Michelle Evans of MobilePaymentsToday recently wrote an article about the top trends shaping mobile payments in 2016. Citing a Euromonitor International survey, Evans reports that mobile-driven commerce will reach an estimated $972.25 billion across 46 markets in 2016, with mobile payments expected to hit $3 trillion by 2021.
Microsoft catapults FPGAs to new heights
Karl Freund of Moore Insights and Strategy recently penned an article for Forbes about Microsoft’s extensive deployment of FPGA’s in the data center and beyond.
As Freund notes, Microsoft currently uses field programmable gate arrays to accelerate its Bing search engine (Project Catapult) along with its Azure Cloud, which has at least one FPGA in each server – delivering over one “exa op” (one billion operations per second) of total throughput across data centers in 15 countries.
Double digit CAGR forecasted for mobile wallets
A new report published by Credence Research forecasts double digit CAGR for the global mobile wallet market from 2016-2023.
“Mobile wallet technology is touted to be the next generation technology in the era of cashless transactions, replacing traditional plastic cards,” the researchers explained in a report summary.
Mirai botnet targets IoT devices
In late September, cybersecurity journalist Brian Krebs’ website was overwhelmed by a massive DDoS attack that hit at a rate of 620Gbps, forcing Akamai to temporarily suspend service. In a blog post describing the cyber assault, Krebs said the attack had likely been conducted with the help of a botnet that enslaved a significant number of compromised IoT devices, including routers, IP cameras and digital video recorders (DVRs).
Video: Enabling augmented reality (AR) with lensless smart sensors
Rambus Lensless Smart Sensors (LSS) take a novel approach to sensing by combining ultra-small diffractive gratings with standard image sensors to deliver advanced capabilities in a form factor ideal for AR and VR devices.
So, how does LSS work? Put simply, light passes through the diffractive grating and is intelligently spread onto the image sensor to form an unrecognizable, yet information-rich blob that contains all relevant data about a user’s gaze. Due to its small footprint, LSS can be mounted in the frames of everyday eyewear.
Using your smartphone as a ticket in West Yorkshire
The West Yorkshire Combined Authority is on track to kick off a trial run that will see a select group of train passengers use their smartphones as tickets. Rail services between Huddersfield and Leeds stations will participate in the trial, as both stations are equipped with ticket gates that support NFC technology.
