Drivers in the US can now find, reserve and pay for parking at some 75,000 off-street locations across the country from their vehicle simply by saying “Alexa, find parking nearby” or by instructing the virtual assistant to find parking at a specific destination... More
Drivers refuelling at more than 32,500 fuel stations across the US will soon be able to make hands-free payments at the pump by issuing a voice command to Google Assistant... More
Owners of LG smart TVs can now transfer content between their NFC smartphone and their TV by tapping their phone on the company’s new Magic Remote remote control device... More
The number of digital wallet users globally will increase from 2.3bn in 2019 to 4bn in 2024 and global non-cash transactions will grow to nearly 1.1tn in 2023 from 708.5bn in 2019, according to the World Payments Report 2020... More
Drivers can now use Alexa to pay for their fuel using just a voice command at any of more than 11,500 Exxon and Mobil stations across the US... More
7-Eleven is running a pilot of a new mobile payments service that includes an option for iPhone owners to use Siri to pay for their fuel from their vehicle using only their voice... More
Samsung’s rotatable Sero TV, which uses NFC to let owners mirror both the content and perspective of their mobile phone, is now available in the UK and the USA... More
‘Alexa, send flowers’: Order a bouquet in time for Christmas using only your voice — Interflora — “Global flower delivery company Interflora has become the first UK retail brand to launch a complete end-to-end ‘V-commerce’ service, with just one simple voice-based transaction making it possible to send flowers via Alexa and check out with Amazon Pay, all without lifting a finger.”
LG has launched its LG Pay mobile payments service in the US, enabling owners of its G8 ThinQ smartphone to make payments via NFC in stores equipped with a contactless POS terminal — and in stores with a magnetic stripe terminal using Wireless Magnetic Communication (WMC)... More
PayByPhone is now available through Amazon Echo Auto — PayByPhone — “To use the PayByPhone skill for Alexa, users must enable the skill and connect their existing PayByPhone account through account linking. After this, users can simply say, ‘Alexa, ask PayByPhone to start parking’ to begin a new parking session at the user’s desired spot for their desired duration.”
Chinese mobile device manufacturer Xiaomi has launched the Mi Band 4 NFC fitness tracker that supports contactless NFC payments and QR-based payments through AliPay and can be used as a key when combined with the company’s MI Smart Door Lock... More
Want Walmart to help you grocery shop? With our new voice capabilities, just say the word — Walmart — “Beginning this month, customers can say: ‘Hey Google, talk to Walmart’ and the Google Assistant will add items directly to their Walmart Grocery cart. Best of all, customers can be extra confident that we can quickly and accurately identify the items they are asking for with the help of information from their prior purchases with us. The more you use it, the better we’ll get.”
Starbucks Korea debuts voice ordering through Samsung’s Bixby — Starbucks — “Bixby allows My Starbucks Rewards customers in South Korea to place an order and pay through voice recognition ‘on command’. The feature allows customers to speak just as if they were talking to a barista in-store, including modifying their beverage to meet their personal preference… These features are an extension of Starbucks Siren Order, the company’s mobile order and pay technology, which allows customers in South Korea to order and pay for their purchases before arriving at their store.”
Securing conversational commerce: How to make your interactions with virtual assistants safer — Mastercard — “Voice-based and text-based agents are commonly used for basic informational tasks ranging from performing an internet search, to finding the nearest restaurant and giving simple commands such as making a phone call. But a growing number of people are using this interface for more complex tasks, with 21% of respondents using this technology to shop, pay bills, bank online or send money.”
A simple design flaw makes it astoundingly easy to hack Siri and Alexa — Co.Design — “Using a technique called the DolphinAttack, a team from Zhejiang University translated typical vocal commands into ultrasonic frequencies that are too high for the human ear to hear, but perfectly decipherable by the microphones and software powering our always-on voice assistants. This relatively simple translation process lets them take control of gadgets with just a few words uttered in frequencies none of us can hear.”
Starling Bank, a UK mobile-only bank, is testing an integration of its API with Google Home, the voice-activated speaker powered by Google Assistant... More