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The dumbest way to fight showrooming: Charge customers $5 just for browsing

| Mar 26, 2013 | Business Business Solutions Consumer Trends WTF

London Underground: NFC mobile payments ’too slow’ for the tube

| Jul 12, 2012 | Consumer Trends Technology

NFC Mobile Payments has been tested several times in the past, London’s Tube system won’t be getting mobile-based payment technology any time soon. Customer Experience Director Shashi Verma said that existing NFC technology wasn’t able to drop below the 500 millisecond barrier – something which Transport for London demands from its high-churn Oyster card-based turnstiles. Verma added, “The concerns are only around NFC technology and not EMV. We are keen to see any progress the industry can make in this area.

Google Wallet Launches

| Sep 20, 2011 | Consumer Trends Gadgets Google Mobile Technology

Google officially rolled out its Google Wallet mobile payment system Monday. Is still in its infancy, but the system already shows a lot of promise.

It uses a technology called NFC (Near Field Communication) to securely send your payments digitally.

The only phone in the US that supports NFC is the Google Nexus S, available with t-mobile and Sprint, and there are high hopes that the iPhone 5 will support it too.

Right now, Google Wallet only works with Citi-Mastercards and the Google Prepaid Card. Visa and Google announced a worldwide agreement to support the Visa payWave app, but it will still be up to the financial institutions and banks to add support.

Google+ Song [humor,video]

| Sep 20, 2011 | Consumer Trends Google Humor Video

Pretty funny Google+ videos showing how it has no immediate competitive advantage … initial reaction is “do we really need another social network”? in this video it shows that if you dig down, the usability is actually quite nice … but people would have to give it a chance first, and as you can see in this infographic : they don’t.

The Google+ Song

LYRICS:

Check my email, got an invite To a website I don't know Looked like googlebuzz at first sight, But my friend said that's a no. Why did we need, another social network? Doesn't Facebook work alright? A new thing for me to learn This could take all night, Look out!

What is this google + I don’t Need google + There’s another +1 and another +1 What is this google + Hey, Why’s this red thing here? Go away google +

You want me to put my friends in circles But circles are for squares Everday’s like Sophie’s choice Trying to choose which friend goes where But No Parents, or Ex-boyfriends… Can get in without invites And when I drunkenly post that he’s cute I can edit it later that night - whoa

I kinda like google + Can’t believe I’m on google + Oh another hangout, and another hang out I dig my google + Hey, old high school friend You can’t join my google +

Friends add me, without me adding them That feature’s really nice Randos Uglies my pot dealer and all these friend’s I’ve never liked No one knows, my circle names, So even good friend’s get handpicked Do you make it into my main feed or do I add you to my circle of pricks

I’m in love with google plus I’m judgemental on goggle + and Another douchebag and another loser You didn’t make my google plus Hey, Now I’m a facist pig Thank you google plus!

Google+ infographic

| Sep 20, 2011 | Consumer Trends Google Social Media Social Networks

Google+ now finally open to the public “might” make me change my perception. Google+ (plus) launched early July on an invite only basis, which seems to have heavily skewed towards a geeky male US-based audience. At the moment, Google+ really has nothing to offer in the social end … yes, the way you organize friends is better (IMO) than Facebook, and … … … well, that’s it … You might have heard me claim that it will compete against iCloud in the quest to conquer your hard data (photos, videos, music, files) - but that’s another post on its own.

The first Google+ infographic was released an the numbers pretty much confirm it: 26 million users, 100% of which work in software engineering, web development, advertising, or related careers. Should be interesting to watch it shift (or not) now that Google+ is open to the public.

The Future of Mobile Payments [Infographic]

| Jul 11, 2011 | Consumer Trends Future Trends Mobile

As smartphone vendors and mobile operators shift their strategies to incorporate wireless payment technologies into mobile phones, consumers will soon be able to drop their wallet and carry every piece of important payment information on their handset. NFC is already starting to be built into a range of Android smartphones, RIM and Nokia have committed to the technology and Apple is reportedly adding the contactless technology to its new iOS devices.