The Department of Public Utilities (DPU) in Orangeburg, S.C. has turned on the power of RFID technology to automate utility pole inspections, according to Intelligent Utility. The Orangeburg DPU has tagged more than 4,000 poles to date to better monitor, service and maintain its entire pole distribution network. The system enables inspection and maintenance teams […]

Mobilis Networks, a provider of mobile wallet software applications, announced a new service that enables international money transfers to be sent via mobile phone and verified using a biometric fingerprint scanner. By deploying Mobilis’ mobile wallet services for international remittances, a mobile operator can receive international money transfers directly into their subscribers’ mobile wallets through […]

The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) has deployed AeroScout’s health care based visibility solutions to in effort to improve staff efficiency and patient care. UPMC St. Margaret Hospital will use the AeroScout RFID solutions to automate temperature monitoring as well as asset tracking and management across most of its U.S. hospitals. Both applications free […]

The rapid roll out of contactless credit cards and NFC-enabled mobile payments in Canada will challenge cash’s dominance by 2016, according to Research and Markets’ new report, “Canadian Payments Forecast – 2012.” According to the report, contactless payments are likely to account for “significant” transaction volumes and values by 2016, with mobile payments following close […]

Patrol officers in the U.S. National Capitol region will now be able to take fingerprint images in the field with the deployment of MorphoTrak’s MorphoIDent, a small mobile terminal that can capture fingerprint images in the field. Police agencies in Fairfax and Prince William counties, among others, have ordered 220 of these identification terminals. They […]

Worldwide mobile payment transaction values will surpass $171.5 billion in 2012, a 61.9% increase from the $105.9 billion recorded in 2011, according to new research from Gartner. Accordingly, the number of mobile payment users will reach 212.2 million in 2012, up from 160.5 million in 2011, says Gartner. “We expect global mobile transaction volume and […]

Gemalto announced that “la Caixa,” one of Spain’s largest retail banks, is deploying Optelio contactless EMV cards as part of the country’s large scale deployment of contactless payments. The Gemalto card will enable “la Caixa’s” 10.4 million customers the speed and convenience of contactless transactions, enabling them wave or tap the card at the reader […]

Transport for London (TfL) executive Shashi Verma has declared NFC’s read speeds “too slow” for use in the London Underground, reports PCWorld. Speaking at the Open Mobile Summit conference in London, Verma explained that contactless read speeds on the Tube have to be faster than 500 milliseconds, which NFC can’t make under current standards. According […]

Post Office Ltd is making good on its promise to roll out contactless payment terminals across its 11,500 branches network, according to guardian.co.uk. On June 6, the UK Post Office will introduce contactless payment terminals enabling customers to pay for goods by waving their contactless credit and debit cards and payment-enabled mobile phones over the […]

Ears may be the ideal body part for biometric identification, says a researcher from the University of Southampton, England. Professor Mark Nixon of the university’s ECS-Electronics and Computer Science department is conducting research on the concept, using photos of ears matched against a comparative database. Nixon thinks ears could be just as distinctive an identification […]