I’ve just been having my regular check of the tech news, and I’ve come across something that sounds pretty cool. (Usually it’s not really “news” at all – so I don’t bother sharing…)
A new way of paying for things is starting to take off in China and the West Coast of America that means not only do you not have to carry cash. You don’t need a credit card, or even your phone. All you do is look at a little camera and Bob’s your uncle – all done in just a few seconds!
You can even set it up to recognise hand gestures for adding a tip – like a thumbs up or a peace sign to add on 10%.
It’s all a bit tomorrow’s world, but the people running it reckon it’s more secure than any other system in use at the moment. They don’t actually recognise the flat image of your face – so it wouldn’t be fooled by a photograph – it’s much more sophisticated than that (a lot like the face unlock on a modern smartphone or tablet). It’s quick and easy, and completely contactless.
At the moment, it’s only being used in a handful of places around the world – but I wouldn’t be surprised to see it taking off very quickly over the next few years.
It’s taken a while – but we’ve finally finished!
As you probably know, we’ve written books about using various devices and gadgets – phones, tablets, PCs…
Then over the last couple of years, we’ve started bringing out online courses – one about using Windows 10, another about using an Android tablet or iPad, and a third about using a smartphone. They were really popular… and we’ve had some lovely comments from people saying how much they’ve helped.
But with technology being technology – new features are coming along all the time and so the way you do things on a PC, tablet or smartphone changes all the time too.
Over the last few months, we’ve been working our little socks off to bring all three courses bang up to date with all those changes.
And that means we’ll be re-opening the courses to new members from 11am tomorrow – Tuesday 2nd February.
If you ever find your PC, tablet or smartphone awkward or frustrating to use – or think there might be more you could do with it if only someone showed you in a simple, easy way – then look out for more information about the courses tomorrow at 11am.