Apple Pay

Link

A Cashless Society Could Affect Strippers and Other Sex Workers

Andrew Orr ·

I’ve written musings here and there about the cashless society, but sex work as an affected industry hadn’t crossed my mind. I think it’s an important conversation to have, though. I wonder what an alternative could be? Special jewelry with NFC chips that can accept peer-to-peer payments? Imagine tipping a stripper with Apple Pay. Sorry Tim Cook.

But without cash, the club I work at is free to exploit. Cash handed directly to a dancer gets pocketed, but credit card charges are skimmed—and because workers are more or less off the books, we have no recourse to contest absurdly high fees. When a customer pays several hundred dollars to spend time in a dark room alone with a dancer, the club takes a 70 percent cut.

News

Apple Card Leak Show Weight, More in Images

Andrew Orr ·

An Apple Card leak from an anonymous source to iMore shows the card’s weight, package, and approval. Apple Card Leak After applying for a card, it took about a week for it to arrive. On a scale, the Apple Card weighs 0.52 ounces (14.74 grams). The minimal sleeve that the card arrives in shows an embossed Apple…

Podcast

Mac Pro: You Want It? You Got It! – Mac Geek Gab 764

John F. Braun & Dave Hamilton · · Add Comment

Yes, some things happened at WWDC, and your two geeks discuss them. But first, some Cool Stuff Found. We can’t ignore that stuff, after all! Then it’s time for a jam session all about macOS Catalina, the new Mac Pro, and a few other things related to Apple’s announcements this week. All very cool stuff, and you’re guaranteed to learn at least five new things!

Podcast

TMO Background Mode Interview with iCEO of the Electronic Transactions Association Amy Zirkle

John Martellaro · · Add Comment

Amy Zirkle is the interim CEO of the Electronic Transactions Association (ETA). Prior to joining ETA, she spent 17 years working as a Senior Economist focusing on technology matters including mobile payments in the developing world. She holds an S.M. degree from M.I.T. where she served as a Research Associate at the M.I.T. Media Lab as well as the M.I.T. Research Program on Communications Policy.

Amy and I talked about her work at the M.I.T. Media Lab, the early days of electronic payments and their exploding growth today. We also chatted about the new tap & go cards, their security, and how they work. I asked about the CurrentC disaster as well as restaurants and gas stations and how they seem to lag behind modern payment methods. We finished with a discussion of the future of electronic payments.

Link

New Apple Pay NFC Stickers Make it Faster to Pay

Andrew Orr ·

Jennifer Bailey, VP of Apple Pay, announced Apple Pay NFC stickers recently.. Once tapped they trigger Apple Pay purchases, so you don’t need to download a separate app.

With the new support, an iPhone will know how to read a specially-encoded NFC tag (that can be as inert as a sticker) and automatically show the Apple Pay purchase interface when a user holds their device near it. No third-party apps or other set up required.

At launch Apple is partnering with Bird scooters, Bonobos clothing store, and PayByPhone parking meters.

Link

JCPenney Explains Apple Pay Removal

Andrew Orr ·

This morning we heard that JCPenney quietly removed support for Apple Pay from its stores. Now we have a better idea why.

The retailer now claims the move was necessitated by the April 13, 2019 deadline in the U.S. for supporting EMV contactless chip functionality. As of this date, all terminals at U.S. merchants locations that accept contactless payments must actively support EMV contactless chip functionality, and the legacy MSD (magnetic stripe data) contactless technology must be retired. JCPenney was not ready to comply, it seems, so it switched off all contactless payment options as a result. However, it hasn’t ruled out re-enabling them later on, it seems.