Online financial transactions giant PayPal has launched a system called Here to enable
people to make purchases using their smartphones.
Its triangle-shaped “dongle” card reader plugs into mobile devices and the software also lets merchants take payments by snapping a picture of a card with a smartphone instead of having to swipe it in the dongle. PayPal is owned by eBay which is now in direct competition with twitter and its Square similar service.
Square has seen success across a wide range of businesses, especially small and independent ones. But PayPal appear to be in a good position with their mobile payment scheme as they dominate the market for online buying. But there will be costs
involved for the merchant as PayPal will charge them 2.7 per cent of each use.
Meanwhile it will try and entice smartphone users with social and shopping features
including finding nearby participating merchants and even automatically alerting shopkeepers to their presence in stores. It can be bad enough in shops
when you are pounced on by staff while you are browsing.
Payment card data scanned into Here devices is encrypted for protection. And, like
Square, it does away with the need for printed receipts and all the paraphernalia associated with credit card technology. For small businesses on the move, such as taxi drivers, ferry operators and even tour guides perhaps, we can see the attraction.
The prospect of being able to log on to the internet on the tube is not as popular amongst Londoners as may be imagined.
Fifty-five per cent of the Londoners polled revealed they are not happy about it with 48 per cent saying they would be concerned about their privacy being compromised when browsing the web on the Underground, particularly when it came to submitting passwords.
London Underground has done a deal with Virgin Media with a wifi service being introduced in 80 of the networks in 217 stations by the summer, extending to 120 stations by the end of the year.
It is promised that commuters will be able to check emails, check the tube service status and surf the net at stations which are wifi enabled. This will only be while trains are in stations. This could be irritating as the service will be lost in tunnels and users have to log on at the beginning of each journey.
The survey seeking Londoners’ views was carried out by discounts site My Voucher Codes, which questioned 950 aged 18 and over. Nearly a third thought the scheme would lead to an increase in thefts on the tube – especially if people had their laptops and tablet computers on show at all times.
A further 14% of the respondents who were not in favour of wifi on the tube, explained that they thought that people spending their whole journey using the internet would lead to ‘increased stress’ whilst travelling. The remaining 7% were concerned about the amount of space that would be taken up by people using their laptops.
Initially wifi on London Underground will be free. But eventually anyone wanting full internet access will have to pay unless they are existing Virgin customers.
It will be interesting to see how many people sign up to get online. Perhaps the tunnels under the city are the only place where people are free of internet access and a sporadic service that costs to join for non Virgin customers may not be worth the hassle.
Time was when anonymous tip-offs were made to the police by someone in a phone box with a hanky over the mouthpiece. That was how it was always done in the old films or police dramas.
But now, a crime-fighting charity which has had a no names policy for many years, has turned to the smartphone revolution to encourage more witnesses to come forward.
You can still call its phone line on 0800 555 111 without revealing your identity. But since Crimestoppers set up a “mini mobile site” it has become popular to pass on information online rather than over the phone. Around 40% of information received by the charity comes via the online form on its website.
The technology allows users to access the charity’s secure online form which has been optimised for mobile devices. Those who give information can also make a donation to Crimestoppers via text message through Just Text Giving.
Being able to use a mobile device to pass on information immediately will be a big asset in the fight against crime for those who don’t want to make a call. But the charity says advisors are still on hand to listen and advise and take down information on the phone. Talking to one of the advisors helps provide the full picture and makes sure the best use can be made of information.
The online process comes with question prompts to guide witnesses through how to give useful information.
Lord Ashcroft, the Crimestoppers founder, said: that as the only crime-fighting charity in the UK allowing people to pass on information about crime anonymously, it is vital to make this process as easy as possible. “Through our mobile website we want to encourage the public to give information to Crimestoppers 24/7, whether at home or on the move.
“With the public’s help and our commitment to making Crimestoppers even more successful in the fight against crime, we can work together to make our communities a safer place.”
To pass information to Crimestoppers on your mobile visit www.crimestoppers-uk.org or call 0800 555 111.
