Hasta La Gadget!

Rogers and Canadian bank CIBC struck a deal for NFC-based mobile payments back in May, long enough ago that it was starting to fade out of the public consciousness. The alliance may be near refreshing our memory with a commercial launch in the cards. MobileSyrup has reportedly scored internal documents that has the two launching their e-commerce collaboration on October 15th under a slightly catchier Suretap name. Unfortunately, the text also suggests that the initial launch will require at least as much hoop-jumping from customers as for the original Google Wallet plans. Avoiding a traditional wallet will demand a BlackBerry Bold 9900 or Curve 9360 on Rogers, a CIBC MasterCard, nearby stores with PayPass terminals, a CIBC app and now a special NFC-enabled SIM card — a set of criteria that disqualifies almost everyone, especially when there’s supposedly a $50 ceiling on transactions. It remains a step forward for mobile payments in a country that has had very few options to start with, but we’d only anticipate widespread adoption once there’s a much wider selection of devices and banks.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, RIM

Rogers, CIBC may launch Suretap NFC-based payments on October 15th, require a unique SIM originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 12 Oct 2012 12:51:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The T-Mobile Nokia Lumia 810 has been introduced as an exclusive release on the carrier here in the USA with Windows Phone 8 at its side. This device will be working with a lovely 4.3-inch OLED WVGA Clear Black display as well as interchangeable shells on its back in both cyan and black – rather similar to the Nokia Lumia 820 with changeable shell for wireless charging as well. The difference between that device and this one appears to be slight – mostly a name-change, as it were.

Users will be able to work with the Lumia 810′s high-powered 8-megapixel camera on the back of this device with Carl Zeiss optics and HD video as well. This device also has a 1.2-megapixel camera up front that Microsoft notes is Skype HD certified. The Lumia 810 brings with it a collection of photo-friendly features such as Cinemagraph which will let you make animated GIFs – strange stuff! Another back-shooter-ready feature on this device is Group Shoot, allowing you to pick the best faces and smiles from a set of quickly shot photos of a group of people (or just one person, if you prefer.)

Of course you’ll also have Nokia Music with a lovely collection of advertisement-free, registration and subscription-free music tracks. You’ve got offline play and playlist availability as well – also free – and the ability to access playlists created by “an expert team of global and regional musicologists.” Sounds pretty nice right out of the box!

This device also works with Nokia City Lens, a GPS and camera-utilizing service which has you actually looking at the world around you with tags on businesses that you can access with a tap. This feature has been in the works along with Nokia Drive (for voice-guided turn-by-turn navigation) and Nokia Transit (for all the guides you could possibly need) for a very long time now – it’s time for action! The Nokia Lumia 810 is set to release “in the coming weeks” from T-Mobile with a pricing structure attached – it’ll also be working with T-Mobile’s Unlimited plans – 4G to get pumped up!

Lumia 810 brings Nokia Windows Phone 8 magic to T-Mobile is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

With the Windows 8 wave oncoming quick, it appears to be AT&T that’s taking on the mobile bit of the universe first, here with the ASUS VivoTab RT with 4G LTE amongst others. This device is one that we’ve seen before – announced back during IFA 2012 first of all. It’s got an NVIDIA quad-core Tegra 3 TE processor inside, works with Windows RT (that’s essentially Windows 8 for tablets, for those of you that do not know), and a 10.1-inch Super IPS display.

This device works with ASUS’ own TruVivid technology for a “remarkably vivid and brilliant viewing experience” – enhancing an IPS display is a feat, and ASUS is ready to take it on, so we’ve seen. This device works with 32GB of internal storage and will be appearing on AT&T’s 4G LTE network rather soon. Just like the Samsung ATIV Smart PC for AT&T revealed earlier, this device will be out by the end of the year, more than likely in time for the holiday shopping season.

This tablet has a 1366 x 768 pixel resolution for a lovely sharp experience and runs with 2 GB RAM inside. You’ll be working with NFC abilities and a docking keyboard as well. This device looks rather similar to what we’ve seen from ASUS’ transformer series in the recent past, particularly similar to the ASUS Transformer Prime. Have a peek at our ASUS Transformer Prime original review for a closer look at what ASUS does in the hardware department – then stay tuned for this Windows-toting experience.

Just as it has been with several AT&T devices announced today, no pricing or release date has been dropped for the ASUS VivoTab RT. It does seem like a lock for 4G LTE, but we’ve yet to get absolute final confirmation on the date. Stay tuned for the release of this and a whole new torrential downpour of devices from AT&T and manufacturers galore, soon!

ASUS VivoTab RT announced for AT&T with 4G LTE and Windows RT is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

While Apple didn’t include NFC technology with its recently-announced iPhone 5, it seems that the company is interested in it for future use at least. It’s said that Apple finalized a deal with Australian fingerprint security startup Microlatch to bring fingerprint-recognition technology to NFC applications in iOS.

This isn’t the first time Apple has been involved with security companies. The company purchased AuthenTec, a mobile security firm, for $356 million back in July. We really didn’t know what Apple would have up its sleeve, but with this recent deal with Microlatch, it’s becoming a bit more apparent.

Microlatch owns patents that allow users to use their fingerprints and process them on their smartphone without a need for it to be transmitted or stored externally to a database. Since we obviously didn’t see this kind of technology in the iPhone 5, Apple might add it to the next iPhone, or create a separate service entirely.

The financial details of the deal with Microlatch hasn’t been disclosed, and we’re still not really sure what Apple is expected to do with the deal. Take speculation with a grain of salt, but it’s probably at least a safe bet that we’ll see Apple jump into the fingerprint security game at some point.

[via ZDNet]

Apple makes a deal with biometric security startup Microlatch is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Two can play at the UK-banks-with-NFC-payments game. RBS (and by extension, NatWest) is partnering with Visa Europe to roll out TouchPay, a mobile payment system based around an iCarte case for the iPhone 4 and 4S — sorry, early iPhone 5 owners. In tandem with a native app, the service allows paying for goods at British shops by tapping the phone at a Visa-capable NFC terminal without needing the short-range wireless built-in. Any purchases under £20 ($32) can even skip the PIN code, if you’re just in that much of a hurry to get a Pret À Manger sandwich. Only 1,000 of the 9,000 who pre-registered for TouchPay are getting into Visa’s wallet-free initiative at this stage, although all NatWest and RBS customers with one of Apple’s semi-recent smartphones can participate once a trial run is over. We’re just wondering if and when Android, BlackBerry and Windows Phone 8 owners get in on the action.

Continue reading Visa lets iPhone-toting NatWest and RBS customers pay with NFC cases, join the future

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile

Visa lets iPhone-toting NatWest and RBS customers pay with NFC cases, join the future originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 02 Oct 2012 09:45:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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