News Category Archive

PingPing – a revolutionary new way to manage your money

6 Replies Christopher Roberts

In Belgium, a revolutionary new technology is now in use. This technology is known as PingPing, and I believe that it is going to change the way we all pay for things.

ping.pingSmartphones are becoming evermore popular by the day, and the Belgian telecom operator Belgacom, is now providing a service which is capitalising on this change. They are providing users with a way to connect their wallet to their phone.

Okay we have seen this sort of thing happen before right? Google Wallet and others have tried to bring your wallet and your phone closer. PingPing is something completely different though, as it turns your phone, into a portable bank account – quite literally!

What is PingPing?

PingPing is a system whereby you create a PingPing account, credit this with money from your bank account, and then wherever you go, you can access this at the push of a button, or swipe of your phone, and pay for almost anything.

If you are out and about, you can pay for your car parking simply by sending an SMS. You can buy your sandwich with a swipe of the PingPing electronic tag on your phone. You can pay for your online shopping by texting a code to a given number. You can even text money to friends, which is credited instantly. Owe someone a tenner? They can have the money in their PingPing account in five seconds (quite literally) and all you need do is text it to them.

How does the PingPing service work?

With PingPing, you are able to make payments from your smartphone, by texting, or even easier, simply by swiping your phone on a PingPing reader.

Say for example you want to buy a drink from a vending machine. Usually you would have to fumble around and find some coins, only to discover the machine doesn’t give change, right? Well with PingPing, all you would need to do is swipe your phone on the machines PingPing tag detector, and it will link straight to your PingPing account – which you can easily top up with a bank transfer. This means that you can buy your drink within seconds, and the money is removed directly from your account. No loose change, no hassle. Confused? Watch the video below to see my example in action.

In the past, we have had to wait to get paid, checks can take days to clear, as can bank transfers. With PingPing, you are able to transfer money in (quite literally) 5 seconds, and all you need is your phone.

This technology is not just limited to vending machines though! With PingPing you can pay for anything – which is PingPing compatible. As I mentioned earlier, your sandwich, car parking, online shopping, in-store shopping, your bus fair, even charging your electric car, quite literally anything!

Can I use it?

There are many similar services to PingPing, which are live. I have heard that in the UK, Barclays bank are trialling such systems, and in Africa, there are many similar systems which have really taken off.

PingPing is currently only available in Belgium though. The software and technology is still relatively new, but I think it will spread fast.

Your Turn

What do you think about the PingPing service, will it take off elsewhere? Will it be a revolution, or is there too much competition already? Your thoughts, comments, opinions and facts are welcome as always 🙂

The App Store exceeds 25 billion downloads!

3 Replies Christopher Roberts

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California-based tech giant Apple – a company renowned for their phenomenally successful consumer hardware – have confirmed that the number of applications downloaded from its App Store recently exceeded 25 billion worldwide.

The figures that make up this total include apps sold via the store for all of Apple’s iDevices – including the iPhone, it’s various iPods and the iPad. Apple’s iDevices are used by an estimated half a billion people world wide (500 million) a colossal amount!

A black iPhone 4S

A black iPhone 4S – one of the iDevices which Apple have sold half a billion of (globally)

The announcement by Apple follows news that the winner of the company’s App Store Countdown to 25 Billion Apps – Chunli Fu from China – will be given a gift card worth $10,000 in free gifts as a reward for being the person to download the 25 billionth app from the Apple Store.

The app that marked the 25 billion download point was the game Where’s My Water (the free version). The app is a puzzle game that tests the physics skills and knowledge of the user, and can be downloaded onto virtually all of the main Apple iDevices, including the iPhone and iPad.

The game is one of the biggest selling and most popular apps available via the Apple Store – an in-house option for downloading Apple products which has proven to be revolutionary since the company started it.

In the period since the Apple Store was launched it has grown to the point where it now has 600,000 apps available for download, to users of the iPhone, iPad and iPod. These apps are available in more that 100 countries world wide, with nearly 200,000 of the apps being created by Apple itself. The apps available cover a wide range of subject areas, such as sports, games, news, business, travel and health and fitness. Just look at the Technology Bloggers ‘apps‘ category, to see reviews of some of the great apps on offer.

Apple’s Internet Software and Services senior vice president of Internet Software and Services, Eddy Cue, said:

“We’d like to thank our customers and developers for helping us achieve this historic milestone of 25 billion apps downloaded. When we launched the App Store less than four years ago, we never imagined that mobile apps would become the phenomenon that they have, or that developers would create such an incredible selection of apps for iOS users.”

Thanks to this and other user-friendly promotions, Apple remains the company to beat in more than one field!

Sony use crystal LED display in next generation TVs

2 Replies Penny Cooper

Sony, a global leader in gadgets and technology, has managed to stun the world again. This time it has come up with a new Crystal LED TV technology, which it introduced at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2012, which took place this January.

The future technology is being developed to give consumers the best TV watching experience. The company is known for introducing innovative products and the Crystal LED (CLED) technology is just another addition to the growing list.

Crystal LED Display Feature

The company displayed its 55” prototype crystal LED TV, which apparently has about 6 million LEDs to create a complete HD image. These LEDs put together create a superior quality 1080p image. Each RGB color uses 2 million pixels. The technology is something new and different from the other HD TVs.

A Sony televisionThe technology creates high quality images that are brighter as it uses the 6 million micro LEDs as the source of light for the television. The LEDs are mounted on the front of the display and therefore require no extra backlight source, which is why this technology is also referred to as self-emitting display technology.

The TV, according to the Sony, has enhanced features like better response times, more brightness, better scope for contrast and wider range of colours compared to the other TVs. The Crystal LED display is also said to be “ideal for large screens”.

The contrast is said to be 3.5 times higher and the brightness of the TV is said to be over 400cd/m2. Video images have a greater response time that is about 10 times better than the other Sony TV models. The TV has a resolution of 1920X1080 pixels and the angle of viewing is close to 1800.

One more positive of this technology is the amount of power consumed by the TV. According to the company, it consumes less than 70W of power. The TV has an incredibly thin structure that is only about 4mm deep and 7.6mm thick.

The Future of TV

The new technology increases the life of a TV as there are no any organic materials like Organic Light Emitting Diodes (OLEDs) used. The problem of colours fading over time on OLED TVs can be effectively solved by this technology. It ensures that the rich colours of the TV remain intact for a longer time.

The product has already created a buzz and the reviewers have also been kind. Sony has managed to attract eyeballs with this next generation technology. It has been touted to be the next big thing in consumer electronics industry, which means that the plasma and OLED TVs have serious competition.

The company is yet to give out a date of release and the cost of the TV. Since the crystal LED technology is more “stable” and might lead to lesser manufacturing errors, Sony claims that the price of the TV would be lower than OLED TVs. Consumers will just have to wait until the company launches the final version of the TV in the market.