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The Week in Tech

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Visa Europe imagine the future of wearable payments

Visa Europe has been working with industrial design students from Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design to develop concepts for new wearable payment devices. They were tasked with creating designs that show how wearable payment devices could look in 2020, but the ideas were supposed to inspire ideas and conversation and are not meant for mainstream commercialisation. Nick Mackie, head of contact-less payment at Visa Europe, said: “We envisage that contact-less technology will become a standard feature on many wearable devices by 2020; in fact, there’s no reason why the payment function on a wearable device wouldn’t become as ubiquitous as the alarm function on a digital watch. Contact-less is rapidly evolving from cards to other devices as payments become digitised and Europeans are among the world’s earliest adopters of these new technologies. Wearables take all that’s great about contact-less (the speed, convenience and simplicity) and make it better still.”

In response to the brief, the students developed three wearable payment proposals:

Small Change: A device that aims to help people manage transactions of smaller denominations digitally.

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It allows people to collect their loose change onto one wearable device, with an e-ink screen showing funds available in the user’s account, which can be customised for different users (for example, a child-friendly design for youngsters saving their pocket money).

Budgeteer: A wearable payment device placed on the wrist that helps the user to organise and budget their expenses by movement.

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By making three intuitive and simple hand gestures, the user can categorise payments into three categories (work, me or home), which will be highlighted in different colours in their online banking statement.

Thread: A fashion-orientated brooch that aims to bridge the gap between the online and real-world by being an innovative interpretation of the traditional store card or brand loyalty scheme.

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The brooch has been designed to be issued in conjunction with particular brands or stores, and the aesthetics can be altered to reflect that. The designers say a finger vein scanner ensures safe purchases through a sophisticated, yet tiny, biometric authentication system.

Apple to release electric car by 2019

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It wouldn't be a week in tech without some Apple news, and in the same week that they released the iPhone 6S to reliable pandemonium, the tech giants revealed they are working on an electric vehicle, with an aim for a 2019 release. A 600 member group is currently in charge of the electric vehicle section of the company, but the group has reportedly been given permission to triple its staff. Reports on the Apple electric car surfaced all the way back in February, but a proposed release date and the electric vehicle division growing seem to have confirmed the rumours. It is suggested that 2019 may be an optimistic date, with people familiar with the project stating that there is skepticism within the team about the 2019 target. But it's far from uncommon for a project of this size to get pushed back, and something tells us the few people who will actually be able to afford one of these probably beautiful (come on, it's Apple) machines will be willing to wait.

The ultimate luxury smartphone

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If you need a new smartphone and have a spare £6,500 lying around, you might want to take a look at the beautiful (and costly) new Signature Touch line from Vertu. Updated from its existing flagship Signature Touch line, the new device runs on Android 5.1 with an eight-core Snapdragon 810 chipset with 4GB of RAM. With a 5.2-inch 1080p LCD screen, it's a little bigger and heavier than its old 4.7-inch model. The main camera has been upgraded with 21-megapixel resolution, dual-tone LED flash, and 4K video recording.

Each new phone from the Vertu Signature Touch line is hand-made by a single master craftsman, so can be customised to the individual tastes of owners

What really sets the device apart, however, is Vertu's “Dedicated Concierge” service, which provides a single point of contact to act as your personal assistant, and is included for 18 months with every device. The phones themselves are also hand-made by a single master craftsman, so can be customised to the individual tastes of owners. Prices begin at £6,500 and go all the way to £13,700  depending on the colours and materials you'd like your phone made from (options include calf, lizard, and alligator skin in shades of black, red, navy, and purple). Interested buyers will be able to preview the New Signature Touch smartphone in cities in the US, the UK, Europe, and Asia.

Smartphones and retro game cartridges: A surprising fit

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At this year’s Tokyo Game Show, Japanese startup company Beatrobo showcased a small cartridge around the size of a Gameboy Advance cartridge device called the Pico Cassette, which plugs directly into a mobile device’s headphone jack to unlock games. The carts don’t actually contain games, but emit an inaudible sound that unlocks its respective app on your device. Currently, the Pico Cassette is only a proof of concept, but Beatrobo is actively looking to land a content partnership to bring more developers on-board. Should that be successful, the startup plans to launch a crowd funding campaign with the hopes of bringing the Pico Cassette to market.

Owners of the new “Emotional robot” must agree not to have sex with it

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The Japanese telecommunications company SoftBank Mobile is making purchasers of “Emotional robot” Pepper sign a contract stipulating that they won’t have sexual relations with it (seriously). The ownership contract states that using the robot for “The purpose of sexual or indecent behaviour” breaks the rental agreement. This includes having sex with it, reprogramming it to stalk people and developing any sexual, obscene, or violent apps or actions for it. Terrifying right?

SoftBank Mobile is making purchasers of “Emotional robot” Pepper sign a contract stipulating that they won’t have sexual relations with it

Created by Aldebaran Robotics and SoftBank Mobile, Pepper is (apparently) designed to make people happier by enhancing their lives through “Building relationships and having fun.” The humanoid robot can hold discussions, read emotions and imitate human behaviour such as empathy and love. Even though the four-foot-tall robot has the ability to mimic human emotions, it's creators are urging customers not to use the robot for indecent behaviour. We really do despair.

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