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Bank of England releases app to show off all its gold bling
The Bank of England has released an interesting educational app called Bank of England Virtual Tour. The app gives users a virtual tour inside the Bank of England via panoramic interactive photos. The coolest part is that it lets you go inside the Bank of England's gold vault. The BoE stores over 400,000 gold bars weighing 13kg each and worth an estimated US$525,000 a piece. Here's the full release notes: The Bank of England's Virtual Tour is an app that lets you explore the famous Threadneedle Street building in the heart of the City of London. Discover the architecture, history and current role of the UK's central Bank through a series of stunning 360° panoramic images. Visit 10 locations including a gold vault, committee rooms, a hidden garden and the Bank's museum. You can also check your banknotes using the 'Know Your Banknotes' feature located in the cash vault. Bank of England Virtual Tour is a free download.
The Daily Grind: How organized is your inventory?
Actually looking through my inventory in most games is a bit like opening up a hoarder den. I don't know why I thought a level 37 blue chestpiece was worth saving in Star Wars: The Old Republic, but for some reason it's there, and it's brought a dozen friends. My inventory in Final Fantasy XIV could be mistaken for a random test dump of inventory items, not to mention that one of my retainers has so much raw meat sitting in his inventory that he may be legally classified as a slaughterhouse. I don't think we're as good as we should be about keeping our inventories nice and organized. But maybe I'm just a horrible example. So I ask you, dear readers -- how organized is your inventory? Is it a marvel of cleanliness and efficiency, or do you have an entire wing of bank storage dedicated to a purpose you no longer remember, one that involved seemingly random items? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
Cyberthieves yank $45 million in sophisticated ATM hack, make Ocean's Eleven look trivial
It has the makings of a film -- but the fallout from one of the world's most sophisticated ATM heists is very real. The New York Times is reporting that a massive team of criminals worked in concert in order to grab some $45 million in a matter of hours over the course of two operations. The sheer scope of the project is hard to wrap one's mind around, involving trained personnel positioned in over two dozen countries. Earlier today, federal prosecutors in Brooklyn "unsealed an indictment charging eight members of the New York crew, offering a glimpse into what the authorities said was one of the most sophisticated and effective cybercrime attacks ever uncovered." In essence, the hackers were able to infiltrate various credit card processing companies and raise withdrawal limits on prepaid accounts -- from there, cashing crews hit thousands of ATMs, socking away millions in the process. Hit up the source link for the full read; it's a wild one, for sure.
Patch 5.3: Transmog to be available from bank and void storage
If you're a fan of mogging whose bags are already full to bursting, then MMO-Champion brings good news: in patch 5.3, you'll be able to transmogrify using items that are currently in the bank or void storage. The ability is actually already in the game for void storage, but there's no UI elements that let you access it. However, anyone wanting to get ahead of the curve can download the VoidTransmog addon, and transmogrify away without the bother of actually pulling your items out of storage. While it's a small change, we're sure transmog fans will appreciate the convenience of this tweak. Of course, patch 5.3 is still far on the horizon and it's likely that eager transmogrifiers will be waiting on this for quite a while.
Dark Age of Camelot launches an update and answers player questions
If you've been playing Dark Age of Camelot for a while, odds are good that you've acquired a lot of things. You've got a set of Epic Armor, you've got tons of items clogging your bank, and you've got a pair of fuzzy bunny slippers that you don't remember buying but you now refuse to remove. The game's latest patch does not improve your slipper situation, but it does improve Epic Armor, add new Epic Weapons and Accessories, allow for remote bank access, and increase the stack limits on many items. So everything else gets better. Does that satisfy you? No? You want to know more about the future of the game? Well, then, you can feast your eyes on a new set of community answers from the development team addressing the future update plans for the game as well as which areas will not be seeing much improvement (throwing weapons, for instance, are pretty much up the creek). So there's plenty for DAoC fans to enjoy. However, no one enjoys those bunny slippers. Seriously. Wear armor like everyone else. [Thanks to Etaew for the tip!]
The mysteries of an old alt's vault
When I haven't played a character for a long time, the contents of their bank become something akin to the one piece of Tupperware that drifts into the back of the refrigerator. After awhile, you completely forget what's in there -- and you'd really rather not look. It's best for everyone involved if you continue ignoring its existence entirely. However, potentially caused by flu-induced delirium, I decided to crack open the Tupperware that is my rogue's bank to see what lurks within. I actually do play my rogue quite a bit nowadays. In fact, midway through Cataclysm, she became my main. However, the contents of her bank remained completely off-limits, as I hadn't played her since early Burning Crusade. I simply did not want to chase down that rabbit hole. Until now. The very first item I saw in there? A stack of 42 Minion's Scourgestones from my days of farming the Western Plaguelands' Sorrow Hill back in 2005. This is going to be rough.