Copla is based in the Orkney Islands with an office in London too. When we travel
home we fly or take a ferry from mainland Scotland to Orkney’s ‘Mainland’ and
then take a ferry to our own small isle.
At the moment we buy a wodge of tickets for our inter isles ferry while older and
disabled people claim vouchers for concessions from the council which operates
the ferry. But now modern technology has finally caught up with the service.
Isles residents who are on the council’s Concessionary Travel Scheme for older and
disabled people are now using ‘smart cards’ to claim their travel concessions
from the council.
New travel cards have been delivered to eligible people to replace the former
voucher system, along with a question and answer leaflet on how to use the card
and the system started on April 1.
The new cards use ‘smart’ technology to hold all the necessary information to replace the vouchers including photo ID. It tracks the number of free trips left for each cardholder, and will be automatically ‘reloaded’ with entitlements each year.
The card cuts down on administration time and also on the cost of printing vouchers
on an annual basis. It will also help prevent misuse of the council’s concessionary entitlement scheme. Card holders will just need to produce their card to the ferry pursers in order to receive their free concessionary entitlement.
In the future, it’s anticipated that card holders will be able to load ‘cash’ onto their card to reduce the need to exchange cash for fares on board Orkney Ferries.
It makes sense to bring travel systems up to date with technology, but it is quite nice to buy a ticket from the man on the boat or hand over a ticket to be checked. Perhaps it is because the boats are rather old-fashioned too and could do with an update.
In case you wondered – the flag on the example above is the Orkney flag.
If you want your movie going experience to be a moving one, you could soon be trembling in your seats. A picture house in Glasgow has claimed to be the UK’s first 4D cinema experience, at a screening of the Disney action film John Carter. Thirty-five of the vibrating D-BOX seats have been fitted in Cineworld, the UK’s busiest cinema. Five more British cinemas will get the technology in coming months, including the O2 Greenwich, and 24 more after that.
You will have to pay a bit extra for the pleasure of sitting in the motion seats which match the action on screen – about £5.50 more. You do have some control and can turn the movement up or down in severity. At the moment there are about 3,000 4D seats in cinemas around the world.
However, theme and amusement parks have used 4D effects for many years. The systems combine 3D, which in itself is losing popularity, with physical effects in the theatre, which are synchronised with the film. Some of the effects simulated in 4D films include rain, wind, strobe lights, and vibration. The use of water sprays and
air jets is also common. The Glasgow experience appears to be more focussed on
seats which vibrate or may move a few inches during the presentation.
However, just do the road in Edinburgh, the interactive science visitor attraction Our Dynamic Earth (pictured above) two years ago launched its 3D experience with a’ magical fourth dimension’.
Within the futuristic building, deep in the heart of the Scottish capital film-goers see snow falling in the Alps, falling from the “skies” above in the 4D cinema, where vivid audiovisuals are complemented by authentic smells and sensations.
Our Dynamic Earth’s marketing says: “The outcome is a truly unforgettable experience that will keep you riveted to your seat – which, incidentally, is fitted with an aptly named “Butt-kicker”, a novel technological twist that adds a certain bumpy authenticity to the ride.”
That may not be for everyone.
With all the talk about the Scottish independence referendum and a lot riding on it for SNP leader Alex Salmond, it’s hardly surprising the party is to use the latest technology to help secure a Yes vote. They say they are to set up a ‘top spec’ website, with the party updating its voter and elections data management system, and will use smartphone technology.
The nationalists have also released its referendum consultation as an e-book, though whether that will make it lighter reading is another matter.
They say they will be using cutting-edge IT and communications technology to run the most effective campaign in Scottish political history. It is due to launch its campaign in May after updating its data management system.
While the SNP is focussing on a hard hitting web presence we wonder if activists will still be knocking on doors and plodding the streets up here in Scotland to get the citizens on side. They have said they want to involve ordinary people around the country. And with the ballot not planned to be held for more than two and a half years, it could be a long slog.
