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A facial recognition algorithm was applied to naturalistic images of 1,085,795 individuals to predict their political orientation by comparing their similarity to faces of liberal and conservative others. Political orientation was correctly classified in 72% of liberal–conservative face pairs, remarkably better than chance (50%), human accuracy (55%), or one afforded by a 100-item personality questionnaire (66%). Accuracy was similar across countries (the U.S., Canada, and the UK), environments (Facebook and dating websites), and when comparing faces across samples. Accuracy remained high (69%) even when controlling for age, gender, and ethnicity. Given the widespread use of facial recognition, our findings have critical implications for the protection of privacy and civil liberties.

From Facial recognition technology can expose political orientation from naturalistic facial images | Scientific Reports:

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According to the research, cash payments for in-store purchases are forecast to slump from 8.3 per cent in 2020 to just 2.1 per cent in 2024, making Australia the fourth most cash averse country behind Sweden (0.4 per cent), Denmark (0.8 per cent) and Hong Kong (1.6 per cent).

From Australia on track to be almost cashless by 2024 as digital payments soar – Tech Guide:

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Crypto grifters will talk about “digital ownership.” This is meaningless… Christie’s auction of an NFT is a fabulous worked example. There’s a 33-page terms and conditions document, and if you wade through the circuitous verbiage, it finally admits that … you’re just buying the crypto-token itself:

From NFTs: crypto grifters try to scam artists, again – Attack of the 50 Foot Blockchain:

You can see why my good friend David Gerrard quite rightly calls this a scam. But in some circumstances, when you need to prove ownership of that crypto token in order to do something (eg, access a concert) then NFTs provide a means to create an efficient market in that access.

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Holders of an American Express Centurion card will soon be able to make purchases by linking their card to a wearable contactless payments chip embedded in a leather bracelet created by Italian fashion house Prada.

From Amex to offer Prada payments bracelet to Centurion members • NFCW.

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The San Francisco-based company will spend about $22 million to acquire Golden Pacific Bancorp Inc., which has three branches in and around Sacramento and about $150 million in assets. SoFi plans to contribute an additional $750 million to capitalize the bank for a national, digital expansion should regulators approve the transaction.

From SoFi Is Buying a Community Lender to Speed Up Banking Expansion – WSJ.

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Founded by a team from McKinsey, EY, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, HSBC and XiaoMi, Fintern skips traditional credit scoring techniques by applying AI, Open Banking and transparent affordability testing to make lending decisions.

From Fintern taps AI and Open Banking to enter consumer loans market.

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States like Pennsylvania, Virginia, Idaho, Florida and Wisconsin have passed what are considered to be liberal rules permitting robots to operate on sidewalks — prompting pushback from cities like Pittsburgh that fear mishaps.

From Sidewalk robots get legal rights as “pedestrians” – Axios:

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Meanwhile, banks simply don’t fully appreciate the value of their payments data. Their approach to the massive amounts of data they hold remains disjointed. Payments data is sprawled across the organization in marketing, loyalty, fraud and credit risk silos.

From Banks Can Compete Effectively with Big Tech in the New Smart Financial Ecosystem | PaymentsJournal:

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Surprisingly, Smartwatches Are Used to Pay Most Frequently:

The device most frequently used to pay are smartwatches, beating out smartphones, tapped cards, or chip cards.
Predictably, college graduates are more frequent users of smartwatches for payments than non-college graduates.
College graduates who use a smartwatch to pay do so an estimated 206 times a year, the most of any category.
Consumers who use a smartphone with a universal wallet to pay do so an estimated 117 times a year, the least of any category.
Consumers who use a chip card to pay, the largest category by headcount, do so 137 times a year.

From Surprisingly, Smartwatches Are Used to Pay Most Frequently: | PaymentsJournal:

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The idea that much of today’s cash use will shift to digital tokens is neither faddish nor outlandish, as long as you don’t start equating the future of money with Bitcoin.

From Bitcoin’s Future May Be Dwarfed by Interoperable Central Bank Digital Currencies – Bloomberg.

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