Bitcoin-Central becomes first Bitcoin exchange licensed to operate like a bank
BitInstant may be aiming for a Bitcoin debit card, but it looks like a European Bitcoin exchange will beat it to the punch. After working with French financial regulators, Bitcoin-Central has hammered out a deal with French payment processor Acoba and France's Credit Mutuel bank to become a payment service provider, which allows it to function much like a bank. According to Bitcoin-Central, it's the first exchange of the digital currency to be licensed to operate as a bank and function within the framework of European regulations. Customers will now have funds held under their name -- rather than that of the exchange -- at Credit Mutuel and insured by the Garantie des dépôts, the French analog of the FDIC (Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation). Soon, users of the service will be able to order debit cards that can use Bitcoins and Euros for purchases and cash withdrawals. Yearning for some direct deposit action? In a few months, the organization will be able to accept direct deposits and even automatically convert hard-earned cash into Bitcoins. The virtual bullion has taken its lumps, but this is a development that fans of the currency can be proud of. For more details, tap the bordering source link. [Image credit: Zach Copley, Flickr]
Bank of America testing QR Code scanning mobile payment system in North Carolina
Mobile payment is still a bit of a wild west at the moment, and seemingly every technological and financial institution has a dog in this fight. Bank of America's not going to just sit idly by and watch it all unfold. The US's second largest bank has flirted with NFC in the past and is currently doing trials with QR scanning in Charlotte, North Carolina, where it's based. At present, five sellers in the area are taking part in the pilot program, with bank employees given access to the technology. The three-month trial is the result of a partnership with mobile payment company Paydiant, is compatible with Android handsets and iPhones, no NFC needed, naturally.
Rogers and CIBC make joint deal for NFC mobile payments in Canada, let you check out with your BlackBerry
Canadians sometimes can't catch a break: while NFC payments have been relatively common for Americans, Europeans and certainly the Japanese, Canucks have had to largely make do paying with ye olde credit carde. Rogers and national bank CIBC want to put an end to these antediluvian ways: starting later this year, CIBC card holders will just need to swipe an NFC-equipped BlackBerry like the Bold 9900 (Bold 9930 for CDMA-loving Americans) at a matching terminal to pay at a given store. The only special requirement is a secure SIM card that gives customers the freedom to change phones, even if it does create problems switching banks or carriers down the line. We're just hoping that Android and other platforms get the same treatment and let more of our Canadian friends pay for poutine that much faster.
EnStream to bring mobile wallet to Canadians, make loonies obsolete (video)
A joint venture of Canadian carriers Rogers, Bell and Telus called EnStream is in final talks with the country's leading banks (likely CIBC, TD, RBC, Scotiabank and BMO) to bring a mobile wallet solution to the Great White North within six months. The system, which was demoed at the CWTA Wireless Showcase last September, enables mobile payments by storing a user's financial credentials on the SIM located inside their NFC-capable phone. It aims to replace credit and debit cards at first -- perhaps even driver's licenses and loyalty programs down the road. Carriers plan to charge banks a flat rate instead of a per-transaction fee. According to Almis Ledas, EnStream's COO, "banking machines will become the payphones of the future". While we command this attempt to standardize mobile payments in Canada, the time frame seems rather optimistic in light of the slow progress AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon have made with Isis in the US so far. Different countries, different rules of course -- still, we think it's going to take quite a while to make loonies obsolete. Maybe this is the perfect window of opportunity for Google Wallet and Square to jump across the border, eh? Time will tell. Check out EnStream's mobile wallet in action on video after the break.
Japanese biometric ATM reads your palm, tells fortune
A palm reading cash machine might not tell you your fortune, but it will, at least, dispense some of it. Ogaki Kyoritsu Bank in Japan has revealed that it will introduce the nation's first ATM that lets you withdraw money just by scanning your palm. This isn't the first ATM to use extra human verification, but it claims it's the first that functions without the need for your cash card. Customers will need to pop in to a branch to provide some manual verification -- and of course a palm scan -- then you're away. The bank hopes this will help people access their cash in the event of losing your card, or a natural disaster. Great until you upgrade to one of these.
Bump Pay lets you tap a friend for cash
Taking cues from an ING Direct app that used its API, Bump Technologies has developed its own version of the mobile payments software, enabling phone-to-phone "Bump" transactions using PayPal. Yes, PayPal. That minor processing detail aside, the service appears to offer a fun solution for simplifying the fairly painful process of paying the check at group meals, or splitting a tank of gas with a friend. Both you and your bud need to have the app installed before you can beam that green, and there's no option to send payments remotely, though you could always use plain ole vanilla PayPal for that. The app is free, and if you have a checking account linked you won't have to deal with any fees. Bump Pay is iOS only "at launch" (read: it could be making its way to Android as well), so for now you'll need to bump the App Store to get folks paid.
Google Wallet supports prepaid cards once again, afflicted users get $5 in compensation
Google Wallet's prepaid experiment hasn't been the smoothest of endeavors, but the company wants to make up for all the headaches -- with cash. A few weeks ago, Google disabled a feature that allowed users to add a Google Prepaid Card to their wallets after either removing it, or resetting their apps. The move came in response to mounting security concerns, but those issues have been allayed with the latest version of Google Wallet, meaning that users can now re-add their prepaid cards and hoover up all the money that was previously on them. To make up for the "inconvenience," Google has added an extra $5 to every prepaid card, and sent an email out to all its customers to let them know about it. So if you count yourself among the legions of inconvenienced, be sure to add your card and spend that $5 on something sublime.
