Yesterday, ETCentric reported that top carriers including AT&T, Verizon, Sprint and T-Mobile have teamed to launch a task force in an effort to create a standardized mobile payment solution. Now, retailers are joining forces for a new mobile wallet solution.
Best Buy, Target and Walmart are among the top retailers who have jointly created Merchant Customer Exchange (MCX), a new mobile wallet solution aimed to rival Square and Google Wallet.
Merchant Customer Exchange promises “a versatile mobile-commerce experience that will combine the convenience of paying at the register with customizable offers,” reports The Verge.
“The mobile payment landscape has rapidly evolved in recent months,” notes the post. “Square entered into a major partnership with Starbucks, all four major U.S. carriers teamed up with ISIS and Google, and Google Wallet was completely overhauled — and that’s just in the last two weeks.”
Specifics have yet to be announced for the offering still in development, but the main advantage to MCX over Square or other mobile payment systems may be that the corporate partners can include special offers within the application.
The retailers have not announced a time frame for MCX’s release, but promise to release additional information within the next few months.
“While there’s a huge number of competing mobile payment services fighting to break out of the pack, the tremendous retail support behind MCX means it has at least as good a shot as any of the other options,” comments The Verge.
Forbes published an interesting guest post this week from Al Bunshaft, managing director North America for Dassault Systemes.
Bunshaft discusses the noteworthy trend toward 3D as a new standard for communication via manufacturing and design industries, and now through consumers.
“What’s fascinating about this recent trend is that it is being driven not by consumers’ need to disassociate themselves from their everyday lives, but rather the ability to interact with their own world in new ways,” he writes. “We’ve now entered the Age of 3D Experience.”
For the first time, 3D technology is accessible and affordable to all in an era of powerful, miniature processors. “You don’t need an engineering degree to design, interact or work with 3D objects; you just need an Internet connection,” suggests Bunshaft.
Gaming, movies and television are three forms of entertainment media that are pushing to create more lifelike experiences through advancements in 3D.
“Realism is critical to sustain consumers’ attention which is why 3D environments created using real, scientific data are becoming the communication standard of the world today,” writes Bunshaft, noting additional examples of 3D beyond entertainment such as archeology, trauma treatment, training in the oil and gas industry, virtual clinical trials and crash safety.
“Unique 3D experiences have pragmatic applications in our everyday lives. Similar to the Internet’s story arc, 3D is evolving from a solitary initiative to a community one,” writes Bunshaft.
“People are able to interact with lifelike 3D models and with people from around the world to flatten the world out just a little bit more. The basic human need to congregate with like-minded individuals is driving 3D to its next, fascinating iteration,” he concludes. “Personally, I can’t wait to see it.”
3D pioneer Gene Dolgoff (who invented the first LCD projector, helped develop HDTV, and is currently revolutionizing lenticular imaging technologies at 3-D Vision Inc.) has created a prototype box that he claims will convert any TV into a 3D set.
“Could this be the spark the long-promised 3D revolution needs?” asks Adam Rosenberg, writing for Digital Trends.
Dolgoff — who built his first stereoscopic CRT in 1963 — hopes to provide digital stereoscopic 3D to every viewer with a low-cost device that will convert any type of television into a 3D TV.
“He’s established a Fundable to get the project going — complete with a competition built around having a community-sourced design for the device — and he may well turn to Kickstarter for additional funding once the groundwork is established,” explains the post.
“I was immediately doubtful when I read the pitch,” writes Rosenberg. “After seeing it in person, my doubts were proven to be unfounded. This tech works. And it works exceptionally well.”
Working from his 3-D Vision lab on Long Island, Dolgoff demonstrated the bulky, noisy converter to Rosenberg on multiple displays using DVD, Blu-ray, PlayStation 3 and live television broadcasts.
Rosenberg reports the prototype’s results were impressive and notes that a mass-produced version would be much smaller, lighter, and presumably make less noise.
According to Dolgoff, the software does all the heavy lifting: “It takes the two-dimensional input video signal and it looks at two frames at a time. It looks at brightness, contrast, color saturation, sharpness, position in the frame, because as the depth goes back, all of these things decrease. When you have motion, the occlusion of background objects by foreground objects also gives a lot of information.”
