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Samsung goes big on smart fridges with 10 new models
Samsung must have done alright with its crazy WiFi-connected smart fridges last year, because it's launching six more in 2017, for a total of 10. That includes both three-door, four-door and four-door "flex" models with dual freezers (shown above). It's also updated the fridge's OS to Family Hub 2.0 with a new interface that lets everyone have a profile, complete with avatar. From there, you can share photos, calendars and handwritten memos on your fridge's giant 21.5-inch LED touchscreen. Voice control and entertainment apps like Pandora are on offer as well.
GM will use Watson AI to recommend services on the road
Artificial intelligence isn't just being used to automate cars... it's finding a home in conventional cars, too. GM has unveiled a partnership with IBM that will see the Watson cognitive computing platform power OnStar Go, its latest in-car service offering. The AI technology will suggest stores and services based on your location, your decisions and your habits. If you're driving home from work, for example, OnStar can remind you to pick up shopping on the way back. It can also recommend restaurants when you arrive in a new city, or tell you that a store order is ready for pickup.
Samsung Pay adds new online payment options
Samsung Pay already works in a lot of places because of its canny MST magnetic tech, and the company is taking steps to make the service even more ubiquitous. Starting next year, it will work with Mastercard's Masterpass, letting more users buy online from a computer or handheld device, skip the usual form-filling and authenticate with a fingerprint. (Mastercard also made Masterpass deals with Android Pay and Microsoft Wallet earlier this week.)
Our fingerprints, eyes and faces will replace passwords
Passwords are a pain in the ass. They're either easy to crack or hard to remember, and when breaches occur you have to come up with a whole new one. So people are trying to do away with passwords altogether, and so far, fingerprint scanners are doing the job nicely.
ICYMI: The selfie-obsessed can verify online ID with photos
try{document.getElementById("aol-cms-player-1").style.display="none";}catch(e){}Today on In Case You Missed It: Mastercard is introducing a way to verify online purchases, by sending a link to the user's cell phone, which then walks them through taking a selfie and blinking on command to show they're a real human. Meanwhile Google unleashed a slew of new products at its Developer's Conference in San Francisco, here's the full scoop on the new phone. Toyota's cute little robot is available only in Japan but sure is darling, the video is here. As always, please share any interesting tech or science videos you find by using the #ICYMI hashtag on Twitter for @mskerryd.
Mastercard's 'selfie pay' comes to Europe
Have you dreamt of a world where everyone verifies their online purchases with a selfie? Me neither, but apparently that's a future Mastercard believes in. The company's "Identity Check Mobile," better known as selfie pay, is rolling out now in the following European markets: Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Hungary, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden and the UK. It follows trials in the US, Canada and the Netherlands, which have presumably gone down a storm -- Mastercard says the technology will be available "across the globe" starting next year.
Mastercard is offering free Tube travel with Android Pay
In a bid to boost mobile payments, Mastercard kicked-off a series of promotional events last year where it would pay for Londoners' travel if they used its cards to tap in and out of the Tube with Apple Pay. It must have been a success, because today the card giant confirmed that it will do the same for cardholders with Android devices, allowing you to travel on London's travel networks for free every Monday throughout October.
PayPal's Mastercard deal brings its payments to more stores
PayPal wants to be your go-to payment option online and in stores, but it has a problem: banks and credit cards aren't a fan of its free bank transfers and other attempts to push online payment over the conventional variety. However, it's trying to make amends. In the wake of a Visa deal from July, PayPal has forged a partnership with Mastercard that gives the credit card firm higher prominence online in return for more of a retail footprint. PayPal will make Mastercard a "clear and equal" payment choice in its wallet (complete with an image of your card), let you set the card as a default payment method and will "not encourage" you to link a bank account if you're a Mastercard customer. In exchange, you can use a linked Mastercard in your PayPal wallet to make in-store purchases at contact-free terminals.
MasterCard is lending its mobile payment tech to banks
MasterCard is hoping to make in-store mobile payments -- the ability to wave your phone at a terminal to buy something -- more accessible. The company is teaming up with several banks, including Citi and Bank of America, to let customers pay for stuff using bank apps on their phones. Meaning, you won't have to download a dedicated app.
Pepper the robot gets a job at Pizza Hut
SoftBank's Pepper robot has been gainfully employed in the past, but it's apparently ready for a new career in the food industry. Pizza Hut Asia is partnering with MasterCard on a trial that will use Pepper for orders and information in restaurants by the end of 2016. Once you pair your MasterPass account, you can do everything from paying for your meal to asking about the calorie count. It's not necessarily as quick as ordering directly from your phone, but a demo (below) suggests that it's fairly painless -- it's easy to see the humanoid helper taking some of the load off of Pizza Hut's staff. Let's just hope that it fares well in less-than-ideal conditions.
Apple Pay finally becomes useful in Canada
Apple Pay technically launched in Canada back in November, but it might as well have been non-existent -- you could only use a directly-issued American Express card, which isn't all that common in the country. At last, though, things are opening up. Apple has announced that its tap-to-pay service is now available through a much, much wider range of providers. Right now, you can use it through heavyweights CIBC and RBC (both credit and debit cards) as well as smaller providers ATB (initially MasterCard-only) and Canadian Tire (MasterCard). The other big three (BMO, Scotiabank and TD) aren't ready yet, but they've all committed to letting you pay with your iPhone or Apple Watch in the months ahead.