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.
Google Wallet gets prepaid security fix, but 'brute-force' issue still hangs in the air
Google says it's fixed a Wallet security flaw that potentially allowed a phone thief to spend a user's prepaid balance. The ability to provision new prepaid cards had been suspended pending the update, but has now been restored. Things aren't quite back to normal in the Big G's world of mobile money, however. Users still find themselves caught between two competing arguments over an entirely different vulnerability, which involves a 'brute-force' attack on rooted devices. Google insists that this isn't a major concern, so long as Wallet users refrain from rooting, and that the system still "offers advantages over the plastic cards and folded wallets in use today." On the other hand, the company that discovered this issue -- zvelo -- has come back at Google with an equally blunt response. It acknowledges that a handset must be rooted to be vulnerable, but crucially its researchers also say that a device doesn't have to be rooted before it's stolen. In other words, they allege that a savvy thief can potentially steal a phone and then root it themselves, and they won't be happy with Wallet until it requires longer PIN number. Whichever argument sways you, it's worth bearing in mind that there's no evidence that anyone has yet managed to exploit these weaknesses for criminal purposes.
Provisioning for prepaid Google Wallet cards on hold while PIN-related security hole gets fixed
Remember that Google Wallet exploit from a few days ago? The one that would allow 'brute-force' PIN attacks, but only on rooted Android devices? Well, another PIN-related security hole was discovered soon after, putting even non-rooted Androids at risk. As Android Central points out, should your phone make its way into the wrong hands, your Google Wallet PIN number could be reassigned, allowing access to the prepaid account attached to the phone itself -- yikes. As such, the folks at Mountain View have taken action, shuttering provisions to prepaid cards until it finds a permanent fix for the problem. Despite the troubles, Google is sticking by its original tune, stating that Google Wallet offers multiples levels of protection (when used on official builds of Android) that go beyond traditional plastic cards, including your phone's lock screen. There's no estimate on when things will be back to normal, but you'll find Google's assessments and assurances about this situation at the source link below.
Darkfall specializes magic schools, replaces death with limbo system
Aventurine continues its trek toward Darkfall's game revamp, aka Darkfall 2.0, and in a new producer letter, Tasos Flambouras drops a few interesting info nuggets to tide loyal players over until the job is done. He states that the team is retuning each of the game's eight schools of magic so that each one feels more unique and focused. For example, air magic will be specialized to do more damage in close quarters against fewer targets, while fire magic will excel at long-distance AoE attacks. The team also thinks it has figured out this pesky "death" problem by coming up with a more interesting limbo system. The way it works is that when players are taken down, they have a choice between either respawning back at a bind stone or waiting for a timer to count down to zero and initiate a respawn on the spot. If players opt to endure the limbo period, they can re-equip their characters from their bank boxes. Aventurine continues to hire on new team members for the project, including a designer who will facilitate communication between devs and the community.
The Guild Counsel: Guild life in SWTOR
If you thought the future looked cloudy for guilds in MMOs, Star Wars: The Old Republic's launch stomped out any doubts. The pre-launch list of guilds was so enormous that it rivaled the total player populations of other MMOs. But there are some interesting aspects to guild life in SWTOR, and this week in The Guild Counsel, we'll take a closer look at them. If you're interested in some first impressions from a guild perspective, or if you're wondering how to make a guild now that the game has launched, read on for a look at guild life in SWTOR.
The Daily Grind: Do you banksit?
In every MMO with a bank, players banksit. OK, so people preferred to cantina-sit in Star Wars Galaxies, and entire guilds banksat in Ultima Online as a show of strength, but they just prove the rule: Gamers love to be seen, and they flock to the most active spots in the game to make sure that happens, even if it means standing around all day pretending to shuffle Very Important Items in their storage vaults while feeling superior to any newbie who enviously inspects their gear. In many cases, players are deliberately banksitting instead of sitting in their player cities, homes, guild halls, or other game-issued gathering spot, like taverns or inns, never mind the fact that said players could be out actually adventuring, and because of that, "banksitting" is almost a dirty word in some MMOs. So do you banksit? Do you do it while waiting for something more interesting to happen, like a queue popping or your buddy hopping online? Do you do it to people-watch, to see and be seen? Do you banksit to truly feel how massive and busy your chosen game is, to meet new people and enjoy the thrum of activity? Or do you think the whole concept of hanging out at a bank is just as silly in a game as it is in the real world? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
Pandaria to eschew capital cities for scattered vendors, separate faction hubs
In today's Mists of Pandaria Live Developer QA, a player asked whether we'd see a Dalaran-like capital city on the new continent of Pandaria. Cory Stockton's answer reveals a surprising amount about the new Pandaria paradigm of exploration.