“My whole initial thrust was [the knowledge] that we can’t get everyone to buy a new TV, that’s going to be a logjam. So let’s find a way to make everybody able to see 3D right away with whatever they have,” says Dolgoff. “Once we get it out there, it’s going to get a lot more people watching 3D on their 2D sets and a lot more people buying 3D sets. That’ll start increasing the installed base, which will then provide the incentive for more content to be made in 3D. And then the 3D consumer field will really take off.”
Apple was granted a patent this week for technology resembling a cable box that would allow users of its TV device to change channels via an onscreen menu that appears over the video display.
If the company acts on the patent, Apple TV “will upgrade to live TV, complete with regular and cable channels, and recording abilities,” reports CNET.
The original 2006 patent filing includes supporting images of TV shows from HBO, ABC, CBS and FOX — and indicates that search and browse tools would be integrated into the system.
“If Apple comes through on these designs, this could really boost the functionality — and popularity — of Apple TV, which has been limited by a dearth of native channels,” notes CNET. “Its greatest asset has been with connecting Apple devices for those who own many of them, but for everyone else, there has always been other choices to go to for TV programming.”
The post includes a copy of the full patent application.
Amazon is selling a Brother monochrome laser printer for $65. In 1985, Apple’s Laserwriter for the Mac, arguably the first commercially successful laser printer, cost $6,995.
So in 27 years, we now pay less than 1 percent of the original cost! And for you economists, the dollar buys much less today than it did back then.
If one assumes a similar cost reduction over the next 27 years, we will be paying $6 for the new iPhone (with no contract required), $5 for the new iPad — or if you don’t want to pay anything, these low costs suggest both the iPhone and iPad will be given away FREE with an iTunes subscription.
Of course, Apple will certainly add new features and capabilities to justify a higher cost — perhaps it all fits into your heads up display glasses and SIRI can access or do anything. But even a new device like this will have dramatically reduced pricing based on the Moore’s Law cost curve.
Now, if we could only get healthcare to come down like this!
The Atlantic praises the new Starbucks-Square deal and the future of a cashless society, suggesting that point of sale methods are outdated and expensive while cashless solutions humanize “the interaction by making the point of contact all about two people’s faces rather than a credit card and a swiper.”
“Frictionless transactions make us forget about money,” which is both a good and bad thing, explains The Atlantic. Increasing purchasing ease is certainly good, but in a nation that already struggles to save money, it is dangerous to make spending money easier.
Another attractive feature is that cash free payments create massive troves of data. This could allow people to receive texts about deals for products that interest them in the area, or simply help economists better understand cash flow.
Wired explains what the future could look like: “You’re walking down the street. It’s hot. The Starbucks a block away sends you a message that your favorite hot-weather order — venti skinny latte on ice — is available to you at a dollar off. You accept the offer, and with a few taps, add an almond biscotti to the tab. Then you stroll into the Starbucks. Everything is ready when you arrive — you simply pick it up, the barista checks out your punim, and you’re out the door.”
Cashless payments could also help people monitor their money better, as users could set up services to budget themselves wirelessly.
The Atlantic does warn that cashless payments could lead to more crime, as hackers can target software.
Representatives from the top American carriers are coming together to form the Mobile Payments Committee (MPC), a task force aimed at consolidating competing platforms for mobile payments into a standardized solution.
“The committee will serve as a way to develop policy and business strategy for the mobile payments industry,” reports VentureBeat.
Starting later this month, the committee will meet to “help participants figure out the complex business relationships necessary to make mobile payment options interoperable; help legislators and regulators understand how to develop mobile payments public policy; and educate consumers and merchants about the benefits of mobile payments,” the article continues.
Commissioned by the trade group Electronic Transactions Association (ETA), the MPC includes representatives from AT&T, Verizon, Sprint and T-Mobile, which could help to end exclusive carrier payment offerings, such as Sprint’s deal with Google Wallet.
Visa is also a member of the committee. Square is not yet involved, but ETA CEO Jason Oxman says he would welcome the company.
Intel may integrate its own wireless charging technology into Intel-based ultrabooks and smartphones by the second half of next year, according to sources.
“In addition to Intel, there are already several smartphone players and telecom carriers aggressively developing wireless charging technology,” reports DigiTimes. “Japan-based NTT Docomo and Sharp both previously launched smartphones with wireless charging functions that meet the Wireless Power Consortium’s (WPS) Qi standard, but high prices are still creating barriers that distance consumers, the sources noted.”
