Hello, Mr. Yakamoto! Welcome back to the Gap! How'd those assorted tank tops work out for you?

Remember Minority Report, the Tom Cruise blockbuster set in a future with neat virtual touch screen computers and Gap stores that tailor their sales pitch with a scan of the eyes?

I couldn't help but be reminded of that eerie vision of the future this week after Apple announced their deal with Starbucks to sell us music in their stores.

At face value, this is a really great idea.

How many times have you been somewhere, heard a song and then said to yourself, "This is really cool! I should get this!" Only, of course, to forget about it while figuring out that what you REALLY crave is an iced vanilla latte. With this deal, it's instant gratification: You click while in line, and by the time you have your drink in hand, you have a new song playing on your earphones.

The creepy part about this, though, is that if the technology is there to push music to you by noticing your iphone in the store, it's not that far a stretch to picture the day that the coffee giant's computer recognizes your particular iPhone and the clerk gets a message on the register suggesting she upsell you on a venti iced vanilla latte.

This has long been the holy grail of cell phone companies: Pushing advertising targeted to individual phones. Picture walking by a store and suddenly getting a text message offering you a digital coupon for 20% off your purchase. It's an advertising gold mine -- if you can get it to work effectively.

Other countries, such as Japan, have long tied everyday commerce to the cell phone. Apple's announcement this week is huge in that they've basically beaten the cell phone companies to the punch here in the United States. By hitching a ride on the wi-fi bandwagon, they are also leapfrogging the cell phone companies worldwide. Heck, the fancier new iPods will even do it!

While most things in this connected world of ours can be tracked, at which point do we willingly open the door too far and lose any sense of privacy? Apple is only the first to roll this out so ambitiously. They won't be the last.

Maybe Minority Report had it wrong. It's not what's in our eyes. It's the addictive touchscreen computers we put in our very own pockets. The iced vanilla lattes are just the sugar coating.