Although the physical version of Apple’s new credit card does not include support for contactless transactions, cardholders will be able to activate it by simply placing it in close proximity to their iPhone, code in the latest iOS beta release suggests... More
Apple has applied for a patent for a system that uses the Touch ID or Face ID biometric authentication facility on its phones to unlock a car... More
Alexa now lets you donate to nearly 50 nonprofits — Cnet — “Alexa allows you to make a donation between US$5 and US$5,000 and tells you it will share your name, address and email with the charity. It will ask repeatedly if you want to go through with the donation, but you can also set up a four-digit voice-shopping code to prevent accidental donations.”
Apple’s Tim Cook dishes on taxes and the demise of money — Cnet — “In October 2016, Cook said Apple was going to kill cash. But Tuesday, he sounded less sure that it would happen anytime soon. ‘I’m hoping that I’m still going to be alive to see the elimination of money,’ Cook said during the shareholder meeting. ‘Mobile payments have taken off slower than I personally would have thought if you asked me sitting here a few years ago.’”
Microsoft is to open up its Windows Hello biometric authentication solution so users can unlock a Windows 10 PC or laptop with a wearable device, the company announced during a keynote at Computex in Taiwan... More
Samsung Pay has enabled ATM withdrawals for customers of Woori Bank in South Korea, the company confirmed at the Samsung Developer Conference 2016... More
MCX CEO Dekkers Davidson has left the retailer-led consortium to “pursue other opportunities” in the same week it was announced that founder member Best Buy will roll out support for rival mobile payments service Apple Pay later this year... More
Amazon is contacting users of its Amazon Wallet service to inform them that the service, launched in beta in July 2014, is closing down on 21 January, CNET reports... More
Nintendo will include a built-in NFC chip in the next versions of its 3DS and 3DS XL handheld games consoles, at least in Japan, the company has revealed in its latest 3DS Direct video briefing... More
Apple’s iPhoto for iOS application, announced this week at the iPad launch, includes a feature to ‘beam’ photos to other iOS devices... More
Australian grocery giant Coles is to upgrade its Ingenico point-of-sale terminals to support contactless payments, CNet Australia reports... More
