Payfirma Launches iPhone Mobile Paymenets

Vancouver, Canada-based Payfirma launched an iPhone-based service quite similar to U.S.-based Square. allowing Canadian merchants to process major credit payments to be manually, by entering card information on the iPhone, or using an optional card reader.

Transactions are conducted in real-time through Payfirma’s secure gateway, and no information is stored within the app or the card reader. Read more..

There’s an option for auto-calculation of tips, pre-authorized payments, and even refunds. Customers can then sign right on the screen, and receipts emailed instantly showing transaction details and the signature.

Payfirma's revenue model is transaction fees, set at 1.99 percent of the value of the sale, plus 25 cents per transaction. The credit card reader costs $99, but is free to accounts billing $500,000 or more. Read more..

Mobile Payments Market: $670 billion in 2015

The total value of mobile payments for digital and physical goods, money transfers and near field communications transactions will reach $670 billion by 2015, up from $240 billion this year, according to Juniper Research. Digital goods payments will account for nearly 40 percent of the market in 2015.

The growth will be driven by the rapid adoption of mobile ticketing, NFC contactless payments, physical goods purchases and money transfers as people in both developed and developing countries use their devices for everyday transactions.

Some 20 countries are expected to launch NFC services in the next 18 months, resulting in transactions approaching $50 billion worldwide by 2014. Meanwhile the need for financial access in developing countries is such that active mobile money users will double by 2013, Juniper Research estimates.

Mobile Payments Market to Almost Triple in Value by 2015 Reaching $670bn, According to New Juniper Report

LightSquared Raises $265 Million

LightSquared has raised $265 million of additional funding from new and existing investors.

LightSquared has now raised a total of $2.3 billion in the past year, but may need to raise as much as $4 billion to finish its nationwide network, and it still has to get permission from the Federal Communications Commission to use its spectrum, given concerns about interference with GPS and aeronautical communications.

Falcone’s LightSquared Raises $265 Million - Bloomberg

Nexus "Contraptions" Uses Content as a Game

Google is using a YouTube game to market the Nexus S smart phone. Its the first time I've recalled seeing YouTube used as a game platform.

This is a glimpse at what video might be in the near future; an experience that is more interactive, more engaging, and customizable by each viewer. It’s also an interesting use of game content.

The game has a problem solving angle, and illustrates use of interactive video that can be customized for each user.

Check it out here: YouTube - ‪nexuscontraptions's Channel. ‬‏

Google Ends Deal with Twitter

Google has ended its agreement with Twitter allowing Google to show real-time Twitter results in Google's "Realtime Search." Google hasn't said why it ended the agreement, in place since October 2009, but the launch of Google+ presumably has something to do with the decision.

While Google will not have access to the former special feed from Twitter, information on Twitter that’s publicly available to Google's crawlers will still be searchable and discoverable on Google.

Google also said that went Google Realtime Search relaunches, it will include content from a variety of sources and not just be solely devoted to Google material.

Google Realtime Search already has been carrying content from a variety of services beyond Twitter, including Facebook fan page updates. In addition to Quora and Gowalla content, Google Realtime Search indexes:

• Twitter tweets
• Google News links
• Google Blog Search links
• Newly created web pages
• Freshly updated web pages
• FriendFeed updates
• Jaiku updates
• Identi.ca updates
• TwitArmy updates
• Google Buzz posts
• MySpace updates
• Facebook fan page updates
• Quora
• Gowolla
• Plixi
• Me2day
• Twitgoo

As Deal With Twitter Expires, Google Realtime Search Goes Offline

Growing Evidence Mobile Phones Do Not Cause Brain Cancer

Although there remains some uncertainty, there is growing evidence that mobile phone use does not cause brain tumors in adults, researchers say.

In a review of eight different studies, there were no statistically significant positive associations with cumulative call time and brain cancers.

Methodological issues limit the conclusions that can be drawn from the study, the researchers conclude, but its results, along with those from other epidemiological, biological and animal studies suggest that within about 10 years to 15 years after first use of mobile phones there is unlikely to be a material increase in the risk of brain tumors in adults. Data for childhood tumors and for periods beyond 15 years are currently lacking.

The results are important for obvious reasons.

Read the study summary here

EU forces cap on data roaming charges - Telegraph

Price caps for mobile roaming charges on voice calls and text messages, already in place have also been extended until 2016, according to the Telegraph. The price caps apply to the charges mobile service providers levy on other carriers when subscribers are roaming across national boundaries within the European Union area.

Under the changes, drawn up by European Union telecommunications commissioner Neelie Kroes, the wholesale cost of data connections in a roaming scenario will drop to a maximum of 30 euro cents per megabyte in July 2012, equivalent to 90 cents at retail, falling to around 10 cents in 2014.

High mobile charges have been an issue within the EU for some time, with regulators continuing to put pressure on operators to lower charges.

EU forces cap on data roaming charges - Telegraph