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Google wants to be your new bank
It's not just Apple and Facebook diving headlong into the financial world. Google has revealed plans to offer checking accounts in 2020 through a project nicknamed Cache. The search giant won't handle the actual underpinnings -- Citigroup and a credit union at Stanford University will both handle the accounts and feature the most prominent branding. There will still be integration between Google and the accounts, though, and some of it might raise concerns among regulators.
Facebook might let you chat with your bank over Messenger
Facebook wants to incorporate your banking info into Messenger and has approached companies like JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Citigroup and US Bancorp over the past year, the Wall Street Journal reports. People familiar with the discussions told the publication that Facebook has sought data on card transactions and checking account balances and has proposed giving its users access to banking information such as account balances and fraud alerts through Messenger. The move comes as Facebook tries to boost engagement and banks grapple with how to reach more customers digitally. Since the original WSJ report, Facebook has clarified that while it may partner with banks so financial institutions can use Messenger for customer support, it doesn't have any interest in going beyond that.
Banks ban credit purchase of cryptocurrency due to risks
If you use your Bank of America-, JP Morgan Chase- or Citigroup-issued credit card to buy cryptocurrency, then you'll have to find an alternative ASAP. According to Bloomberg, the banks have banned crypto purchase using their cards due to the virtual coins' volatile nature. BofA has already started declining credit transactions with known exchanges, though its debit cards aren't be affected by the ban. Citigroup also announced on Friday that it'll no longer process crypto purchases, while JP Morgan Chase's new rule will take effect today.
Instagram is now worth 49 times what Facebook paid for it
Many baulked when Facebook head Mark Zuckerberg agreed to drop $1 billion on Instagram in April 2012. "That's $33 per user," said some; "there's no business model!" screamed others. Less than three years later and Citigroup now says Instagram is worth $35 billion. That's almost 49 times higher than the $715 million Facebook ended up paying after its stock price fell, and considerably higher than rivals Twitter and LinkedIn. How did things go so right?
Daily Update for October 4, 2013
It's the TUAW Daily Update, your source for Apple news in a convenient audio format. You'll get all the top Apple stories of the day in three to five minutes for a quick review of what's happening in the Apple world. You can listen to today's Apple stories by clicking the inline player (requires Flash) or the non-Flash link below. To subscribe to the podcast for daily listening through iTunes, click here. No Flash? Click here to listen. Subscribe via RSS
Citigroup fined $30 million for leaking iPhone research
Citigroup is learning the hard way that leaking unpublished research on iPhone production numbers to institutional investors ahead of other investors is wrong. The company has been fined US$30 million for sending that data to SAC Capital, T. Rowe Price, Citadel and GLC Partners ahead of official publication that would have been available to all investors. All of the investment firms except GLC Partners used information gathered by Citigroup analyst Kevin Chang to sell off AAPL shares before the news hit the rest of the market. The day Chang's research was made public on December 14, 2012, Apple's share price fell 5.2 percent so the three institutional investors who acted on his research early saved themselves millions. The fine was levied in a consent order from the Secretary of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, William Galvin, who noted, "It seems that the concept that investors are to be presented with a level playing field when it comes to the product of research analysts is a lesson that must be learned over and over again. But it's important that it should be taught as often as necessary." Citigroup was also fined last year when another analyst disclosed confidential information before Facebook's IPO. Chang has been fired from the company.
Banks brace for cyberwarfare drill Quantum Dawn 2
Come June 28th, Wall Street outfits including the likes of Citigroup and Bank of America will be under siege -- from fake hackers, that is. Representatives from a total of 40 companies along with the Federal Reserve, Securities and Exchange Commission, US departments of Treasury and Homeland Security will take part in Quantum Dawn 2: a simulated cyberattack on faux trading and information systems. Led by the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association, the drill will test the ability of participants to cooperate via email and phone to suss out what's going on and hatch a plan. The exercise will momentarily pause so that those involved can decide on a course of action, and then it'll speed up and model the effects of the decision over a longer period of time. With the recent flurry of hacking incidents and international finger pointing, something tells us this won't be the last we hear of drills like Quantum Dawn. [Image credit: MoneyBlogNewz, Flickr]
AAPL dropped below $500 on Monday
Apple 2.0 is reporting that Apple stock dropped to US$497 in pre-market trading this morning. That's the first time that the stock has been below $500 since February 15, 2012. On Sunday, Citigroup lowered its price target for AAPL and also downgraded the stock from Buy to Neutral. That bad news was tempered by a report from Apple showing that over 2 million iPhone 5s had been sold in mainland China in just three days. At the time this post was being written (about 9:45 AM), the stock had recovered and was hovering in the range of $511 per share.