Meanwhile the referendum consultation eBook is the first UK administration to make an official paper available for digital download. Your Scotland, Your Referendum is now available for free on iPad, iPhone and Kindle, and will act as a pilot scheme for future digital distribution to improve access to public files and drive down print costs. It means people can read it on the go and get involved in the debate.
This sounds like a smart move, as the document is also available in the more tradition and less eco friendly formats of hard copy in the post and through website download. It should reach more people and will be an interesting exercise for future campaigns.
Cabinet Secretary for Parliamentary Business Bruce Crawford (pictured above) said: “The aim of the Your Scotland, Your Referendum consultation is to involve as many people as possible in the debate on Scotland’s future, as we look forward to the biggest decision in this country for more than 300 years.
“So far, many thousands of people and groups have accessed the consultation document via our website, or using a hard copy sent out by the Scottish Government, and thousands have then taken the time to respond and contribute to this exciting debate.
“But we want to encourage even more people to have their voice heard about how the referendum should be run, and we are looking at doing that in even more innovative and sophisticated ways.
“That is why, from today, the consultation document will be made available as a free download to devices such as the iPhone, iPad and Kindle as an eBook that people can read on-the-go and at a time that suits them – a first for a government publication in the UK.
“I hope that this is the first of many documents to be published in this way, and I hope that this exciting step will help widen the scope of our ongoing debate to include as many people as we possibly can.”
Technology industry commentators are divided over Google
changing its privacy policy which means it can use new activity and past
history in any one of its services to augment any other in displaying
personalised results and advertising. Some have moved swiftly to wipe all their
web history off their computers whilst others have welcomed the move to
introduce relevant advertising on a free service with many benefits.
On Google’s official blog Director of Privacy Alma Whitten explains
the changes saying: “Our privacy policies have always allowed us to combine
information from different products with your account – effectively using your
data to provide you with a better service. However, we’ve been restricted in
our ability to combine your YouTube and Search histories with other information
in your account. Our new Privacy Policy gets rid of those inconsistencies so we
can make more of your information available to you when using Google.
“So in the future, if you do frequent searches for Jamie Oliver, we could recommend Jamie Oliver videos when you’re looking for recipes on YouTube – or we might suggest ads for his cookbooks when you’re on other
Google properties.
“The new policy doesn’t change any existing privacy settings or how any personal information is shared outside of Google. We aren’t collecting any new or additional information about users. We won’t be selling your personal data. And we will continue to employ industry-leading security to keep your information safe.”
Google has been posting messages urging users to look at the privacy policy changes as they are important. Certainly, selling on personal data is one of the gravest sins and at least Google is not doing that.
But, the European Justice Commissioner Viviane Reding attacked the move saying she had doubt over whether it was legal. She said that the obligation to protect personal data formed a key plank of European treaties.
She said that if people gave up their privacy it should be a decision they make with all the facts made available to them. It has been reported that millions of Britons
who use Google smartphones were told they were unable to avoid radical and
“invasive” changes to the firm’s privacy policy.
The news has prompted a privacy campaigner to sue for the £400 cost of his device. Alex Hanff, from Lancaster, has filed a test claim at the small claims court in the hope other users of the popular Google Android mobile operating system will follow suit.
More and more of us are turning to reading on tablets and other mobiles with digital ebook sales reported to have doubled in the last year. That’s good news for writers looking for audiences who can’t get in through the publisher route.
But mainstream publishers are seeing a huge rise in their ebook sales too, despite the fact that prices to the reader appear to have risen. Digital ebooks accounted for 12% of revenues at publishing giant Penguin last year. And across the book business in the UK, there were 78 top 10 best-sellers last year, which grew overall profits by 5% to £111 million in 2011.
Since the beginning of 2008, digital downloads of apps and ebooks across Penguin have totalled approximately 50 million, with revenues from ebooks now accounting for 20% of all sales in the United States.
And if you want to know what we have been reading: Kathryn Stockett’s The Help was Penguin’s best-selling title across the US selling five million copies in print and digital in its third year since publication.
