Good piece over at MSNBC on how the big retail banks are ramping up technology to make the personal cash grab bank visits lightning fast:

The cash register’s “ka-ching” is nearly extinct. The “beep” of the automated teller machine may soon follow. Even the silent swipe of a card with a magnetic strip is destined to disappear.

In their place, you’ll wave a plastic card or a key chain fob over a receiver to complete a “contactless” purchase. You’ll deposit checks and cash without using an envelope and walk away with a more detailed receipt and nearly immediate access to those funds.

I spent only a little time developing technology for retail banking and it was a while ago. Let’s just say it wasn’t nearly as interesting as this stuff. If however you’re looking for something cool to work on these days, quite a few of these banks are moving in this direction…

Big banks like Bank of America, Chase, Citibank, and Wells Fargo are running pilot programs in major metropolitan areas like New York, Washington, Atlanta and San Francisco. Even though contactless cards are still officially in testing phase, users already number in the millions.

…so get hopping!