Samsung was expected to unveil a resonance wireless smartphone charger this summer, but the project was delayed due to performance issues. The company may release a magnetic induction wireless charger first.
“Intel’s wireless charging solution uses an ultrabook as the power source paired with related software and a transmitter to wirelessly charge a smartphone,” notes the post. “According to Intel’s data, the solution will feature lower power consumption and does not require the phone to be put in a very specific position.”
Intel has reportedly designed power charging software that includes functions such as equipment examination, charging control, and position tests.
“Sources from notebook players also pointed out that Intel’s Haswell platform is unlikely to fully adopt the wireless charging technology and the idea is expected be seen in just a few models in the second half of 2013,” concludes the post.
Facebook has introduced the Open Compute Project, an open-source endeavor aimed to “do for commercial hardware what Linux did for commercial software — change the way it is designed, built, sold and supported,” reports Business Insider.
Rather than purchasing hardware from Dell or HP, Facebook now custom designs hardware for its needs. Facebook then posts the designs on GitHub for anyone to use or modify.
Facebook director of hardware design and supply chain Frank Frankovsky heads the Open Compute Project.
Frankovsky explains how after the team “built its first data center in Prinevill, Oregon, which opened in April, 2011, they saw that it was 38 percent less expensive to operate, gave them a ’24 percent capex savings advantage’ compared to buying gear from typical vendors and that their data centers consumed a lot less electricity, too.”
Frankovsky believes the hardware his team builds helps eliminate waste, as HP and Dell servers typically have “this beautiful plastic bevel on the front that allows them to put logo on the front. That plastic not only impedes the air flow, which causes the fans to work harder to cool the servers, but when you are deploying servers by the 10’s of thousands, that’s a lot of wasted material that is someday going to be decommissioned and put into the waste stream.”
Frankovsky also explains that his servers are easier to repair. He reports that some technicians can repair his servers eight times more quickly than they can a typical server.
A year ago, Facebook boasted 205 million gamers on its social network. Today, that number has risen to more than 235 million globally, CNET reports.
“Facebook also noted that its total gamer userbase has grown 8.4 percent since the beginning of 2012 and that last month alone, it drove its users to Apple’s App Store and Google’s Play marketplace over 170 million times,” the article continues.
Its App Center has also seen good traffic, hitting 150 million people in just the last month. The company said the App Center drives 2.4 times more installs than the network’s earlier app/game dashboard.
An increase in gaming means good revenue for Facebook, which takes 30 percent of the profit from transactions using its virtual currency, Credits.
“Facebook relies heavily on Zynga, creator of popular titles such as ‘FarmVille’ and ‘CityVille,’ to drive its Credits transactions. But after a few disappointing quarters, Zynga has decided to reorganize its operation and focus more on mobile gaming. That move could eventually spell real trouble for Facebook,” CNET suggests.
Google’s decision to put sites with “high numbers of removal notices for infringing copyright” lower in its search results has somewhat appeased Hollywood while also raising “questions about fairness and the ability of suspected violators to challenge the move,” writes PCWorld.
While the Motion Picture Association of America and the Recording Industry Association of America applaud the move, advocates of Internet freedom aren’t so sure about it.
“It’s an interesting move by Google, which has long been criticized by Hollywood for its hands-off approach to copyright infringement,” notes the article.
Google says it can now get involved because of how often it receives copyright removal notices. “It says it is now receiving and processing more copyright removal notices every day than it did in all of 2009 — more than 4.3 million URLs in the last 30 days alone,” reports PCWorld.
But some groups are expressing concern. “In particular, we worry about the false positives problem,” notes the Electronic Frontier Foundation on its website. “For example, we’ve seen the government wrongly target sites that actually have a right to post the allegedly infringing material in question or otherwise legally display content. In short, without details on how Google’s process works, we have no reason to believe they won’t make similar, over-inclusive mistakes, dropping lawful, relevant speech lower in its search results without recourse for the speakers.”
Buying the latest technological system used to mean buying a competitive edge on rival companies — but no more.
“Without question, some start-ups are producing cutting-edge technology and some customers are taking advantage of their wares to one-up rivals,” Businessweek reports. “On the whole, however, corporations now seem to prefer, whenever practical, to rent the same computing services their rivals do, rather than try to build custom systems.”