Whilst in the UK, Jamie Oliver’s 30-Minute Meals and Dawn French’s A Tiny Bit Of Marvellous were among two of the top five titles last year.
One of the advantages of publishing textbooks digitally is that you can update content at will, rather than wait for the next edition to be published.
Meanwhile the digital library services provider Overdrive has just announced the acquisition of Booki.sh, the cloud ebook platform developed by Inventive Labs.
And you could find out if your local library is lending out ebooks – some of the more switched on to the technology world have started doing that.
Computer giant Apple, manufacturer of iPads and iPhones has
been booted off an annual top 10 list of consumer “superbrands” with
battery maker Duracell and paint company Dulux taking top positions this year.
But it is good news for British brands which make up half of
the top 20 this year, with the Royal Albert Hall, Royal Doulton and Wedgwood.
In the survey of 2,000 adults, including marketing experts,
business professionals and British consumers, Apple dropped out of the top 10
brands that had the most influence over consumers, the survey by Superbrands,
revealed, as it fell nine places from ninth to 18th position.
Car manufacturer Mercedes Benz took fourth place, followed
by the BBC; Jaguar was up one place to number nine, while Royal Doulton held
10th position.
In another list of Business Superbrands, Rolls-Royce topped
the league beating Google and British Airways. Here Apple did better moving up
one place into fourth.
Foreign-owned technology brands including Nokia and
BlackBerry didn’t make the top 20.
So, Google was top in the technology stakes in both lists.
It is an interesting mix with luxury item producers such as Rolex and
Rolls-Royce jockeying for position with the likes of Coca Cola and technology
businesses.
Consumer Superbrands 2012 Business Superbrands
Consumer Superbrands 2012 Business Superbrands 2012
1. Rolex 1.Rolls-Royce Group
2. Coca-Cola 2. Google
3. Google 3. GlaxoSmithKline
4. Mercedes-Benz 4. Apple
5. BBC 5. British Airways
6. BMW 6. Virgin Atlantic
7. Duracell 7. London Stock Exchange
8. Dulux 8. Bosch
9. Jaguar 9. Visa
10. Royal Doulton 10. PricewaterhouseCoopers
One of the world’s biggest image providers has launched an API targeted at website publishers and promising quick access to the stock photo agency’s vast collection.
Connect by Getty Images is designed to allow publishers to access, search, and use the company’s vast collection of stock photography and search meta data associated with them; making you far more likely to find a Getty image with its meta-tagging.
In announcing the new API, Getty said it already has more than 40 customers using Connect, including ad agencies and publishing platforms.
The Connect API is free for Web site publishers to use, but customers who want to use Getty’s imagery have to pay for it of course. And it is now technically easier for website publishers and bloggers to choose a Getty image.
The announcement from Getty said Connect by Getty Images is an innovative new content distribution service that allows customers and business partners to integrate Getty Images’ core functionality and robust content and metadata directly within their publishing tools, products and services through use of the company’s powerful and flexible API. Through Connect by Getty Images, companies can enhance and expand their offerings to further serve their customers’ needs; more efficiently manage workflows and costs, and generate revenue through constantly refreshed content.
“Connect makes it easy for customers and partners to integrate Getty Images’ tremendous breadth of content, our rich-set of metadata and industry leading search within their platform, products, services, and applications,” said Jonathan Klein, Co-Founder and CEO of Getty Images. “
The platform is a comprehensive, customizable and scalable solution that enables
businesses to improve their products, streamline workflows, reduce storage costs and launch compelling new services.”
Getty describes itself as a global company offering the broadest selection and highest quality creative and editorial content to well over 1 million customers, Getty Images designed Connect to be customizable and scalable for a wide variety of customer needs
The company creates and distributes still imagery, video and multimedia products, as well as other forms of premium digital content, including music. Its work appears in
newspapers, magazines, advertising campaigns, films, television programs, books
and Web sites around the world.
The company says you can use an image for a small fee. We did a quick navigation and an example of a Getty image for web use for up to five years, with no exclusivity, that we looked at was priced at £750.