MasterCard's selfie security: What could possibly go wrong?
When I read about MasterCard's plan to do selfie security with purchases, I wondered what the first massive breach of biometric data is going to look like. Unlike passwords, biometrics such as face mapping, fingerprints and iris scans can't be changed when a database gets popped. Worse, data sold to marketers or snarfed into an authoritarian database isn't revokable. Manny the cat would not approve. Fortunately, MasterCard isn't going to be replacing the password or pin with selfies, but instead wants to make its "Selfie Pay" app part of a two-step security routine when purchases are made or money is withdrawn. MasterCard says users will be required to blink for the app to demonstrate it's a live image. The company plans to roll it out in the U.S., Canada, the U.K. and a few European countries by this summer.
Ride on the Tube for free using Apple Pay next week
At the tail end of last year, Mastercard incentivized card owners to use Apple Pay by gifting them free travel as part of its "Fare Free Mondays" promotion. It must have proved popular, because the company has decided to run the campaign again, allowing Londoners with an Apple Watch or iPhone 6 (or newer) to ride the London Underground and buses for free over the next three Mondays.
Mastercard to let Brits confirm payments with a selfie
In its latest attempt to reduce online fraud, payment giant Mastercard is bringing its "selfie pay" technology to the UK. MasterCard Identity Check, which also utilizes fingerprint technology, maps a user's face to verify their identity, replacing pin codes, passwords or verification codes typically used to verify mobile phone payments.
Australian securities market set to begin trading Bitcoin
The Australian securities exchange (ASX) is preparing to publicly trade shares of the Bitcoin Group on February 9th, under the BCG handle. Bitcoin Group currently operates 6,000 "mining" rigs spread across seven international locations (though mostly in China where the cost of electricity is most affordable). The company hopes to raise more than $20 million on the sale of 100 million, $0.20 shares during its initial public offering.
MasterCard and Coin bring payments to your fitness band
Right now, you don't have many choices for paying for things from your wrist: there's the Apple Watch, the Microsoft Band (at Starbucks) and not much else. MasterCard and Coin don't think you should have to suffer from this lack of choice, though. They're teaming up to bring credit card payments to all kinds of wearable devices, including fitness trackers and a wider variety of smartwatches. Coin will supply the necessary hardware and software, while MasterCard will unsurprisingly handle the service side of things.
Samsung Pay works with 19 more banks in the US
Samsung has signed a deal that'll get its smartphone-based payments system accepted with 19 more banks in the US. The agreement means that you'll now be able to use your Galaxy smartphone as a substitute for a PNC Visa and KeyBank MasterCard credit and debit card. In addition, the partnership means that plenty of regional issuers are now signed up, including TCF Bank, Utah Community Credit Union and USC Credit Union. If you've yet to make a splash into the realm of Samsung Pay, you'll need to grab a Galaxy S6 variant or a Note 5 and download the app from Google Play and dash to your nearest franchise coffee house.
PayPal, Square and big banking's war on the sex industry
For nearly a decade, PayPal, JPMorgan Chase, Visa/MasterCard, and now Square, have systematically denied or closed accounts of small businesses, artists and independent contractors whose business happens to be about sex. These payment processing authorities have also coerced websites to cease featuring sexual content under threat of service withdrawal, all while blaming ambiguous rules or pressure from one another.Monday a federal appeals court ruled that pressuring credit card companies like Visa and Mastercard to stop doing business with speech-protected websites violates their First Amendment rights. Specifically ones that feature content from sex workers. And in June, the FDIC clarified that it's against the rules for businesses like PayPal, Chase and Square to refuse business or close accounts based on "high risk" assessments related to human sexuality. But it may not be enough to stop what's become an entrenched pattern of systematic discrimination by payment processors -- one that disproportionately denies financial opportunities for women.
Designer makes a dress that can pay for your purchases
One of MasterCard's first partners for its new wearables project is Adam Selman -- Rihanna's favorite fashion designer, according to The New York Times. Since that initiative aims to bring mobile payments to pretty much everything, you can guess what his contributions to the initiative are: clothes and accessories that can pay for your purchases. And, thankfully, they look like items people would actually wear rather than ridiculously futuristic pieces that came right out of The Jetsons. One of them's the dress the woman in the image above is wearing, which hides a payment chip storing her credit card details right inside its bow.
MasterCard aims to bring mobile payments to every gadget
MasterCard is envisioning a future of ubiquitous payments, where practically every device has the ability to pay for things at contactless terminals. The credit card company unveiled a new program today with precisely that goal, and it has also lined up a bunch of early partners, including GM and wearable companies Nymi and Ringly. It also looks like MasterCard isn't just looking at typical gadgets -- it even wants payments in things like fashion accessories (designer Adam Selman is another launch partner). It's not hard to see why MasterCard is making this push. Seamless payments are convenient for customers, but it's also essential for MasterCard to gain a foothold in the post-credit card era. And smaller companies will likely need some help if they want to integrate payments (Jawbone, for example, teamed up with American Express for the Up4).