PayPal wants to be your digital wallet. (Photo Credit: Public Domain/ÓSðinn/Wikipedia)

As we bitstream our way toward a cashless society, digital wallet services have become increasingly prevalent. Banks offer them, Google offers one and Apple has plans for a digital wallet in the works. Finally, the grandaddy of online payment services, PayPal, has joined the party. TechCrunch reports that PayPal, fresh off the premiere of its in-store payment platform for large retailers, is shaping its vision of what a consumer’s digital wallet should be.

PayPal revamps the way consumers do business

PayPal’s director of communications Anuj Nayar told TechCrunch that the online payment service is in the process of making major changes.

“PayPal is changing, and this is the first major revamp of the core PayPal product,” he said. “We’re known as an online payments brand but this is all part of PayPal becoming an actual wallet.”

Consumers’ financial flexibility is PayPal’s goal, noted Sam Shrauger, the company’s Vice President of Global Product and Experience.

“(The new) PayPal will let consumers do things with their money that have never been possible before,” said Shrauger.

One thing PayPal’s new digital wallet will help consumers achieve is greater flexibility in the way that they pay for an item in a store. A customer can buy something on one credit card at a retail location, take the item home, then decide to change the funding source of their already completed purchase. PayPal digital wallet provides the consumer with a five- to seven-day grace period in which to make this change, provided the funding credit, debit or gift card is tied to the consumer’s PayPal digital wallet. Not only that, the digital wallet enables users to set up automatic installment payments and use multiple payment sources for a single purchase.

[Improve your business by utilizing our mobile app developers!]

Create personal shopping lists

PayPal digital wallet will enable consumers to manager their favorite methods of payment, and it will allow users to create personal wish lists, a la Amazon. Consumers will be able to search for items through PayPal, compare prices and make lists. PayPal will reportedly find the best deals and coupons automatically, whether the consumer is in-store or online.

Play by the rules

PayPal digital wallet also enables consumers to design specific rules for specific cards and bank accounts. For instance, users can earmark a specific bank account to be used for groceries, while other cards can be marked for entertainment or travel use. As long as users pay with their PayPal digital wallets, PayPal automatically recognizes the nature of the purchase and ties it to the appropriate payment source automatically.

PayPal digital wallet ready by late May

Nayar told TechCrunch that the features of PayPal digital wallet will be available to consumers by late May 2012. Considering that PayPal has more than 100 million active users and is device-agnostic, company executives believe that its digital wallet should pose hefty competition to pre-existing services from competitors.

“This will be your new PayPal account,” said Nayar.

PayPal Digital Wallet in action

Sources

Gigaom

PayPal blog

TechCrunch

Sprint is releasing a smarphone, the ZTE Fury, that will cost $20 after a mail-in rebate. Image from Wikimedia Commons.

The barrier for most people in getting a smartphone is the initial cost of the phone, as forking over $200 and then agreeing to at least 2 years of a contract is daunting. That said, Sprint wants to make it easier, as the carrier is offering an Android phone, the ZTE Fury, for $20 with a 2-year contract.

Smartphones getting cheaper

Smartphones are amazing in a lot of respects, as they allow the user to combine a host of functions in a single device. One’s phone can become their PDA, phone, computer and also entertainment complex all-in-one, and the apps can be pretty cool too. That said, there are some serious hitches. They are expensive and wireless carriers force the buyer to buy not only a data plan to go with the text and phone allotment, but they also want to lock the customer into a 2-year contract. That said, the phones are getting cheaper. A person can basically get a smartphone for free these days, though the cheaper phones are often the less desirable ones. That said, Sprint is launching a new smartphone that costs $20 and has features of much more expensive units.

The sound and the ZTE Fury

Sprint, according to CNET, is launching the ZTE Fury, which will be available in stores by March 11, as a budget model smartphone with some decidedly non-budget features. It’s a 3G phone and it can also be used as a mobile hotspot and provide Wi-Fi to up to five devices at a time. The Fury is powered by a 1 gigahertz processor and comes with 4 gigabytes of memory, though it can be expanded to up to 32GB  as it takes a microSD card. According to PC Magazine, it also is running on Android 2.3 or Gingerbread, as Android 4.0, Ice Cream Sandwich, is still only being installed on select devices. There’s no word on whether it will, however.

