Nobody puts Google Wallet in the corner for long, not even Big Red. Though the carrier courted controversy late last year by withholding support for the burgeoning NFC-based platform amidst security concerns, it appears to have finally changed tack. Owners of that LTE Galaxy Nexus variant are now reporting the ability to access the app from the Play store, no workarounds necessary. Though we weren’t able to verify the success of that particular method — no results surfaced during a quick store search — we did have success downloading the application to our stock, unrooted device using a direct market link. We’ve since reached out to Verizon for official comment on the matter, but have yet to hear back. In the meantime, if you’ve been itching to give Mountain View’s brand of mobile payment a go, hit up the source link below and let us know how you fare in the comments.
You do know that Parrot makes more than just the AR.Drone, right? It was at CES earlier this year that we first caught a glimpse of — and subsequently began geeking out about — the Parrot Zik by Starck. For those unfamiliar, these headphones are jam-packed with enough technologies to make even the geekiest audio lovers smitten. Priced at about $400, they feature Near Field Communication (NFC), Bluetooth connectivity, on-board capacitive touch-control, active noise cancellation, head detection, a jawbone sensor for speech and Parrot’s audio-enhancing DSP app for iOS and Android — not to mention a striking design by the renowned Philippe Starck.
This isn’t the first time Parrot and Mr. Starck have worked together, but this does mark their debut in the portable audio market (as opposed to home-based speaker systems). In the case of this review, not one, but two Engadget editors spent some time testing the product. So, do they impress? More importantly, are they worth the $400 asking price? You know the drill: meet us after the break where we’ll lay it all out.
We’ve had our fair share of experience with Google Wallet since it launched several months ago, and now that it’s been updated to include all major credit and debit cards, it’s time to once again address the most important question of all: is it safe? As it turns out, Google Wallet is really, really safe. You’ve got several ways to lock down your account, and starting today, you’ve also got a remote shutdown option too. Additionally, just as it is with any other use of a credit card, each use of Google Wallet at “more than 200,000 retail locations” across the USA require that you show a picture ID to make it work.
Are my cards secure?
With Google Wallet you’re able (starting this week) to add your whole collection of credit and debit cards. Once your cards are in your account, you’ll be working with NFC to wirelessly charge money essentially the same as a credit card does. To enter a card into your Google Wallet account, you need to enter the number on the card into your mobile app, your online wallet, or into your Google Play account (which uses your same Google login) when making a purchase. Though you do not need to make a purchase to enter a card, it does make the whole process seem like less of a chore.
Once you’ve got your card or cards entered in to your account, your locked-down mobile app version of Google Wallet will have that card – or all your cards – on record and ready to use whenever you need them. Each time you use a card, you’ll see a transaction record on your phone or tablet instantly with the merchant name and the dollar amount listed clearly. This information is also emailed to you instantly if you wish, and all of your account history can be found in your online wallet.
All of your cards are stored on “highly secure” Google servers, as they make sure to make clear on all documents for the system. This is opposed to keeping all the cards on your phone locally where they can be hacked – because they’re in the cloud, they’re actually a bit more secure, in this case. The only way a person can gain access to your cards is with your wallet ID. Your wallet ID is a pin number you create yourself – this number is stored in the “secure storage” area of your phone or tablet.
Our original hands-on with Google Wallet can be seen here:
What if I lose my phone and someone had my pin number AND ID card?
If someone has your phone or tablet, your pin number, and looks similar enough to you that they’re able to pass off your driver’s license as you, you might be in trouble. If that extremely rare and near-impossible situation should arise, Google has another solution for you. Remote Disabling is a new feature of Google Wallet with the update that’s just been dropped this week. With it, you’re able to visit the Devices section of your online wallet, select the device you wish to disable, and poof! It will no longer be able to be used by the villain.
What this service actually does is to remotely reset your mobile wallet, this then making it impossible for the person whose stolen your device to use the wallet unless they go back and enter in all your account information manually once again. At that point it would be easier to kidnap you and steal your real wallet. But you don’t have a real wallet anymore – you’ve got Google Wallet!
So all is well and safe and secure – and you’re ready to go!
You can get Google Wallet on a select number of devices right this minute, including two of our favorites, the Nexus 7 and the Galaxy Nexus. You can check out our hands-on with Google Wallet from back when it was first released and you can check our our full review of the Galaxy Nexus as well as our full review of the Nexus 7 too – grab em!
Google Wallet has been hampered by a number of limitations since its launch, not the least of which is its limited device compatibility. Perhaps a bigger problem though, was its lack of support for most major credit and debit cards. Today that finally changes with the latest version of Big G’s mobile payment system. Now you’ll be able to use any credit or debit card you wish, and take them with you from one device to the next. Early versions of the digital wallet used the phones secure local storage to protect your card info, now it’s all in the cloud allowing you to sync your preferred payment method across multiple devices and keep track of both your online and in-store purchase’s through Google’s web Wallet. Perhaps most importantly though, Mountain View has upped the security ante, by allowing you to disable individual devices, should a tragedy befall your beloved Nexus. For more info check out the video after the break.