Cha-ching! IBM's Watson heads to Citigroup to meddle in human finances
Watson's been a busy supercomputer since it took a couple of humans to school on Jeopardy last year -- what with its stint at Columbia and a recent foray into hunting patent trolls -- and now it's taking on the financial industry. IBM and Citigroup recently announced plans to explore how America's favorite supercomputer fits into the realm of digital banking. Under the agreement, Citi will examine Watson's ability to "help analyze customer needs and process vast amounts of up-to-the-minute financial, economic, product and client data," in the hopes of providing rapid, personalized banking solutions. According to Bloomberg, Watson's financial assistance will be provided as a "cloud-based service" and will earn IBM a portion of the revenue and savings it helps generate. The full press release (which makes no mention of a vacation for the overworked machine) can be found after the break.
MIT's got a way of using encrypted data without decrypting it, next stop, traveling without moving
Excepting Jersey Shore participants, people generally value privacy and it's a bigger issue when so much data is stored online. Ethical data controllers will keep it encrypted, but much like leaving food in a fridge, you have to take it out if you wanna use it, which is when it's most at risk. A team from MIT, thinks it's found a solution: a database that allows you to ask it questions without taking it out of the fridge... wait, what? CryptDB works by turning data into "homomorphic" information: strings of numbers, which you can then calculate against one another to get the answers you require. The frankensoftware is comprised of other encryption services, layered like an onion -- but capable of switching between processes instantly. The project was funded by Google and Citigroup and has been so successful that DARPA might be rolling some tanks up Massachusetts Avenue to offer the team a $20 million bounty. Head on down to our source link to read the paper that's so complex it made our eyes go cross-eyed.
MasterCard demos Google Wallet, QkR platform for mobile payments
You've most likely heard plenty about NFC-capable smartphones, but little in the way of actual real-world uses for the chip. Well, MasterCard's looking to change all of that, and throw in a few innovations of its own courtesy of its in-house R&D labs and Google. Shown off at an event today, the company demoed the Google Wallet application we first learned about back in May -- which is gearing up for an official launch sometime "soon." Running on Sprint's Nexus S 4G -- with a planned expansion to multiple devices -- users can connect a Citi MasterCard account to the service, and tap-to-pay at any retail location outfitted with a PayPass station. The transactions take place as instantaneously as you'd expect, with spending alerts notated automatically in-app, as well as via text message. If you're the paranoid type or just a spendthrift, the app offers plenty of options to set spending limits, approve / block purchases via category (i.e. dining, entertainment) and enable alerts for overseas activity. Currently, the Google Wallet service is Android-only, and that's probably a direct result of the AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile backed mobile payment rival, ISIS. But the company's also got one eye fixed squarely on the future -- scheming up alternate implementations for payment on-the-go through its MasterCard Labs division. Focusing on its QkR platform (an obvious play on QR codes), these concepts ranged from television audio signals encoded with purchase data, audible to a phone running the QkR app, or fast-food tabletops embedded with NFC and QR codes that'll allow customers to scan for coupons, order remotely and apply the discount -- all without leaving their seats. The most interesting use of the new platform, however, had nothing to do with mobile phone use and everything to do with an Xbox Kinect. Utilizing the gesture recognition tech, items could be selected on-screen by holding your hand over an item and navigating through the checkout process. We know, yet another great proof-of-concept, but tuck away that cynicism for a second -- a company representative confided to us that soft-pilot testing of QkR is already underway, with an official announcement slated in the next two weeks. And don't worry about it being a Google OS-only affair, QkR's been tested across iOS, Windows Phone Mango and even BlackBerry. Whether or not the innovative payment system'll launch with all of these mobile OS on-board wasn't clear, but we were assured there'd be at least two partners on board. Jump past the break to get a close-up view of our hands-on with the future of payment. %Gallery-133981%
WSJ: Google teams with MasterCard and Citigroup for NFC payments, also files patent app
Ever since the Nexus S and its nifty little NFC chip hit the market, there's been speculation that El Goog was planning a foray into the mobile payment arena currently occupied by the likes of Charge Anywhere. Now, it looks like that plan may be in high gear, as the Wall Street Journal reports that Google's secretly partnered with MasterCard and Citigroup to test out just such a system. According to the publication, the early demo pairs "one current model and many coming models of Android phones" with existing Citigroup-sponsored credit and debit cards, and is using the phones' NFC chips with those VeriFone readers we recently heard about. What's more, a newly-published patent application from the crew in Mountain View may hint at the software behind such things. The application describes a service that sets up Google as a third-party broker who receives the shopping cart info of customers placing orders via a device (including those of the mobile variety), allows them to select shipping and other options, and provides the total order cost. It then collects payment, coordinates shipment, and forwards order information to the seller to complete the transaction. So companies can have Google handle all their payment-taking needs in return for getting a sneak peek at what folks are buying -- something that the WSJ's sources say might be a component of the setup Google's testing right now -- as opposed to other third-party services, like Paypal, that only obtain and exchange payment info with merchants. Looks like Alma Whitten (Google's Director of Privacy) has her work cut out assuaging the concerns such a system will inevitably create in an increasingly privacy-minded populace. Sean Hollister contributed to this report.
