Tag: credit cards

The cashless society arrives

Four out of five purchases in Sweden are paid electronically or by debit card and with the development of cheaper technology the trend is moving towards a fully cash free society, according to a new report.

“Sweden and the rest of Scandinavia leads the world in terms of cashless trading,” said Bengt Nilervall at the Swedish Federation of Trade (Svensk Handel).

Swedes use their debit and credit cards almost every day – an average of 260 transactions per person per year.

The picture is very different in southern Europe. In Italy, for example, three-quarters of all consumer purchases are still paid for in cash.

“That is due to the low confidence in the authorities and the banking system,” said Niklas Arvidsson, an associate professor of industrial dynamics.

Arvidsson argued that Sweden could become completely cash free but predicts that this development is unlikely until at least 2030.

“The familiarity of cash in the hand could prevent this. A recent Sifo survey showed that 2/3 people consider (the availability of) cash to be a human right,” he said.

Retailers, banks and card companies welcomed the trend with the proviso that customers are able to keep up with developments.

A cash free society would lead to increased security for both staff and customers and would cut cash-handling costs – estimated to be around 8.7 billion kronor ($1.2 billion), some 0.3% of GDP.

Armed robberies are furthermore in decline in line with the reduction of cash use. In 2012, a mere five bank robberies were committed, according to the Swedish Bankers’ Association – the lowest figure in 30 years.

The spread of cards and electronic payments has had a profound effect even on the street level with fruit and veg traders and even retailers of the homeless magazine Situation Stockholm accepting card payments.

The spread of electronic payment systems such as Swish are a further addition to the plethora of alternatives for people to transfer small sums without having to resort to the ATM.

And even though cash may be dying out in Sweden, the government has announced that a new range of bank notes will hit circulation in 2015. Take a look through the new designs here.

Source: The Local

Heartbeat could replace passwords, fingerprints

pulsePasswords, pin numbers, and credit cards could soon be a thing of the past.

Soon, your heart and your body might be used to keep track of just about everything if new technology is able to unlock “pulse passwords”.

Your heartbeat reveals more about you than your health, Bionym chief executive officer Karl Martin explained.

“There’s actually unique characteristics that relate to the size of the heart, the position of the heart, and the physiology surrounding the heart,” he said.

Our heartbeats are as unique to us as our fingerprints and now they are being used to replace passwords, key cards, and bank cards, CBS 2′s Kristine Johnson reported.

“It’s like your personal pin number is your heartbeat,” Mashable.com’s Lance Ulanoff said.

The technology could allow you to open a door without a key or have tech gadgets like smartphones and tablets unlock the second that you walk into a room. It sounds like something out of a science fiction movie, but experts say it is the wave of the future.

“It’s going to be a way for us to interact with the world around us without having to constantly identify ourselves,” Ulanoff explained.

Bionym, a Canadian company, developed a wristband to recognize the pattern of an individual pulse. The wristband transmits information that allows the user to do things like withdrawing money without a bank card.

“You don’t have to remember anything. You don’t have to do anything special,” Ulanoff said.

Bionym isn’t the only company developing concepts that use the human body as a form of identification. Motorola is working on a temporary tattoo that contains a computer chip and an antenna.

A pill that dissolves and turns the entire body into a transmitter is also in the works.

Security experts say traditional passwords don’t offer much protection from identity thieves.

“If they’re alpha numeric, and usually they are because they have to be easy to remember, they’re also correspondingly easier to break into,” security expert Rohit Sethi explained.

The new technology could pose considerable roadblocks for hackers because heartbeats cannot be replicated.

“You’re not going to have a piece of paper in your pocket with your password. You’re going to have it as part of your body so that is safer,” Ulanoff said.

Bionym’s wristband is so in tune with its owner that if somebody did steal it, it would not work. The wristband costs about $100 and is expected to hit stores in 2014.