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Merchants that will accept Apple Pay

Merchants that will accept Apple Pay

Apple Pay has been described as the “sleeper hit” of this week’s special event in Cupertino, California. That may turn out to be true, but not anytime soon.

The new mobile payments system will work at 220,000 stores in the United States when it launches in October. That may sound like a lot, but it’s really not.

This represents just 2.4 percent of the roughly 7 million to 9 million merchants in the U.S. that accept credit cards. The reason is that 97.6 percent of businesses do not have point-of-sale systems that work with near field communication, or NFC, according to Time.

In order for these businesses to utilize Apple Pay, they’ll have to update their checkout process. Otherwise, Apple’s quest to become a leader in mobile payments could be stymied. That, plus the fact that most remain hesitant about using their mobile device to make credit and debit card purchases.

So which businesses are planning on using Apple Pay? Here’s the list, as of Sept. 12:

• Apple
• Babies R Us
• Bloomingdale’s, 
• Disney Store
• Walt Disney World Resort
• Duane Reade
• Macy’s
• McDonald’s
• Nike
• Panera Bread
• Petco
• Sephora
• Staples
• Subway
• Toys R Us
• Unleashed
• Walgreens
• Whole Foods Market

  You will be able to use Apple Pay to make purchases through the follow apps:

• Disney Store
• Groupon
• Instacart
• MLB.com
• OpenTable
• Panera Bread
• Sephora
• Starbucks
• Target
• Tickets.com
• Uber

  Apple Pay supports credit and debit cards from the three major payment networks, American Express, MasterCard and Visa, issued by Bank of America, Capital One Bank, Chase, Citibank, and Wells Fargo. Discover is expected to join the lineup too.

Banks coming soon include: Barclaycard, Navy Federal Credit Union, PNC, USAA, and US Bank.

Apple Pay works on the iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus, and Apple Watch.

Introducing the incredible Apple Pay

Introducing the incredible 

Apple Pay

As most of the consumers of Apple products have their sites set on the latest and greatest isomething, the rest of the mobile industry has their eyes on the revolutionary Apple Pay system.  As the world is constantly on guard against theft and security using their mobile devices, Apple has figured a way to lock the safe tight and uses this technology in their Apple Pay system which is exclusive to their devices.  Apple isn't the first company to offer a mobile wallet, but if it works well, Apple Pay could change the way we shop. CNET's Sumi Das explains what sets Apple's mobile-payment service apart from the rest of the pack.

The New Seamless iPhone 6

The New Seamless iPhone 6

The new seamless iPhone 6 design is simply breathtaking.  Where functionality and form combine, this unique design is not only comfortable to hold and operate but also stunning in comparison to the bulky and squared off devices which smother the current market.  Yesterdays reveal showcased the many powerful features of the new IOS 8 processor but one thing is instantly noticed.....this phone is beautiful.

iPhone ATM PIN code hackHow to protect yourself

  The new FLIR Phone case is taking the world by storm as a handheld portable infrared thermal imaging device.  This phone case has numerous great uses and has given numerous consumers and businesses and edge by eliminating the need for bulky thermal equipment.  

  However, this has also fallen into the hands of hackers and thieves and the video above teaches you how to protect yourself against these intrusions.

iPhone NFC Chip

What is the iPhone NFC Chip

  With all of Apple's recent developments surrounding the new iPhone it seems that many have obsessed themselves with Sapphire Glass, Screen resolutions, and more.  Truth be told....Apple is lightyears ahead of their competition with this unbelieveable device.  This review is brought to you by Mark Sullivan of Venture Beat.

  All the conversation about the NFC (near field communication) chip in the iPhone 6 has so far centered around enabling mobile payments. But that’s not all we should be talking about.

  NFC is a technology standard that specifies a set of radio frequencies used by two devices in close physical proximity to exchange files and data. VentureBeat reported in June that an NFC chip will (finally) be included in the iPhone 6, which will be unveiled September 9. The chip will be made by NXP, our source says.

  More recent reports cite sources saying that Apple is also partnering with MasterCard, Visa, and American Express — companies that have already sold their (NFC-compatible) payment technology to merchants. But even with Apple enabling payments on the phone, there’s no guarantee that merchants will get behind the technology. In fact, some merchants have already come out against it.

  However, if mobile payments don’t take off right away, there will still be a couple of cards for Apple to play. As it turns out, mobile payments may be the least interesting thing the NFC radio in the iPhone 6 does:

  NFC chips have three modes: “card emulation” (for payments and ticketing), “peer-to-peer,” and “reader/writer.” The second two open up some interesting possibilities for device pairing, data sharing, and NFC tag scanning.