Families in mind

The phone also has access to Sprint Family Services, a selection of apps from Sprint that users have to subscribe to. Those apps include Family Locator, which tracks phones for $5 per month, Mobile Controls, which allows parents to remotely monitor their child’s phone and content for $4.99 per month. The phone can also be equipped with Sprint’s Drive First which, for $2 per month, locks the phone down when it is traveling at more than 10 miles per hour. The phone costs $19.99, according to Engadget, though that is with a 2-year contract and after the buyer mails in a $50 rebate.

[Android app developers do craft some amazing apps for families]

Sources

CNET

PC Magazine

Engadget

Wondering if that burger is riddled with E. Coli? A cell phone attachment developed by UCLA scientists can detect E.coli from samples. Image from Wikimedia Commons.

Scientists from the University of California Los Angeles have come up with a device that can put a cellular phone to use fighting food-borne illness. The device, which is only a prototype, uses LED and ultraviolet lights to detect E. coli bacteria.

There’s an accessory for that

One of the most common food-borne illnesses is an infection caused by the Escherichia Coli bacteria, commonly called E. coli, the bulk of which comes from the E.coli O157:H7 strain. According to the Centers for Disease Control, this strain, along with some other strains of E. coli, produces the shiga toxin, which is what makes people sick when they get infected by shiga-producing strains of the bacteria. E. coli outbreaks can be fatal in some cases. Most people never know they have it because the symptoms, such as nasuea, diarrhea and vomiting, can be attributed to just about anything including a visit from one’s in-laws. However, because of the danger, one needs to do all they can to ensure they don’t eat contaminated food, and it turns out that some scientists from UCLA have developed an accessory for that.

[A companion app for the device would need ingenious app developers to be done right]

The lab is going mobile

Ordinarily, one needs a laboratory in order to detect E. coli, but some scientists from UCLA, according to the Daily Mail, have invented a device that clips on to the back of a cellular phone or on top of the phone’s camera. The device has on-board batteries that power it. It works by dripping liquid samples of whatever the user wishes to test for E. coli, which are pumped into tiny glass tubes, called capillaries, with LED lights at one end and a solution emulsified with quantum-dot E. coli antibodies. Quantum dots, put as simply, are tiny semi-conductors; if E. coli is detected in the sample, it conducts currents to the LEDs, lighting them up. Then, according to the abstract on UCLA’s website, a second lens housed in the device, which fits between the capillaries and the mobile phone camera, magnifies the image so a picture can be taken by the phone’s camera.

Just a proof of concept

The device was only recently reported in Analyst, a journal of the Royal Society of Chemistry. That said, according to L.A. Weekly, it’s only a proof-of-concept; it isn’t known if it is close to or even will make it into production. That said, similar devices such as CellScope, according to Popular Science, have been developed. CellScope is basically a battery-powered microscope which similarly attaches to the back of a cell phone, over the camera, and images are taken and sent using the phone and camera. It has obvious use as a diagnostic tool and has already undergone some field testing in Africa.

Sources

Daily Mail

UCLA

LA Weekly

Popular Science: http://www.popsci.com/bown/2008/innovator/cell-scope

Centers for Disease Control: http://www.cdc.gov/ecoli/general/index.html/

Will “Angry Birds Space” make these birds cosmonauts? (Photo Credit: CC BY-SA/Андрей Мега/Wikipedia)

You have head of “Angry Birds” if you’ve ever been near someone with a smartphone. However, everything you know about “Angry Birds” is about to be launched into space, reports TechCrunch. On March 22, developer Rovio will release “Angry Birds Space,” what the company is calling its biggest launch to date, beating even its “Angry Birds Rio” partnership with 20th Century Fox.

Nothing bigger than space

“Angry Birds Space” will be the latest in what has proven to be the most popular mobile game line ever. “Angry Birds Seasons” and “Angry Birds Rio” were well-received both critically and by gamers who can’t get enough of the cute physics-based action. Both of those mobile games were earthbound, however. With “Angry Birds Space,” Rovio will have lift off.