Nick Carr predicted this phenomenon back in May 2003 with the publication of his Harvard Business Review article “IT Doesn’t Matter,” which was met with a strong backlash.
“The very companies that bashed Carr back in the day did very little to prepare for the cloud-computing era,” the article states. “Technology giants such as Oracle, SAP, and IBM failed to create attractive Web-service versions of their major software franchises, while HP, Dell, and others opted not to rent out computing power to their customers. Only recently has this started to change in a meaningful way.”
The start-ups that have been successful in the cloud, like Box and Salesforce, aren’t looking to sell to these bigger, older companies. At least not yet, the article suggests.
“The bad news for the big guys is that the cloud companies have shown a major reluctance to being acquired,” according to the article. “It’ll be interesting to see which cloud high-flyer gives in first — and just how high that acquisition price will be.”
Non-practicing entities, or patent trolls, cost American software and hardware companies more than $29 billion in 2011, according to a report from the Boston University School of Law.
Non practicing entities are patent-holding firms or individuals who own patents, but do not use the technology to produce goods. Rather, the patent-holders use their intellectual property to profit when companies use their patented technology.
Spending on patent litigation has risen nearly 436 percent since 2005, and the increase prompted Electronic Times Internet Co. to report “domestic smartphone industry is in a state of emergency due to global ‘patent trolls’ launching a series of attacks.”
“Unlike rival manufacturers such as Apple and Nokia, there is no way to reach cross-license agreements with patent trolls through counter-suits,” continues the report.
The Boston University School of Law suggests solving the problem by providing “greater transparency in the patent system” and by making sure patent damage awards “are proportional to the value of the patented technology.”
The Atlantic writes about the software that “does the heavy lifting for the global economy,” which aren’t your favorite phone apps, but instead the “huge, creaky applications that run Walmart’s supply chain or United’s reservation system or a Toyota production line.”
But even more serious to consider are the software programs that run high-level financial systems, like Knight Capital, “which handled 11 percent of all U. S. stock trading this year” and “lost $440 million when its systems accidentally bought too much stock that it had to unload at a loss.”
“The underlying problem here is that most software is not very good,” explains the article. “Writing good software is hard. There are thousands of opportunities to make mistakes. More importantly, it’s difficult if not impossible to anticipate all the situations that a software program will be faced with.”
In order to address these concerns, companies need to hire qualified, dedicated developers and apply rigid, regularly scheduled software stress testing. However, these recommendations come at a cost and some financial institutions might be more willing to risk staying with current systems rather than investing more in these areas.
“The immediate problem is that as computer programs become more important to the financial system and hence the economy, there is insufficient incentive for trading firms to make sure their software works properly,” suggests The Atlantic.
Catastrophic software failure is viewed as low-probability, stress-testing software is expensive, and creating regulation ensuring good software is problematic.
“The only real solution is to acknowledge that computer programs are going to fail and try to minimize the damage they can cause in advance,” notes the article. “That could include a small trading tax to discourage high-frequency trading, or higher capital requirements to increase the odds that too-big-to-fail banks won’t blow themselves up.”
“Because what if this had happened at JP Morgan instead of at Knight Capital?”
Google has announced that sites receiving numerous valid copyright removal notices will start appearing lower in Google search results so that legitimate sources will appear at the top.
The new policy shows Google’s commitment to promoting high-quality media sources and upholding the rights of creators.
Examples of sites likely to be pushed down the search totem pole are filestube.com, extratorrent.com, torrenthound.com, bitsnoop.com and isohunt.com.
“The ranking change,” Google blogged, “should help users find legitimate, quality sources of content more easily — whether it’s a song previewed on NPR’s music website, a TV show on Hulu or new music streamed from Spotify.”
The MPAA issued an approving, yet cautious, statement: “We are optimistic that Google’s actions will help steer consumers to the myriad legitimate ways for them to access movies and TV shows online, and away from the rogue cyberlockers, peer-to-peer sites, and other outlaw enterprises that steal the hard work of creators across the globe. We will be watching this development closely — the devil is always in the details — and look forward to Google taking further steps to ensure that its services favor legitimate businesses and creators, not thieves.”
“Google has signaled a new willingness to value the rights of creators,” the RIAA added in a press release. “That is good news indeed. And the online marketplace for the hundreds of licensed digital services embraced by the music business is better today than it was yesterday.”