A library of snippets
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Cumberland Farms is a prime example of this approach. Drivers who fill up at one of the privately held chain’s gas stations can save 10 cents a gallon if they sign up for its SmartPay app, which connects directly to their bank account and is much like paying utility bills or rent. The company says its users have saved more than $100 million by using the SmartPay app.
From Retailers Embrace Payment Apps to Sidestep $90 Billion in Swipe Fees – Bloomberg.
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Usually, cost-conscious small businesses operate cash-only to avoid card processing fees.
But cash also has hidden costs, Blair said: armored vehicles taking money to banks. An extra hour for workers to close out the register. Employees swiping money from the till. And some of their places had been robbed.
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The Canadian Bankers Association says Canada must create a digital identification system
From Canada needs a digital ID system, bankers association says | Richmond News.
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On 26 October, someone stored a link to the video in a transaction of the cryptocurrency ZCoin. Cryptocurrencies use blockchain technology, which is essentially an online system of recording transactions simultaneously on multiple computers using what’s called “blocks”. Because it’s recoded in many places, it can never be entirely removed – even by the person who initiated the transaction. Through block number 111089, the Thai rap video is now visible to anyone, anywhere.
Marc Rocas, a board member of the non-profit association Blockchain Catalunya, said that information in the blockchain cannot be deleted while the network is running: “In order to shut down a blockchain network, you have to shut down all the devices, all the servers, all the computers that are running this blockchain.”
Block number 111089 carries only a link to the video, which is actually stored on the InterPlanetary File System (IPFS). IPFS acts as a type of alternate internet where content is not centrally stored, just as blockchain is stored on many computers. This means that, in order to fully remove the video, authorities would need to shut down all servers containing the blockchain as well as all servers containing the IPFS.
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Similar to how Go shoppers can’t get beyond the lobby without an app and an Amazon account, cashless stores, Torres says, create public spaces that all but bar low-income people from entry.
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M-PESA, as a post on the Harvard Business School blog says, is “the protagonist in a tale of global prosperity to which we all can look for lessons on the impact of market-creating innovations”, going on to say that its “roots are far more humble”. They are indeed, and if you are interested in learning more about them, I wrote a detailed post about the origins of M-PESA (and Consult Hyperion’s role in the shaping of this amazing scheme) and the success factors. The most important of these was the role of regulator: the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) didn’t ban it.
One of the reason for the slow take-up of mobile payments (and the related slow improvement in financial inclusion) in other countries was the regulators’ insistence that banks be involved in the development and delivery of mobile payment schemes. The results were predictable.
(Here’s a post from a few years ago looking the situation in India, for example).
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The need for secure online identities will become more urgent as the world digitises further. Connected devices are steadily infiltrating homes.
From Establishing identity is a vital, risky and changing business – Making you you.
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Halifax says: “The account to which she authorised the payment to be sent was opened using industry-wide acceptable documentation.
From Uncovered: cruel scam so slick even the vigilant can be duped | Money | The Guardian.
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AAMVA Director of Identity Management Geoff Slagle said he does not believe there will be wide scale adoption of the digital licenses by either states or citizens anytime soon because:
· No standards are currently in place for the actual DDL and how it will be used on the smartphone.
· Equipment capability for law enforcement to use during traffic stops needs to be standardized.
· Consumer apprehension over technology and privacy concerns will continue.
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Ahead of the launch of its first self-lacing basketball shoes this week, Nike just posted a major tease to get people hyped. And while we can’t see what the sneakers actually look like, it does appear you’ll be able to adjust their power laces using your smartphone,
From Nike teases self-lacing shoes you can control from your phone.
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