A gravity-free pig hunt

As with all games in the “Angry Birds” aerie, the nasty green pigs have stolen the birds’ eggs, and the birds are angry. They’re so angry that they’re prepared to hurl themselves through the void of space in order to wreak avian vengeance upon the heads of the porcine perpetrators.

[Devoid of ideas? Let our smartphone app developers help.]

This time, gravity – or lack thereof, to be specific – plays a major role in how the game is played. TechCrunch reports that Rovio is indeed playing by the physical laws of space, which means that the Angry Bird’s flight toward the offending green pigs is gravity-free. In order to illustrate just how things will work in “Angry Birds Space,” NASA astronaut Don Pettit taped a demonstration on board the International Space Station (see below) that demonstrates how an object like an Angry Bird will fly when fired from a slingshot under zero-gravity. Without gravity to pull the bird downward, its path is quite straight.

“We’re seeing all of this in a weightless environment, which is what ‘Angry Birds Space’ will look like, with gravitational fields from planetary bodies,” said Pettit.

Planetary bodies have pull

Here’s where Rovio hits the bull’s-eye in “Angry Birds Space.” The player must take into account the gravitational pull of massive bodies in space. Planets will begin to pull the bird in as they approach, thus changing the trajectory of their flight. Jordan Crook of TechCrunch had the following brief tweet exchange with Rovio’s Peter Vesterbacka regarding the gravity-free dynamics:

“Jordan Crook @jordanrcrook
@pvesterbacka is angry birds space gravity-free to make the game more challenging? is that why you chose space in the 1st place?

Peter Vesterbacka @pvesterbacka
@jordanrcrook there’s zero gravity in space, but planets and gravity wells make it more fun.”

Watch for “Angry Birds Space” March 22 on your iOS or Android device, PC or Mac.

‘Angry Birds Space’ in zero gravity, thanks to NASA

Sources

Angry Birds Space official

TechCrunch

The Guardian

Sony is rumored to be releasing a hybrid tablet/notebook called the VAIO U with a full keyboard, reminiscent of the VAIO UX micro-PC. Image from Wikimedia Commons.

Yes, yes, Apple has a new iPad out, just like last year. There’s another tablet that may be worth getting excited about from Sony with a feature that no mobile device from Apple has yet to have, namely a keyboard.

Sometimes they come back

Contrary to popular belief, Apple didn’t invent the tablet PC. There were plenty of portable PCs several years before the iPhone was released, never mind the iPad, though they were incredibly expensive. One of them, the Sony VAIO UX series, had a touchscreen that was 4.5 inches across diagonally, Wi-Fi connectivity, front and rear cameras and, according to the 2006 review on CNET, also had a slide-out QWERTY keyboard, just like a lot of modern smartphones. The device was a bit expensive, at $1,800 for North America, but it did just about everything the modern tablet does. The device even was used by Christian Bale in the movie “Terminator: Salvation.” Unfortunately, the device was too expensive and its capabilities were too limited to keep it viable, and it disappeared. However, it appears something like it may be in the works, according to Engadget.

Yes, Virginia, there is a keyboard

According to Engadget, Sony showed off a hybrid tablet/notebook at the Consumer Electronics Show this year, which featured a thin keyboard that slid out from the back, propping the screen up kind of like a notebook. It was only a concept model called, imaginatively, the Hybrid; it hadn’t been confirmed for production. However, a visual ad, like the kind that would go in a magazine, has been leaked, showing the hybrid tablet/notebook, with the text describing it as the VAIO U series, which means that the UX’s evolutionary descendant may be headed for stores in the near future.

Android out the Windows

The concept version of the tablet, according to PocketNow, the blog that leaked the ad, ran on Windows 7. The VAIO UX ran on Windows XP, which means that there it is a distinct possibility that the VAIO U, provided it doesn’t get canceled, is going to run on Windows 8. Aside from that, some other features, according to CNET, are a front-facing camera, a detachable stylus on the bottom edge of the keyboard and a side USB port. The concept model also, according to PocketNow, had an 11-inch screen, which makes it larger than many other tablets, including the iPad. Of course, the hitch is going to be whether or not it’s priced to compete with other tablets or whether the keyboard will give it the advantage.