Peer-to-peer mode

  Peer-to-peer mode allows one device to quickly pair with another powered device to exchange files or data. The data can be exchanged via NFC or by Bluetooth Low Energy, which the iPhone 6 also supports.

  For instance, a phone with an NFC chip could pair with Bluetooth headphones or wireless speakers with an NFC chip inside — like Beats speakers, for instance.

  Right now, Beats has two products that have an NFC chip inside — the Pill speaker and the Pill XL speaker. (Beats also has a line of wireless headphones, but a Beats spokeswoman points out that NFC chips are presently not being built into them.)

  As iPhone users don’t know, users just tap the their phones against the Beats device to instantly pair. People who use Android or Windows phones can already tap to connect with those devices. And pairing using NFC is far easier than the multi-step process of Bluetooth pairing, which can be frustrating and time-consuming … and sometimes doesn’t work at all.

  Now that Apple has acquired Beats, it would be embarrassing for Apple not to include what Beats already calls the “tap to pair” functionality in the iPhone 6.

  A VentureBeat source with knowledge of Apple’s plans said earlier this summer that Apple has been working on the Beats pairing function but was unsure if the function would ultimately be included in the iPhone 6.

  “If there is an NFC chip in the phone, it would certainly seem like a natural use case,” says Current Analysis analyst Avi Greengart. “It would be a software tweak that they would do with their headphones division.”

  “If they don’t do it right off the bat, I would certainly expect them to do so in the future,” Greengart says.

  However, Gartner vice president and research director of mobile and client computing services Van L. Baker doesn’t believe the NFC chip will be included in the new iPhone.

  “I almost hope they prove me wrong,” Baker says. He adds that if all the reports of an NFC chip in the new phone are true, it would make sense for Apple to include tap to pair with Beats products.

  A more functional use of the peer-to-peer mode involves printing. Many printer manufacturers are now baking an NFC chip into their products. This would let iPhone 6 users tap a printer to send a document for printing.

  It might also enable simpler file exchange between two iPhones. Today Apple has the AirDrop peer-to-peer file sharing feature in iOS 7, but that is a closed, proprietary technology that isn’t available to developers. An NFC approach might be more open to them.

NFC reader/writer mode

  NFC’s reader/writer mode focuses on the NFC chip reading non-powered NFC “tags.”

  For example, if an NFC tag is attached to a poster, an NFC smartphone can “tap” the tag to access the information stored there. The phone might then display a map to a store, product information, and even a link to a “buy” page.

  In another example, a person could touch their iPhone 6 to a food package and instantly see its ingredients and nutrition information.

  This could be a very useful for developers if they are allowed to leverage the NFC feature with their apps, and they surely would be. For example, a diet app could help the user track all the ingredients being ingested throughout the day, based on information gathered from NFC tags.

  The tags are really no different than a tiny RFID chip, but they are cheap enough to be put into almost anything. This will likely become a permanent replacement to the QR code, which required using the camera. QR codes never caught on outside of nerd circles anyway.

Apple’s secret sauce

  Mobile payments might not be a killer app in the U.S., but they are a very big deal in other markets.

  A source told VentureBeat that one of the main reasons Apple is baking the NFC chip into the iPhone 6 is because the feature is crucial to selling in the Chinese market: In China, consumers are accustomed to using their phones to pay for public transportation — and the Chinese market is very important to Apple’s bottom line. Without NFC payments built in, iPhone 6 sales in China will suffer.

  When we find out on September 9 what’s in the phone and what isn’t, it’s possible you’ll never hear Apple say the word “NFC” once during the presentation. You may hear special new Apple brand names affixed to magical new features enabled by the chip, like tap to connect and NFC tag reading. That’s just how Apple rolls.

  There’s also a distinct possibility that Apple has dreamed up some cool NFC use cases that haven’t been thought of before.

Siri vs. Cortana

Siri vs. Cortana

Brought to you by Phonedog, this thorough test and review of these competing virtual butlers shows the strengths and weaknesses of both Apple and Windows Systems.

  Both Siri and Cortana are advertised as having great personality and great functionality, so Cam decided to test them against each other. Comparing productivity, usefulness, sense of humor, personality and efficiency. 

  Siri has been around since 2011, when the iPhone 4s launched. Cortana is much younger, and yet it's surprising how good the new kid on the block is.