NFC And The Future Of Google’s Project Glass

The recent announcement that Google was working on a prototype for augmented reality glasses – essentially glasses with a built-in computer – was met with widespread derision and ridicule from the general medi

a. Some people thought it was an April Fool’s joke. Others incredulously questioned the premise. And someone even posted a spoof video on YouTube.
Yes, the concept of a world where people walk around with smartphones built into their glasses is certainly a tenuous one, not the least because we already have smartphones in our pockets that we can already consult whenever necessary. It is hard to imagine anyone with a smartphone investing in a pair of Google glasses, donning the device upon rising in the morning, and then walking around all day with a computer literally staring them in the face. According to the company, a clear computer screen will make up the top half of the glasses, meaning that a user will conceivably look slightly upwards when using the device. He look downwards, straight ahead, or turn the device off when choosing to instead focus on the real world around him. Our familiarity with bifocals aside, this conception is still tough to envision.
But technological advancements always seem ridiculous in advance (remember talk of the tablet just a few years ago?) and you can’t blame Google’s semi-secret “X” laboratory for giving this product a try. Furthermore, when looking long-term, Google’s Project Glass has another burgeoning technology working in its favor: NFC.
NFC, or near field communication, is a technology that allows devices to communicate in close proximity to each other without requiring a physical connection. It acts as a simplified form of WiFi that can quickly transmit information between one NFC-enabled object and another. Currently, it is being actively promoted as a means of making payments without using a credit card; instead, consumers can wave their NFC-enabled smartphone and the transaction will be processed. While this allows for consumer convenience, it can also cause people to further diassociate themselves from their money, in the process forcing them to seek out low interest rate credit cards when they go overboard. But finding a credit card best interest rate is the least of NFC users current concerns – although more and more smartphones boast the technology, retailers have hesitated to get onboard.

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Top 5 Consumer Electronics Brands for 2012 – 2013

Usage of consumer electronics in today’s world has become a vital part of our lives. Life without consumer based electronics seems tough, unmanageable and kind of incomplete. We should sincerely thank the brands manufacturing electronics to be ultimately used by consumers. Here’s a list of top 5 brands who’ve rolled out the best of consumer electronics.



5. LG Electronics (Lucky Goldstar)

A globally known renowned brand designing and manufacturing quality consumer electronicsranks the bottom of our list. This however does not mean at all that it is the poorest brand in consumer electronics but at the bottom of the best of consumer electronics brands of the world. LG’s consumer electronics product base ranges from air conditioners, computer peripherals, mobile phones and other home appliances.

4. Nintendo

Nintendo ranks just above LG in top consumer electronics brand list. With a net market value of over $85 million, Nintendo is one of the global leaders in consumer electronics. The brand is mostly popular for its games and gaming consoles among kids, teenagers and adults.

3. Sony

When we talk about consumer electronics brands, Sony covers all of them. Sony is considered to be one of the biggest global giants associated with Sony Corporation for manufacturing consumer electronics. Products varying from computer peripherals, electronic music devices, digital cameras, TV screens, mobile phones, gaming consoles (PlayStation) and others, Sony has an estimated net worth of $22 billion.

2. Panasonic

Formerly known as Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. Ltd. Panasonic has over the years rolled out some exceptional consumer electronics and tapped uncovered areas for home utility. The Japanese multi national electronics corporation has expanded its product range to televisions, camcorders, disc players, disc recorders, laptop computers, disc recorders, digital cameras, shavers, vacum cleaners and many more home appliances.

1. Samsung

So enough wait is over and we place Samsung at the top of list for the best brand inconsumer electronics. Its the leading South korean brand in the world of consumer electronics. For a quick history check on Samsung; it was formed as a trading companyback in 1938 by Lee Byung-chull. Samsung actually stepped in the electronics industry in late 1960s and before this time, Samsung has its operations diversified in the areas oftextile, food processing, insurance and retail.

Later on Samsung decided to be a bit tech savvy and started manufacturing consumer electronics including televisions, refrigerators, mobile phones, washing machines and many other home appliances. As of now, Samsung has won several known awards for best company to design and manufacture consumer electronics.

The competition to be the best consumer electronics brand will continue as companies diversify and expand their product line-up.

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Why there is a threat to mobile payment system?

E-wallet technology has set its standard to the conventional way within the next decade, because its consumers can make the payment for their purchases with the mobile devices both in the store and online.

As a result to this, mobile payments industry is making huge profits and is beginning to appear with a collaged of solutions. However, with mobile phones being the channel that processes these large sums of money transactions, the opportunity is very high to collect an extraordinary amount of consumer data on how people spend their money along with their personal details as well such as their bank account information. This may lead to the problems for the consumers.

Be careful buyers:

According to the new survey which was conducted by law professors at the University of California at Berkeley states: “Consumers could wary away from using handsets to pay for purchases If they would get to know that in exchange their personal information is being tracked away by the company and can be used for other illegal purposes also.”

This is the reason that four out of five respondents have protested to the transfer their phone numbers to a store from where they purchase goods which indicates that wide number of consumers are highly sensitive about their personal information.