[Even the most talented iPhone application development team can't add hardware. That said, they can do amazing work with applications.]

Sources

CNET

Engadget

PocketNow

CNET: http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-57391837-1/leaked-ad-outs-sony-vaio-u-hybrid-tablet-pc/

Engadget: http://www.engadget.com/2012/01/11/sony-vaio-hybrid-and-slate-tablet-concepts-showcase-new-form-fac/

Congratulations, iPad 2. There's a new generation. Image: ell brown/Flickr/CC BY

There has been much speculation as to what the name of Apple’s new 4G iPad will be called. Rumors have abounded, but it will not be called the iPad 3, the iPad 2S or the iPad HD. Wednesday, Tim Cook, the CEO of Apple, unveiled what is simply called the next generation iPad at an event in the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco, Calif.

New speed, new display, new camera, new connectivity

The much-anticipated new slate computer features a faster processing time, a 5-megapixel camera, 4G LTE and, according to Apple, a new retina display screen with sharper image than a the high-definition television set.

Faster processor

The next generation Apple tablet features an A5X processor as well as a quad-core graphics chip. The technology giant says the chip is four times faster than a Tegra 3.

Retina display screen

A so-called “retina display” is defined as a screen that has a pixel density so great that the normal human eye can not distinguish between them from 10 to 12 inches away. That means a density of greater than 300 dots per inch. The new iPad’s 326 dpi more than qualifies. Before its launch on Wednesday, the only Apple devices featuring that kind of density were the iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S. All in all, the new iPad’s 9.7-inch screen contains 3.1 million pixels.

Real HD

Apple also announced Wednesday that it will start steaming full high definition 1080p video from the iTunes store, just in time to take advantage of the new display.

5-megapixel iSight rear camera

The rear camera on the new iPad is similar to the 5-megapixel camera currently available in the iPhone 4S. It has five element lenses and is capable of recording 1080p video. The front camera remains a 0.3 megapixel, identical to the one on the iPad 2.

4G LTE

Apple says the new iPad’s LTE connectivity allows it to run 10 times faster than 3G. It has a download speed of 73 megabits per second. The quicker connection should eliminate most or all of the shakiness sometimes associated with streaming video, further improving the viewing experience from previous tablet devices.

[The world is is on the move. You need to be, too. -- iPhone web app development.] 

Available March 16

The new iPad is slated to go on sale on March 16 at $499 for the 16GB WiFi version, and $829 for the 4G 64 GB model. Apple is accepting pre-orders for the device now.

Apple needs a hit

Apple needs to have a hit with the new iPad if it wishes to stay at the forefront of the  competitive mobile technology market. Dozens of new devices are slated to launch this year. Samsung and Motorola Mobility already have tablet devices available with LTE capabilities.

Sources

CNBC
Engadget
Los Angeles Times 

Or, you could just get the Sketch Nation Studio app. Image: familymwr/Flickr/CC BY

Sketch Nation Studio, a new app by Engineous Games, allows gamers with creativity and entrepreneurial leanings to become game designers. The application also gives users a chance to get their cyber-world creations in the App Store catalog and make some real-world money.

Beyond Sketch Nation Shooter

Engineous Games has pioneered the idea of user-friendly game development apps before. Its previous release, Sketch Nation Shooter, was wildly popular and spawned thousands of user-developed shooter games. But Sketch Nation Studio takes the concept to new levels. It allows users to make games in five popular gaming genres. Plus, the user has far more control and more choices than in the previous app.

A marketing opportunity

The largest innovation with the new app, however, is the opportunity it offers users to market their games at the App Store. Users are encouraged to submit their creations to Enginious. If deemed worthy of release, the company will put a game up for sale at $0.99 a download. Of that, the user/developer gets half. After Apple takes its 30 percent, the developer walks away with $0.35 per download. That can add up fast.

