Harrogate first town in UK to introduce new age of smart parking — North Yorkshire County Council — “Parking in Harrogate town centre has become easier this month thanks to the launch of AppyParking — a smart parking system that is the first of its kind in the UK… Users who download the app will see real-time availability of spaces across Harrogate town centre thanks to more than 2,000 sensors in the ground, be able to navigate to the space and pay for a parking session with a single click. The sensor technology means parking sessions automatically end when the vehicle is driven away.”
Archive for February 2019
Researchers unveil waterproof NFC sweat sensor
Wearable patch measures sweat in extreme environments — Physics World — “The wearable device, which does not need a battery or wireless technology, can collect real-time data on sweat loss, sweat rate, chloride concentration and skin temperature. This data can then be read by tapping it with a smartphone equipped with near field communications technology.”
Belgian transit operator to deploy open loop multimodal mobility-as-a-service platform
Flanders public transport operator De Lijn selects Conduent Transportation to deploy next-generation fare collection system — Conduent — “The first phase will enable the use of contactless public transport operator payment cards and bank cards based on the cEMV (contactless Europay, MasterCard and Visa), aggregated pay-as-you-go transit model 2… A future phase of the platform will support mobility-as-a-service with the integration of various mobility providers such as car sharing, bike hire and taxis.”
First Direct lets customers make payments in social media apps
First Direct leading the way with social media payments — First Direct — “First Direct customers are now able to make secure peer-to-peer payments seamlessly while using social media apps such as WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger… Customers can now use the in-app PayKey technology to simply tap a payment icon on the phone’s keyboard within a conversation and manage a payment within seconds without having to open the banking app… On pressing the fd button, customers are securely authenticated via the app and are able to make a payment.”
Researchers build NFC antennas into smart fabrics
Smart fabrics made possible by new metal deposition technique — Imperial College London — “Imperial researchers have devised a way to deposit metals onto fabrics and used it to insert sensors and batteries into these materials… The technique could be used to incorporate batteries, wireless technologies and sensors into fabrics like paper and cotton textiles… For example, they created silver coil antennas on paper, which can be used for data and power transmission in wireless devices such as Oyster cards and contactless payment systems.”
New PCI standard to let merchants accept dongle-free contactless payments on smartphones and tablets
PCI SPoC and Contactless standards: What to expect in 2019 — PCI Security Standards Council — “The aim is to develop security requirements for solutions that enable a merchant’s COTS [Commercial off-the-shelf] device to accept contactless payments without the need for a dongle or other type of peripheral reader by leveraging the native NFC capabilities inherent to a COTS phone or tablet.”
Mobile World Congress visitors to use face recognition for entry
Comba Telecom providing face biometrics technology for venue access control at MWC19 — Biometric Update — “The facial recognition solution will be running through the whole event registration process from pre-event registration to on-site check-in during the show and will facilitate the registration process by allowing attendees to register and upload their photo on the organiser’s website before the event. After onsite passport/ID checking, attendees will be identified by the ScanViS ID system and can move through the event access lanes without having to show a badge or ID.”
US Mastercard issuers commit to contactless
Mastercard Inc CEO Ajay Banga on Q4 2018 results — Seeking Alpha — “We’ve received commitments from issuers representing approximately two thirds of our total US consumer volume to issue contactless cards within the next two years. This includes Citi, Capital One, KeyBanc, Santander, HSBC and others. We’re also working with leading processors like FIS to bring contactless to smaller issuers and to credit unions.”
Tourism Australia adds visitor card to Alipay
Tourism Australia, Alipay partner on new geotargeted Sydney City mobile app — CMO — “Chinese tourists will be able to access recommendations on what to see, where to shop and how to get around, all within an app they are familiar with and while being offered their preferred payment method… The Sydney City Card is built into the Alipay app, so no opt-in is required.”
Google Pay to launch in Israel ‘by the end of this year’
Google Pay preparing to launch its digital wallet service in Israel — Haaretz — “Google plans to launch by the end of this year its Google Pay digital wallet platform and online payment system in Israel… The giant US company has been undertaking a round of meetings with regulators, bank executives, credit card companies and financial technology startups. The campaign, which involves a team from Google Israel, includes playing a role in Israel’s rapidly growing e-commerce sector as well as in brick-and-mortar retail.”
Temple University switches on support for iPhone campus cards
Students and staff at Temple University in the US can now use their iPhone or Apple Watch as their campus identification card... More