Many consumers also don’t know or usually become confused when dealing with the companies like Apple or Paypal that how they use their personal information whenever they make any purchase. However, when it comes to directing the companies with the bankaccounts of consumers, they become very much concern and conservative.

Lack of infrastructure and proper arrangements for the privacy policies is also a lack on the organization side which may face the privacy concern issues from their consumers. The champion of the mobile payments race is therefore would be the one that can manage and coordinate the interests and protocols of both the banks and consumers, credit card companies and of all the carriers and merchants also.

Benefits of Mobile Payments:

Mobile payments are welcomed to get include into the next major five innovations, but have been slow to arrive to the U.S due to the barriers into the financial institutions and because of the problems explained above.

However, the trend of making the payments through mobile phones has become common in Japan.

The opportunity and benefits that mobile payments offer, and the ease and convenience for consumers for making the payments is simply too suitable for the consumers. Many experts have also pointed out that putting a digital wallet solution can bring a revolution in the future.

Money is becoming more obscure nowadays, more abstract, and consumers may remain nervous about exposing it to such kind of devices and systems that are not yet standardized and whose security is constantly being questioned everyday.

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How to slip through the Internet surveillance?

In response to revelations about the Prism program, which allows the U.S. government to spy on Internet users' personal data through the cooperation of new Web giants - Microsoft, Yahoo!, Google, Facebook, PalTalk, AOL, Skype, YouTube and Apple - an article by France TV Info explains step by step "how to get (almost) fully prism, even sacrificing your comfort and your habits."

Mobile: better to avoid smartphones, including the operating system is almost always provided by Google (Android), Apple (iPhone) and Microsoft (Windows Phone).
Mail: prefer Gmail, Hotmail (Outlook), Yahoo! Mail, and AOL mail services for Apple as other messaging Voila.fr (France Telecom), The Poste.net, Zoho Mail, or software open sourceThunderbird mail. Paying, it is also possible to configure an email address on its own website (just buy a domain name and hosting).
Internet browsers: Chrome instead (Google), Internet Explorer (Microsoft) and Safari (Apple), which still represent 80% of the market, opt for Opera or Firefox. Or, better, use a proxy server to hide his IP address, as the Tor network (see explanation in the article FTVI). Or, better yet, a virtual private network (VPN), which allows you to connect anonymously to the Internet.
Research online: again, escape domination Google Search, Yahoo! and Bing (Microsoft) - 98% of the market in three of them - for the French engine, the latest Qwant, scientific Wolfram Alpha, the ancient Alta Vista, or the rigorous DuckDuckGo, only to offer anonymous requests.
Social Networking: Facebook and Google+ if opened up to the NSA, Twitter escapes meanwhile the supervision of the U.S. Agency even though tweets public are "carefully stored since 2010 at the U.S. Library of Congress," recalls FTVI. The austere Reddit is a safe solution.
Other: are also concerned by the potential of the NSA monitoring services that have emerged in our daily lives, such as Google Maps, YouTube and Skype (preferred Dailymotion and Vimeo).
For completeness, the site-Prism Break identifies him as browsers, messaging and other services that allow you to escape the Web giants included in the Prism program

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IT Security: The good old password lived

But since the emergence of connected computing, networks have proliferated, and attempted theft or destruction of data too. Today authentication means no longer meets our requirements in terms of sécurité.N 'any' amateur pirate "passionate technology would be able to find your password using software available for download Internet and, in less than a day. More simply, what employee can deny having already written passwords (often numerous and hard to remember) on a piece of paper lying around on the desk or on the edge of the screen?
The diversity of applications, the need for secure access, necessarily grow CIOs always use more passwords and access constraints. But then ... with security policies that impose change your password every three months, and the number of targeted applications, employees often feel helpless or overwhelmed.
Yet, thank goodness, there are simple solutions to secure access to the SI, counter the attacks of the day, and without multiplying passwords!
The solution is strong two-factor authenticationStrong authentication is to use a support (smart card, USB, Smartphone ...) that the user always has on him, in addition to their username / password or better, its client certificate.
This authentication method is becoming the norm in the business world, more and more IT departments want to secure their network, with simple techniques and ensuring the integrity of their information systems. It is also possible to facilitate the deployment of certificates through a tool CMS (card management system), which manages the park authenticators and generate certificates in Self-Service.
It is not uncommon to see an employee with a smart card (or other), and it must present to log work on his PC. The PIN code of the card is needed to unlock the extension.
More generally, the trend is towards the use of smartphones (BYOD COPE) as a means of authentication. Compatible with iOS and android application, the user will also be able to authenticate the mobile device, and generate a session token directly on their smartphone (via the authentication mechanism chosen).
To counter the many passwords to remember, it is also possible to implement a system of SSO (Single Sign On), which will propagate and manage the user passwords its different applications: "I m identifies it once, and authentication for all applications that I use will be done automatically. " This is a gain in safety, productivity and real comfort for the user.
Finally, note that if you still want more security, it is possible with strong three-factor authentication!This is the use of an item that the user has (smart card, smartphone, ...) protected by a PIN code (that I know), and using biometrics (which I am).
This authentication method is very popular with customers in the banking sector, since it guarantees the highest level of security simple to implement to date, and helps secure sensitive applications, commonly used in the industry .

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