Your weekly glimpse into the world of new media

Mobile: Starbucks launches an iPhone app and outmaneuvers Dunkin’ by letting you actually pay for coffee with your phone. Mobile barcodes may be the next big marketing trend, as other retailers continue to experiment with them.

Experiential: To promote its Black Pepper Jack and Smoking Cheddar BBQ flavors, Doritos is brining back the Hotel 626 online fright fest – this time as Asylum 626 – to resurrect the retired flavors from the dead.

Social: Fast-casual TGI Friday’s new spokesperson is a lot more likeable than the chain expected. Its new Facebook campaign resulted in 500,000 friends in only six days.

Research: A new report from the e-Tailing Group finds five out of 10 social media tools have been adopted by more than 50 percent of brands and retailers.

Misstep: Google Gmail users were without access to their contacts while the search giant’s email platform suffered another outage.

Our favorite: The Starbucks iPhone app. Some day we’ll be able to run the whole world from our phones.