Imagine being able to walk into a shop and then pay for your things without ever taking out cash or a card. You may soon be able to accomplish this with MasterCard's new payment system. As reported in CNBC, this newly piloted payment processor would be able to run transactions using data connected to a person's body: "At checkout, users will be able to authenticate their payment by showing their face or the palm of their hand instead of swiping their card.
This week, a bipartisan bill was introduced in the Senate, which aims to break up Google's ad division. As reported in The Verge, the bill would induce Google's parent company "to divest majorities of its digital advertising business. Google’s advertising marketplace rakes in billions each quarter for the company, pulling in $54 billion across Search, YouTube, and its ad networks in the first quarter of this year alone.
Spectrum News recently published a profile about the Cincinnati Zoo's numerous conservation projects and the technology they use to accomplish them. Its most well-known project was the installation of large solar panels over the zoo's parking lot in 2011. Other projects have blossomed from there, and Mark Fisher, the zoo's vice president of facilities and sustainability, even said that "the zoo is already so far along with its progress that getting to net zero status before 2025 is well within reach.
When most people think of ridesharing, they probably think of big names like Uber or Lyft. But did you know that there's a new rideshare app in town? WCPO recently profiled a new company called Wridz, which recently set up a franchise in Cincinnati.
Most rideshare apps pull a portion of drivers' fares as a means of drawing revenue for the company, but Wridz opts instead for a flat monthly fee for its drivers.
President Joe Biden recently visited Cincinnati to meet with manufacturers, according to WCPO. WCPO later reported that additive manufacturing, known more colloquially as 3D printing, was the focus of the visit.
As we pointed out in our previous post on the subject, 3D printers are automated manufacturing devices capable of producing a variety of objects based on digitally uploaded diagrams.
It may be difficult to remember this, but in the early days of the internet keeping track of passwords was pretty straightforward. For one thing, you didn't need that many. Plus, you could get away with simply using memorable factoids about yourself to craft your credentials: hobbies, important dates and so on.
"We all know the feeling. You're scrolling through your phone, and there it is. An ad that you can tie back to a recent conversation with a friend." Thus begins a recent article from Kim Komando, a radio show host who focuses on technology. Advertisers have used user meta-data for a long time to market their products, but they're not the only ones who may be tracking you.
In some lighter news from from this week, Link NKY recently reported that the city of Covington in northern Kentucky will not impose a curfew on app-based electric scooters. The scooters, produced primarily by companies Bird and Lime, have become a prominent feature in tri-state metro areas over the past few years.
We begin our post today with some grim local news. WCPO reported today that Goshen Local School District's school board president has resigned after video surfaced of him attempting to meet up with an 11-year old girl. You can click the link above to get the details of the story; it wouldn't be responsible for us to belabor it here.
In July of last year, we wrote a post that gave an overview of cryptocurrency and how it works (we recommend you read that post before reading this one if you aren't familiar with cryptocurrency). In that article, we discussed El Salvador, the first nation-state to adopt Bitcoin as legal tender.