Supports five game genres

The five genres that Sketch Nation Studio allows users to work in are:

1. up-jumping — think Doodle Jump
2. down-jumping  — the same as up-jumping, but in the opposite direction
3. side flying  — like Jetpack Joyride
4. side running — think Canabalt
5. side jumping — a platform game featuring a character jumping between platforms or over obstacles.

App has three modes

The app has three modes: Simple, Advanced and Standalone. The simple mode will create a game, doing most of the work for the user. According to Modojo, it is possible to create a working game in two minutes using this mode.

The Advanced mode gives the user far more choices. Game-makers have the option of using their own artwork and can set the rules for the game. Special effects tabs allow users to add smoke, simple animations and other enhancements to graphics. Various control schemes are also offered in this mode.

The Standalone App mode allows users to submit a finished game to Engineous, where it will await approval or rejection by the company’s reviewers. Each games is judged for its quality, originality and fun quotient. If approved, the game will become a standalone app at the App Store.

[If there isn't an app for that, there should be. -- Mobile app development.]

The price is right

Even with all it offers, perhaps the best thing about this app is that it is free. There is no risk, but for users whose game creations do make it to the App Store, it could be the goose who laid the golden egg.

Virtual currency encourages sharing

As if the chance at making real money wasn’t enough, Engineous offers further incentive in the form of a virtual currency called Sketch Bucks. Users earn Sketch Bucks for uploading new games. The digital money can then be used to download and play other user-created games.

At this time, Sketch Nation Studio is testing in Canada, and it should launch in the U.S. soon.

Sources

TUAW 
Modojo 
Sketch Nation

Mobile gaming means money, and SessionM wants to help developers cash in. (Photo Credit: CC BY/GDC/Wikipedia)

Boston-based mobile engagement company SessionM is positioning itself to make big noise in the mobile gaming industry. According to sources, SessionM CEO Lars Albright is determined to hold the attention of mobile gaming consumers, who have many choices today for entertainment. SessionM will achieve this via “game mechanics and rewards,” reports TechCrunch.

A world of achievements

Mobile game designers can use the services SessionM offers to create an array of achievements for users to unlock through in-game accomplishments and milestones reached. Achievements serve as badges of honor within the user community surrounding a mobile app, and SessionM translates these badges into mPoints, too. mPoints can be redeemed for various gift cards, retailer discounts and related awards. Some mPoints opportunities available to mobile gamers so far include:

• eGift cards from Amazon and Barnes & Noble
• Entries in various sweepstakes
• Coupons and special offers from associated publishers and advertisers

To date, SessionM publisher partners include Viacom Media Digital Networks, The Weather Channel, Demand Media, Fox Sports and Glam Media, and more are entering the fold every day.

HTML5 for compatibility

Rather than mobile gaming developers having to change their platform to accommodate SessionM’s user engagement systems, SessionM has produced systems that function as an HTML5 layer that sits atop a mobile app. This is both lightweight and easily customizable for game developers, notes Albright, giving publishers the option of deciding what types of in-game activities they want to reward.

[Skilled mobile app developers reward your creative ideas with polished apps]

The nearly universal nature of the HTML5 framework also makes it easy to sync with other mobile gaming social networks like OpenFeint.

Bringing in the advertisers

Offering video ads and branded mini-game opportunities to big-time advertisers is a major part of what Albright and SessionM are looking to achieve. With advertisers like Honda, Tyson Foods and Volvo already on board, publishers and advertisers are ecstatic. Mobile gaming users may be somewhat less enthusiastic, as advertisers are inserting an extra layer of interaction between gamer and game.

However, as Albright told TechCrunch, initial response via high engagement rates has been positive. Consumers who don’t want advertising are always given the opportunity to opt out, from advertising or any other feature provided by SessionM.

Insights and analytics: Evidence of success

SessionM’s developer portal enables real-time management of user achievement rewards and overall engagement activity. This produces an accurate analytics portrait of mobile gaming audience behavior – and SessionM also provides real-time revenue and ad performance reports and analytics.

