In the near future, you might not even have to visit a bank or an ATM to deposit a check. You'll simply snap a couple of photos of it with your cell phone.
Applications to do just that are already available for Apple's iPhone and other gadgets from USAA, a company that provides insurance and banking mainly for military veterans. Chase, Bank of America and Citibank are among the banks planning to release similar applications this year.
MOBILE VENDORS Sagem Orga and Telefonica launched a SIM with an integrated WiFi router at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.
The SIM as WiFi hotspot is a neat trick. Telefonica and Sagem have embedded a WLAN modem in the SIM card. Sagem provides the SIM and the technology for a SIM toolkit applet running in the background while Telefonica, one of the world's largest mobile communications companies, broadcasts over High Speed Packet Access (HSPA) to provide WiFi Internet access to notebooks and netbooks.
Equipment that jams cell phones will get its first federally sanctioned test inside a prison in Maryland this week, as state officials try to show Congress how the technology can prevent inmates from using the contraband devices to commit crimes, a governor's spokesman said Tuesday.
The state wants to show the equipment can be used without interfering with emergency response and legitimate signals outside the prison perimeter, said Shaun Adamec, Gov. Martin O'Malley's spokesman.
For most of us, sitting down in front of a computer for work or play is a pretty simple affair. But for people who are blind, paralyzed or otherwise physically disabled, using a computer can be an exercise in frustration.
Full body scanners which the government has decided to roll-out to Australian airports are pose privacy and health risks, the chair of the NSW Council for Civil Liberties has said.
Following in the footsteps of the US, the UK, The Netherlands and Canada, the Federal Government has announced that it will spend $28 million on full body scanners to be introduced at eight Australian airports next year.
Using magnetic induction to send electricity to devices is more efficient when more than one machine is involved.
The notion of transmitting power over the air is at least 100 years old, with methods from high-powered microwaves to focused beams of infrared being tested.
In sci-fi films, when anyone gives a computer emotions, it all goes horribly wrong. The computer becomes vain, doubtful and irrational and Armageddon by wayward technology is only narrowly avoided. Yet machines that can recognise our emotions and respond to them are a hot new area in computer design.
We're not talking about handing a global missile defence system over to a PC with a lot of feelings, but we are talking about improving the interface between humans and computers by making computers easier and more intuitive to interact with.
Welcome to the brave new world of Light Peak, a technology based on beaming infared light through optical fibre cables for 10GBits/sec and your broadband could be next.
It's exciting to see two major interface updates in one month. But USB 3 and SATA/600 are designed to fulfil similar roles, and you'd be forgiven for wondering whether it's efficient for the industry to maintain both interface standards. You wouldn't be the only one.
US technology titans IBM and Intel have rolled out powerful new computer chips designed for businesses continually demanding more from networks and data centers.
Intel introduced an Itanium processor 9300 series developed under the code name "Tukwila" that it touts as delivering twice the performance of prior generation chips. The 9300 series features two billion transistors per chip and four "cores," mini-brains that process data.
The tension level at the grocery store checkout sometimes rises when a customer needs extra time because they have no cash and therefore have to pay with a bank card.
This is especially true in Germany where there is almost always a line at the cash register and it's standard for customers to have to bag their own groceries. Some supermarkets in the country are working to remedy this problem by using a fingerprint scanner to verify identity and make the electronic payment.
