Cell Numbers Don't Lie
Cell Phones, iPhones, Androids, PDAs and Everything Else Mobile.

The Bank of America and Visa are testing cell phone payment plans that will make it possible for customers to pay bills and do more transactions on their smart phones. A test program will begin next month with designs on allowing customers the ability to pay for items in stores with their smart phones.

The program is being called a “digital wallet,” which is interesting given the availability of debit and credit card options in almost every single purchase point.

Banks, tech companies and cell phone providers are lining up to become the first to develop the technology, with designs on transforming how consumers pay for things in North America. The technology has existed for years in Japan, but America has been a little slow on the uptake.

The technology essentially allows users to install chips into their smart phones that emit radio signals over short distances. Users then “bump” their cell phones with point of purchase locations and bank account data is collected to enable the purchase to be made. Sound like a potential for disaster? That’s because it probably is.

Of course, the big goal behind this is that of “contactless payment.” Visa and the other companies involved are hoping that users will take to the idea of simply “waving” their phones near products they want to purchase. Apparently the use of a simple card is too complicated.

With identity theft continually on the rise, this project should be raising a lot of alarm bells and red flags. Imagine the opportunity for wireless robbery should this technology really take off. There is so much potential for disaster here that I’m having a hard time getting excited about the possibilities. And nevermind the potential for lost jobs and the continued move towards a completely impersonal society.

Imagine stores filled with quiet drones simply waving their phones in front of products they want to purchase. No more cashiers, no more check-outs. Sound like a utopia? Hardly.

Engineers at the University of Washington are testing MobileASL, a tool that uses motion detection to identify sign language. The goal is to transmit images of American sign language over U.S. cell phone networks.

“Sometimes with texting, people will be confused about what it really means,” says Tong Song, who is studying at Gallaudet University, a school for the deaf in Washington, D.C., and participating in the summer pilot test. “With the MobileASL, phone people can see each other eye to eye, face to face, and really have better understanding.”

MobileASL’s study team features 11 students and is the first team to examine how deaf and hearing-impaired people can use mobile video phones. The plan is to employ a much larger field study in the winter.

The engineers are currently at work on optimizing video signals for sign language, a task that should involve the increasing of the quality of facial images and hand images to reduce the data transfer rate. They are also working on reducing the amount of battery power used by these sorts of phones, employing motion sensors to take part in the task.

Many phones already do use a form of video conferencing. The problem is that broadband companies currently block the conferencing from their networks and offer high prices because of the heavy bandwidth used. The goal for the MobileASL team is to have the phones reduce the amount of bandwidth used.

“We want to deliver affordable, reliable ASL on as many devices as possible,” University of Washington professor Eve Riskin says. “It’s a question of equal access to mobile communication technology.”