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Payments By Touch Reaching Out For You
from the touchy-feely dept
The promises of contactless payments consistently seem to fall a bit short. The hardware costs for merchants sound hard to justify, and the benefits to the consumer are usually minimal -- since credit cards aren't exactly a painful process to begin with. However, wireless technologies are cool, so NTT DoCoMo has demonstrated a prototype phone that uses human conductivity to transmit data for services such as payment-by-touch -- so that you can keep the phone in your pocket and simply touch other devices to transmit your personal information. But if the irrational fears of cell phone radiation weren't enough for you, then imagine the possibilities of using skin conductivity. How will users fill up at the gas station? And consider how many more stories about high-tech pickpockets there will be... when thieves just have to touch you briefly in order to get your payment information. NTT DoCoMo admits that it'll be several years before this payment-by-touch system will be "ready, reliable and safe" for Japan -- but phone makers may also want to anticipate the FUD and weigh it against the existing payment methods before releasing a new plot device for Michael Crichton.
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The Social Consequences
In other news, unknown hackers have been spreading text messages claiming that many children are being molested in the bathrooms of nearby shopping centers. The fad started in Tokyo and has since spread to other cities. Variants of the message have claimed that perverts are sticking pencils into boys' rears, that girls are getting their uteruses surgically removed, that the perpetrator is an attractive woman in her 20s, or that an old couple is responsible.
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Handshakes
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Re: Handshakes
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Kiosks
I considered it at one point, but, I would rather not waste the half hour forking over my information and sliding a blank check through a machine......
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Re: The Social Consequences
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Credit cards work, period. Don't constantly try to fix what isn't broke.
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