2012/03/22

CNET News - Want a vibrating tattoo that alerts you to a call? Nokia does
CNET News reports: "The mobile company has filed for a patent that would let it place haptic feedback technology onto a tattoo to alert customers to a new call [...] text message, or e-mail right from the tattoo. The application was filed last September and became public last week [...] the technology might also be applied to a visible image, sign, or badge."

Comment: This is an interesting development. It doesn't appear to have any commerce apps, but I'm sure if it's successful they may allow app makers to create new uses for the technology, something more in line with banking and/or identity verification perhaps?

2012/03/17

My Way News - In Sweden, cash is king no more
My Way News reports: "Bills and coins represent only 3 percent of Sweden's economy, compared to an average of 9 percent in the eurozone and 7 percent in the U.S., according to the Bank for International Settlements, an umbrella organization for the world's central banks [...] Internet startups in Sweden and elsewhere are now hard at work developing payment and banking services for smartphones [...] Most experts don't expect cash to disappear anytime soon, but that its proportion of the economy will continue to decline as such payment options become available."

2012/03/15

NYTimes.com - Bain Capital Tied to Surveillance Push in China
The New York Times reports: "Such surveillance systems are often used to combat crime and the manufacturer has no control over whether they are used for other purposes. But human rights advocates say in China they are also used to intimidate and monitor political and religious dissidents. 'There are video cameras all over our monastery, and their only purpose is to make us feel fear,' said Loksag, a Tibetan Buddhist monk in Gansu Province. He said the cameras helped the authorities identify and detain nearly 200 monks who participated in a protest at his monastery in 2008."

Comment: It's sad when companies born in American freedom export technology to repressive countries. It's even worse when that technology is used to persecute Christians and other minorities.