to know. Source: konnectifi.com

The latest contribution to the patent troll debate comes from James Bessen, who confirms that patent litigation is down and reveals business method patent issuance is plummeting Source: http://www.managingip.com