I watch and listed to Google I/O today. The stuff about the new communications app Allo and new emojis was a bit underwhelming but I sensed a deliberate shift under the guidance of SEO Pinchai towards commercialization with the likes of Google Home coming this year. This is going right after the Amazon Echo market, no doubt with a view to address and expand upon the earlier narrow view exemplified by the Nest purchase. But one comment from Pinchai on “Move 37” came closer towards the end of I/O struck me as prescient with regard to Artificial Intelligence (AI) and … Continue reading Move 37 | Implications for progress on Artificial Intelligence

I just made my first Apple Pay transaction at Tim Hortons in Toronto. Very smooth – double press the home button on your locked phone. This has the double effect of unlocking the iPhone, and activating Passbook. Then simply hold over the merchant device to pay. Despite the naysayers, it is actually easier than debit card tap to pay, because the phone is usually more accessible than debit card, and the activation levers the finger print authentication. Now we just need more merchants in Canada to accept Apple Pay. Continue reading Apple Pay at Tim Hortons in Canada

P2P Lending held out as a great opportunity to disrupt banking … back in 2006. I was with CommunityLend then, and the opportunity seemed endless. Since then the Canadian regulation stopped P2P lending in Canada. Meanwhile in the rest of the world the market moved from P2P to “Institutional Lender”2P. Now the Institutional Lender market seems to have dried up. The fact that Lending Club, the most successful P2P lender is increasing their rates in order to attract lenders has a sense of desparation. This from Finextra. Prosper slashes workforce as online lenders feel the heat With Citi recently deciding … Continue reading P2P Lending is in trouble

Their annual report is out now. Some useful country specific information regarding customers experience level and feelings about their banks. Capgemini and Efma today released the findings of their annual World Retail Banking Report (WRBR) 2016. The report reveals that fintech providers are making increasingly significant inroads with customers – two thirds of customers are now using fintech products or services – yet banks are struggling to keep pace, with the vast majority admitting they are not adequately prepared to manage this threat. Key findings include: * Not only are a majority of customers now using FinTech products or services, … Continue reading World Retail Banking Report – 2016 (Capgemini and Efma)

The United Payment Interface (UPI) launches commercially in India on Monday 18th, April, 2016. The first step was the launch of a national biometric identification system. This first step has met with apparent resounding success. Bloomberg So far, India’s attempt to assign every citizen a unique 12-digit number associated with a person’s unique iris, fingerprint or facial features, is succeeding—just last week, Aadhaar reached its milestone of registering 1 billion people. With more than 80 percent of Indians enrolled, it gives the payments system a solid base to build on. The Bloomberg article goes on to note that the UPI … Continue reading India launches ubiquitous mobile banking infrastructure

I have tried various blog posting apps for OSX with most being quite hopeless to date. Windows bog posting apps are streets ahead. I haven’t had time recently to research more. However today I came across this one which seems to address all the requirements, even though the interface is at best average. It does tick all the boxes in terms of formatting, images, and general typing with headings and the likes. Worth a look for OSX users. myWPEdit Continue reading Experimenting with myWPEdit

TD have rolled out the result of their partnership with Moven. The reference to a “first in Canadian Banking” is a bit of a stretch given spending analysis capabilities that BMO and RBC have, unless the ‘first’ refers to deployment as an app. It seems that it runs as a separate app to the regular banking app. Techvibes TD Bank today announced it has begun its roll-out of TD MySpend, a new real-time money management app – a first in Canadian digital banking. A companion to the TD app for iPhone or Android, TD MySpend makes it easier for customers … Continue reading “TD Bank Launches Real-time Money Management App” – Techvibes

Raymond Tomlinson, the godfather of email, died Saturday morning of a suspected heart attack. He was 74. Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/technology/web-culture/email-pioneer-ray-tomlinson-<img data-position=”3″ style=”margin-top: 5px; margin-right: 5px; margin-bottom: 5px; max-height: none; max-width: 100%;” src=”tomlinson.png” data-mce-src=”tomlinson.png”dead-at-74-20160306-gnbspq.html#ixzz42Br4aL13 Continue reading Ray Tomlinson – inventor of email died today