Consumers with Amazon Echo or Google Home could use the virtual assistant devices to make or receive phone calls later this year, the Wall Street Journal reports... More
Smart home owners can ask Alexa to unlock front door
Homeowners with smart home company August’s Smart Lock system are now able to ask an Amazon Alexa-enabled device to unlock their front door using their voice and a secure voice PIN of four to 12 digits... More
Apple Pay and Android Pay prepare for Korea launch
Apple Pay and Android Pay are preparing to launch in Korea, according to The Korea Herald... More
Citi and Wells Fargo cards ‘not supported’ by Android Wear
Credit cards provided by US banks Citi and Wells Fargo are not supported by Android Wear 2.0, Google’s new version of its wearables operating system which brings host card emulation (HCE) based NFC payments to smartwatches... More
Google unveils Android Wear 2.0 and new watch with support for NFC mobile payments
Google has officially unveiled Android Wear 2.0, the new version of its operating system for smartwatches, and two new watches from LG — one of which comes with NFC to support HCE mobile payments using Android Pay... More
Chrome 56 adds BLE connectivity to web apps
Consumers can now communicate with nearby Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) devices through web apps using Google’s Chrome 56 update for Android... More
Google to shut down Hands Free mobile payments pilot
Google is ending its Hands Free mobile payments pilot in one week’s time in order to focus its efforts on “bringing the best of the Hands Free technology to a wider audience,” according to the company... More
Facebook strengthens security with Fido-compliant authentication
Social media giant Facebook has added the Fido Alliance’s Universal Second Factor (U2F) specification to its platform to strengthen its range of two-factor authentication methods which have previously been offered through an SMS service or by a code generation feature inside the Facebook mobile app... More
Google brings HCE payments to Android Wear 2.0
Google is adding support for host card emulation (HCE) based NFC payments to smartwatches in Android Wear 2.0, the new version of its operating system for smartwatches which is scheduled to be released in early February 2017... More
Google to add payments for Home Assistant?
An APK teardown conducted by XDA reveals that Google plans to add the ability to make payments directly through its Google Home voice-activated speaker powered by Google Assistant... More
Android Pay heading to Russia in 2017
Google is planning to bring Android Pay to Russia this year, according to Russian newspaper Izvestia... More
Asus unveils smartphone that supports AR and VR
Asus has announced the first smartphone to support both Google’s Tango 3D augmented reality and Daydream virtual reality technologies... More
Google adds payments to Android Wear
Google will launch two flagship smartwatches that include support for Android Pay mobile payments in the first quarter of 2017, Jeff Chang, product manager for Android Wear at Google, has told The Verge... More
Domino’s offers pizza orders with Google Home
Domino’s Pizza customers can now order pizza through Google Home, the voice-activated home assistant unveiled by Google in October 2016... More
Google unveils updated Android for Internet of Things
Google has unveiled Android Things, an update to its Internet of Things (IoT) developer platform, which it says will make it “faster and easier to create smart, connected products” powered by Android’s operating system and secured with updates directly from the internet giant... More
Google’s browser connects with BLE
The latest version of Google’s Chrome browser allows websites to interact with Bluetooth Low Energy devices... More
Android Pay launches in Ireland
Android Pay has launched in Ireland with support from Visa and Mastercard and banks AIB and KBC with “more banks being added in the coming months”, Google’s Pali Bhat writes... More
Alzheimer’s Research UK promotes Christmas ad through Proxama’s beacon network
PARTNER NEWS: Alzheimer’s Research UK (ARUK) is using Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) beacons on digital payment solutions provider Proxama’s beacon network to promote its Santa Forgot Christmas campaign... More
Android Pay launches with single bank support in New Zealand
Android Pay is launching in New Zealand initially only for customers of BNZ bank who own a Visa Flexi debit card... More
NFC payments coming to Android Wear 2.0?
A Google Play Services v10.0 APK teardown conducted by Android Police has revealed Google may be adding support for NFC payments through Android Pay to its Android Wear 2.0 smartwatch update... More