Citi discloses security flaw in iPhone app, is probably sending you a(nother) new card right now
Call us jaded, bitter or just downright unlucky, but we've received more new Citi card digits in the past two years than we know what to do with. Every other month or so, some prankster is breaking into some database and compromising some quantity information over at Citi (or at least that's how it seems), and now the frustrations have spilled over into the mobile realm. Citigroup recently fessed up to a security flaw in its iPhone app, and even Apple has joined in encouraging users to upgrade in order to maintain their dignity, identity and sanity. According to reports, just over 117,000 customers were affected, though "the bank doesn't believe any personal data was exposed by the flaw." Of course, if you'd like that to remain the case, we'd suggest you upgrade right away.
Citibank says iPhone app has security flaw
The wire services and the Wall Street Journal are reporting that the Citi Mobile app that Citibank offered to customers has a security flaw, and that it saved personal account information in a hidden file on users' iPhones. Our own Mike Rose reports that he got one of Citi's letters to customers warning them about the security issue. The information saved on the iPhones included account numbers, bill payment information, and even security access codes. If customers synced their phones to a Mac or PC that information would also be on those computers and could theoretically be accessible by hackers. "We have no reason to believe that our customers' personal information has been accessed or used inappropriately by anyone," Citi said. The newest version of the Citi app is online and is listed as a 'mandatory' update for customers.
Mobile payments coming to Mexico
Like Canada, Mexico's getting mobile payments, too, but these are just a bit different in two very important respects. One, this is a full-fledged service being underwritten by Telefonica, Iusacell, Citibank, and BBVA -- not just a trial. Two, unlike the NFC-based Canadian system, this one will rely on text messages to get the cash flowing. The service is expected to launch in the next few months and get backing from restaurants, stores, and taxis, all places where we can recall specific times when we would've rather kept our wallets in our pockets when the time came to pony up. Of course, considering how miserably unsuccessful mobile payments have been across North America so far (we've still got our fingers crossed that NFC is going to take off one of these days), this one could die off as quickly as it started unless it catches a break and goes big.
Details emerge on Cingular's NFC plans
We'd previously noticed that Cingular was collaborating with Citigroup on some sort of mobile payment system in New York City, though details were pretty slim for the picking at the time; now the carrier has come out with full disclosure on exactly what it is they have up their sleeves. Like its Atlanta trial last year, the New York program involves Nokia handsets fitted with NFC (near-field communication) guts -- though for the sake of the trial participants, we hope Cingular is offering something a little more up-to-date than the lowly 3220 this time around. Unlike Atlanta, however, Cingular has switched up their financial partner from Chase / Visa to Citi / Mastercard, giving users the ability to use their phone for payment anywhere Mastercard's PayPass system is accepted. Parties involved expect the trial to last a total of three to six months, at which point we should all have a better perspective on how folks feel about shedding cash by tapping their cellphones against various surfaces. Of course, Japan seems to like it just fine -- so why not us?
Analyst "confirms" AMD desktops for Dell in September
We wear a little thin with analysts always doing their analyst thing and telling us what companies are up to with no proof whatsoever, but it sure seems Citigroup Investment Research is pretty confident this time about Dell going AMD in September. They're claiming to have "confirmed from industry sources that Dell will offer an AMD based desktop in September of this year." Dell just added AMD chips to their server line after holding out for years, and also recently bought the AMD-friendly Alienware, both of which has helped continue the constant rumors of Dell using AMD across the line. As for this rumor, there aren't any deets on the actual desktop model, but Citigroup's Glen Yeung is saying that AMD's smarminess about market share expansion this year stems from a deal cut with Dell. Alright, Glen Yeung of Citigroup, we're holding you to this one!