If you believe that the NFC standard of paying is indeed the future, services such as Google Wallet is one that is probably familiar to you. Unfortunately Google Wallet has yet to be made universal for all Android devices, which means that unless you’re using a specific Android phone such as Sprint’s Nexus S, you might be out of luck if you wanted Google Wallet functionality. Kind of makes you wonder why higher end Android devices such as the One X or the recently launched Galaxy S3 have been left out of the fun, right? Well the good news is that if you’re using a Galaxy S3, a developer has managed to hack Google Wallet onto the device. It will require that you have some knowledge of flashing and will also require a rooted Galaxy S3, so if you’re not too sure what both of those things are, perhaps you might be better of waiting for an official release (if it is ever made). However for the more tech savvy, or for the more adventurous, the download and instructions can be found at the XDA forums, so pop on over for the details.
ASUS must want its Windows 8 tablet family to move together as one. The Tablet 810 has swung past the FCC just two days after a visit by its younger brother, the Tablet 600. While not what we’d call a stunning revelation, the filing for the 810 (as the TF810C) shows a WiFi-only device with the expected NFC for quick peripheral syncing. The 11.6-inch transforming slate is still devoid of a few key details in spite of having its wireless life laid bare — namely, if and when it reaches the US. Clearing the approval hurdle, however, leaves few obstacles to ASUS being one of the first out of the gate with an Intel-based Windows 8 tablet after October 26th rolls around.
If you thought the Apple and Samsung legal tussles weren’t getting interesting enough, another filing has revealed that the father of all smartphones Galaxy has at least two Windows Phone 8 devices in the pipeline. According to the filing that’s been unearthed by The Verge, both are running on a dual-core 1.5Ghz Qualcomm MSM8960 chipset — which is currently Samsung’s chip of choice for LTE regions. The Odyssey looks set to be Samsung’s high-end Windows Phone, with a 4.65-inch high-definition Super AMOLED display and NFC ready for Microsoft’s own mobile payment plans. Meanwhile, the Marco will apparently forego the near-field delights and house a humbler 4-inch WVGA Super AMOLED screen, for a presumably gentler price. According to the legal documents, both devices are gearing up to launch in Q4 of this year — after we’ve seen Windows Phone 8 in its entirety.
Last year, there was one subject that nobody could get enough of in the mobile industry: near field communication (NFC)-powered mobile payments. Google launched its digital Wallet service, and Verizon, T-Mobile, and AT&T announced an unparalleled joint venture to get in on the action as well. So a company trying to get in on the ground floor of NFC sure seemed like a good idea, but the problem is you never know what the future will bring.
And unfortunately for ViVOtech, the future brought an extreme decline in excitement for NFC payments and a very sluggish path to bringing this to the masses. Vivotech raised tens of millions of dollars mainly to manufacture credit card terminals that could accept mobile payments. Now, however, it is looking to sell off that huge chunk of its business. It will still exist, but only as a much smaller software company.
Instead of NFC, which requires users to have a special piece of hardware in their phone as well as an accepted credit card account, and also required retailers to have the necessary equipment, and not to be outdone also requires users to have a special app installed on their phone, the mobile payment space has become dominated by mobile credit card terminals, allowing peer-to-peer payments and also software-based alternatives that don’t require new hardware. Poor Vivotech…
Companies seemingly patent anything and everything, so it’s always best to take these listings with your recommended daily allowance of salt, but Apple looks to have filed for a patent relating to pairing controllers using NFC capabilities on an iPhone. It doesn’t mean that Apple is working on a game controller, but does suggest that the company is keeping all its gaming options open, entertaining the idea of pairing multiple devices using NFC and even turning the iPhone into a digital controller.
That could lead to some interesting applications for Apple, such as displaying a digital overlay of traditional controls on an iPhone while you play a game on an Apple TV or Mac. Currently games can be mirrored out to an Apple TV with an iPhone or iPad, but this patent may hint at additional controllers being used on iOS devices thanks to NFC pairing.
Gaming isn’t the sole focus on the patent, however, with the Apple looking to control all sorts of technology once devices have been paired using NFC. Rather than limit the technology to mobile payments, the company looks to turn iOS devices into controllers that could interact with cameras or various appliances throughout the home. It’s been reported several times that the next iPhone will feature NFC capabilities, and with more and more Android OEMs including it in their handsets, it seems like the next logical step for Apple.
A research consultant has revealed to Ars Technica that he can force NFC-equipped Android and Nokia phones to run malicious code in several ways — but only with specific devices and constraints. The first violation used the near-field Google Beam function, but only affected certain NFC phones running ICS or Jelly Bean. This could allow an evildoer to send a malicious website to an unsuspecting victim to possibly compromise their data. The next exploit was limited to a Gingerbread-equipped Google Nexus S, since later Android releases patched the bugs necessary for the hack. It allowed a so-called tag to access the NFC functions in the OS, and with a little more legwork could offer up access to more malicious programs. The final invasion was made on the Meego-powered Nokia N9, which the expert controlled by Bluetooth, using NFC — as long as the dupe overrode the defaults and enabled that function. If so, a hacker could dial out from the phone, send messages or upload and download files, depending on which security settings were enabled. Fortunately, exact hardware and software combinations aside, nefarious types would still have to be within an inch or two of your phone to enable their NFC box of tricks. Take a look at the source for the full interview.
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