Quattro Wireless was optimizing for mobile in 2008

Sources

SessionM

TechCrunch

Venture Beat

Isis, the mobile payment system, has just made agreements with point of sale machine and credit card companies. Photo Credit: m.gifford/Flickr.com/CC-BY-SA

One of the most hotly anticipated smartphone technologies is mobile payments, or paying for stuff using a smartphone app linked to a credit or debit card. The biggest obstacle is the lack point-of-sale machines, though the upcoming Isis system has just scored a deal with POS machine vendors.

Infrastructure lacking

Near-Field Communications or NFC technology isn’t new; it’s simply an RFID chip scanned by a reader in close proximity. The use of NFC systems for the purposes of mobile payments is relatively new, as few vendors are currently using it, which is a hindrance for the growing mobile payment industry. Being able to pay for purchases with one’s smartphone using an on-board NFC chip linked to a credit or debit card account is possible, but the only active system right now is Google Wallet. It’s available on a growing list of phones, but the hitch is, it can only be used at stores that have the MasterCard PayPass Point-Of-Sale machine, which few do. The Isis mobile payment system has just inked a deal with several companies that will make mobile payment options more widely available, according to CNET.

[Mobile payments for iPhone would be a great opportunity for the right iPhone app developer]

Goddess of the dead and mobile payments

Isis, according to CNET, is a joint venture between AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile. Isis is an NFC mobile payment system; it will be a chip implanted on phones and an application installed on them. However, Isis’s development has been slow, but the past few weeks have been fruitful. After signing deals with Barclay, Chase and Capital One, Isis has also just inked deals with Ingenico, ViVOTech, Equinox Payments and Verifone. Ingenico and Verifone, according to Techcrunch are POS machine and software vendors. ViVOTech is an NFC technology company and Equinox is a transaction processing company. Isis is gearing up to get the technology out there soon.

Just in time for back to school shopping

According to the press release on Engadget, Isis is set to launch sometime in the middle of this year, so it may start appearing in retail stores just in time for back to school shopping. The premise of the system is pretty simple. Vendors get a POS machine that has an NFC reader in it, just like with Google Wallet. People who have phones with the Isis NFC chip and program simply go up to the register and hold their phone up to the reader. The NFC chip’s code is detected, deducting the payment from the linked credit or debit card account, completing the transaction. The potential is pretty huge, as it gives smartphones even greater utility.

Sources

CNET

Engadget

Techcrunch

Relying on your smartphone without locking it is a very risky decision. Image: Flickr / brandnewbrain / CC-BY-SA

More than half of all U.S. adults carry a smartphone and some industry watchers have expressed concern that this is contributing to the rise in identity theft. Most smartphone users could help cut down on this problem with one simple step: locking their devices.

The identity theft problem

In 2011, there were about 12 million cases of identity theft in the United States. While credit card information is often the easiest to steal, an increasing number of these thefts are being carried out based on hacked social media accounts or smart devices.

Most of us carry at least some amount of personal information or access to a social network with private information. If an identity thief comes across this information, it can be easy to use the information for ill-gotten financial gains. Some research suggests that smartphone users are as much as three times as likely to have their identity stolen as non-smartphone users. This is a correlational link, not a causal link, which means that it is not certain that one causes the other. It is, however, certain that it is the fact.

An identity lock

According to a study released at the 2012 RSA cryptography and security conference, only about 25 percent of mobile device users use some kind of automatic lock on their devices. About 33 percent of laptop owners utilize a password or fingerprint lock on their laptop.  Ninety percent of tablet owners do not use a locking feature on their tablets. In short, most users of devices that have direct access to identity information do not lock that information.

Keeping your OS updated

In addition to keeping a usage lock on your smartphone and tablet, keeping your operating system updated is important. Research suggests that as many as 32 percent of smartphone users do not update their phone’s operating system on a regular basis. An older operating system is often more difficult to keep secure. For many cell phone users, keeping an updated operating system is often as simple as running an update. Some Android users, however, cannot update their phones because the phones simply do not support the new operating systems. If you are not certain that your phone has the most current operating system, check with your cell phone provider.

[An Android App Developer should be able to develop apps that will work on a variety of operating systems.]

Sources

Boston.com
ZDNet
Business Insider