All posts by Raymond Tomlin

About Raymond Tomlin

Raymond Tomlin is a veteran journalist and educator who has written frequently on the political realm — municipal, provincial and federal — as well as on cinema, mainstream popular culture, the arts, and technology.

A Tech Innovation Coming to Your Smartphone This Fall

Web & Tech

near-field-communication.jpg

Near Field Communication is coming to your smart phone this fall.
What does that mean to you?
Among other things, NFC-enabled devices (think smart phones or tablets) will enable the user to make mobile payments (have a look at the VISA video below), replace your passport, with one swipe open your home, car or hotel door, allow you to buy your theatre tickets online, replace the bracelet you have to wear when you go to the hospital, demystify your prescriptions when you’re at the pharmacy — and all that’s just for a start.


So, VISA is about to create and implement an effective, secure digital wallet service that’ll make all the above payment innovations real, set to arrive in a digital device near you at some point this autumn.
VISA’s idea is to let you store your VISA accounts, non-VISA accounts and even online payment services like PayPal into one digital wallet.
This way, you can pay for goods online with this do-everything wallet, with one account rather than various cards and different accounts allowing you, of course, to customize which cards you want, thereby simplifying how you pay for the goods you purchase.
Google has also announced a digital wallet, arriving first on Android phones, but due to expand onto all smart phones later this autumn.

A chip inside new Android phones — for now, only one model has it — will allow shoppers to wave their devices in front of a reader to pay for clothes and food at the mall or grocery.
Responding to privacy issues, Google said it will not have access to users’ financial information or purchase history.
Google’s electronic wallet will launch over the summer, with trials beginning in American cities on either coast. Users will need to download the Google Wallet application to begin using the service. Security will be paramount: Google said the chip cannot be accessed by passersby or by malicious software applications designed to steal information.
Users will need a PIN to access the app, and financial data will be stored on a tamper-resistant chip isolated from the phone’s hardware and software. At the point of purchase, the transmitter sends a unique, dynamic account number to verify the transaction.
“At the end of the day, it’s the same as a card,” says MasterCard spokeswoman Joanne Trout. “If there are fraudulent purchases, customers have zero liability.”
The success of MasterCard’s PayPass system — which allows shoppers to simply tap their cards on a reader rather than swipe — shows there is demand for “contactless” payments.
“There will be demand for this technology as long as there are enough retailers and enough phones,” Google announced upon introduction of the digital wallet concept.

Will Canadians Witness History on May 2, 2011?

Politics

These past 30 days and more have been confusing, frustrating, exhilarating and, from time to time, just a little hopeful.
On May 2, 2011, Canadians go to the polls to elect the 41st Canadian Parliament. At dissolution, on March 30th, the Conservative government held 143 seats, the Liberals 77, the Bloc Québécois 49, and the NDP 37.
Although the various polls released in recent weeks by Harris-Decima, EKOS-iPolitics and Nanos have suggested everything from a Conservative or an NDP majority (& the obliteration of the Bloc), to another Conservative minority government with the NDP (or the Liberal party) in the role of official opposition, pundits and prognosticators alike won’t know what the face of Canadian politics will look like until about 10 p.m. Monday night.
The folks at the Election Prediction Project have developed a methodology that has, in the past, fairly ably predicted federal riding outcomes across the country. The graphic below offers EPP’s seat projection for the 2011 federal election. Click on the graphic for a detailed provincial breakdown …


2011 FEDERAL ELECTION OUTCOME, PREDICTION

Meanwhile, the folks at ThreeHundredEight.Com are being a tad more generous to the NDP, offering a Canadian seat breakdown suggesting that the Conservatives will elect 143, with the Liberals 60, NDP 78, and Bloc 27.


2011 FEDERAL ELECTION OUTCOME, PREDICTION-308

Really, who can honestly predict the outcome of Monday’s federal election?
Whether the NDP garner 48, 61, 78, 108 or 157 seats, or the Conservatives manage their long sought after majority, the outcome of this suddenly exciting 2011 Canadian election will have historical significance going forward, and suggests to many the emergence of a two-party system, with one party on the centre-right and one on the centre-left.
Election coverage begins at 7 p.m. in British Columbia, when the polls close. If you didn’t get around to voting at an advance poll, make sure you, your eligible family members, your friends and your neighbours get out to your local polling station on Monday, and exercise your franchise. You have the very real opportunity to participate in history.