News tagged ‘NFC’
Customers Show Strong Interest in Apple Pay - Retailers
According to the latest reports from U.S. retailers, the customers show strong interest in the recently-launched payments service created by the guys from Cupertino. This doesn’t mean that the number of users of the new system is currently immense; still, it is noticeably larger than the amount of people who adopted similar services from Google or other companies in the first weeks after their launch.
Apple's iPhone 5s, Samsung's Galaxy S5, Nexus 5 and Other Devices Hacked by Security Researchers
At the annual two-day Mobile Pwn2Own conference held earlier this week by HP, several groups of developers managed to find a number of bugs in iOS, Android and Windows Phone platforms and successfully hacked Apple's iPhone 5s, Samsung's Galaxy S5, Google's Nexus 5, Microsoft's Nokia Lumia 1520 and Amazon's Fire Phone. What I find interesting is that the hackers were able to get full control over all of the handsets except for one. You will never guess, which device turned out to be the most reliable.
Walmart Refuses to Support Apple Pay, Working on Its Own Payments Service
Walmart, one of the largest U.S. retailers, has refused to support Apple Pay. According to what the reliable sources from Re/code claim, the reason for the refusal is high credit card transaction fee. This reason for refusal is closely connected with another one. You see, Walmart belongs to a consortium of the most influential retailers called Merchant Customer Exchange (MCX); its members plan to create their own mobile payments system called CurrentC. This system is expected to boast of lower transaction fees; its launch may take place as soon as early 2015.
Portable Wireless Speaker Creative MUVO 20
With growing popularity of smart devices, like smartphones and tablets, most users demand wireless and mobile features from audio systems. That is why most modern speakers support bluetooth connectivity. Bluetooth helped us to get rid of audio cables. But what about power cords? Today we will take a look at Creative MUVO 20 - portable mobile wireless speaker with internal battery.
Apple to Launch Apple Pay in China Soon - Rumors
As you probably know, the guys from Cupertino have recently launched their own mobile payments service called Apple Pay. Although the system is currently available only in the USA, in the near future it is expected to debut in a wide number of other countries.
Apple releases iOS 8.1. What's new?
Just as Apple announced at its iPad & Mac event last Thursday, iOS 8.1 is now publicly available with new features including Apple Pay, iCloud Photo Library, and additional Continuity features. Apple Pay is available for iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus users for making payments for purchases with the new iPhone rather than a physical credit card in supported retail stores and apps; iPad Air 2 and iPad mini 3 users will be able to use Apple Pay within supported apps as well. In addition to iOS 8.1, Apple also released version 7.0.1 for third-generation Apple TV boxes.
Apple officially announces iPad Air 2 and iPad Mini 3
Today Apple officially announced two new tablets - iPad Air 2 and iPad mini 3.
iPad Air 2, teblet with 9.7" Retina 2048 x 1536 pixels display, is now 18 percent thinner than the first iPad Air (6.1 mm vs 7.5 mm), has brand new A8X processor that is 40 percent faster. iPad Air 2 is also lighter 437g vs 469g for Wifi model. It's also got a brand new camera out back: an 8MP iSight camera (f/2.4 aperture) that does 1080p video, burstmode, panorama shots, and auto HDR (that takes up a bit less space). iPad Air has Touch ID, the Home button-based security system that enables login via fingerprint. With Touch ID, iPad Air 2 also has Apple Pay, albeit enabled for online purchases only. Front-facing camera is also getting improved, and it's now known as the "Facetime HD" camera.
Apple to Release iOS 8.1 With Support of Apple Pay on October 20th?
It appears that aside from the financial results in the fourth fiscal quarter, on October 20th, Apple is planning to release iOS 8.1 and launch its long-awaited payments service called Apple Pay. This is what Bank Innovation writes. Another thing, which indicates that the next-gen mobile operating system will indeed come less than in three weeks, is the fact that it has been recently seeded to developers for testing.
Apple Currently Testing Three New iOS 8 Versions?
According to the latest reports from people familiar with the matter and according to the recent web traffic data, the guys from Cupertino are currently testing three iOS 8 versions. This may indicate that Apple has come up with a new strategy of updating its mobile operating system. Earlier, a major update was released once in at least 5 or 6 months. For example, iOS 7 was released in September, 2013 and iOS 7.1 that contained the support of CarPlay, surfaced only in March of 2014. Taking into account the fact that Apple is already testing iOS 8.1, iOS 8.2 and iOS 8.3, it appears that the new versions of iOS may be released alongside new product launches.
Top 10 Stories of the Week
It is Sunday today, so it's time for me to tell you about the most interesting posts of the past seven days. Let's take a look at them.
4.7-inch iPhone 6 Teardown by iFixit [Video]
Several days after the official release of Apple’s 4.7-inch iPhone 6, iFixit experts have performed its teardown, which revealed that the handset is indeed equipped with the next-generation 64-bit A8 processor and M8 motion coprocessor, 1334x750 pixels display with pixel density of 326ppi, 8-megapixel rear and 1.2-megapixel front camera, 802.11a/b/g/n/ac Wi‑Fi, Bluetooth 4.0 as well as with NFC and LTE chips.
5.5-inch iPhone 6 Plus Teardown by iFixit [Video]
Fixit team has recently performed a scrupulous teardown of the 5.5-inch iPhone 6 Plus. According to the video of the teardown and the images showing the fully-disassembled larger iPhone 6, the guys from Cupertino equipped the handset with a dual-core 64-bit A8 processor, M8 motion coprocessor, 1GB of RAM, 1920x1080 pixels display with pixel density of 401ppi, 8-megapixel rear camera with optical image stabilization, 1.2-megapixel front camera as well as with a wide number of sensors, 802.11a/b/g/n/ac Wi‑Fi, Bluetooth 4.0, NFC and LTE chips.
NFC Chip Found in iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus Will Work Only With Apple Pay?
Although both iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus can boast of the NFC chip, it appears that the guys from Cupertino plan to use it only for making their payments service Apple Pay workable. Other possible ways of utilising the Near Field Communication technology won't be supported, which means that the developers won't get access to the iPhone's NFC antenna and won't be able to create third-party apps based on the advanced communication technology. The information was shared by Apple's spokeswoman, so I guess we can believe it.
Apple Pay to Cause End of Physical Bank Cards Era?
According to what the CEO of mobile banking startup called Moven writes, the introduction of Apple's payment service could possibly mean the end of plastic bank cards in the next two or three years. And I must admit that it is a massive step forward as Apple Pay and other systems based on NFC or similar technologies are way more reliable and secure than the existing physical cards, which can be lost, stolen, damaged and in any other way made unusable. Apart from that, they can be hacked by cyber criminals.
Apple to Get 0.15% of Each Apple Pay Purchase
Alongside the iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus and the Apple Watch release on Tuesday, the guys from Cupertino announced their long-anticipated payments service called Apple Pay. As I've already told you, the system is based on the Near Field Communication (NFC) technology and uses Touch ID for making each payment as secure as possible. Several new details about Apple Pay surfaced on the Internet on Friday and I feel that I should share them with you.