Wells Fargo Will Debut ATM Apple Pay Transactions ‘Later This Year’

Wells Fargo today has deployed card-free access to all 13,000 of its ATMs in the United States, while also announcing that transactions through NFC-enabled mobile wallets — including Apple Pay — will launch later this year. Customers will be able to make NFC withdrawals with Apple Pay, Wells Fargo Wallet, Android Pay, and Samsung Pay through a simple NFC-enabled tap and PIN authentication when the feature launches sometime in 2017.

Launching today, however, is Wells Fargo’s new One-Time Access Code feature, which lets customers authenticate at an ATM by entering an 8-digit code along with their debit or ATM card PIN, all without needing their physical card. To do so customers will log into the Wells Fargo app and choose “Card-Free ATM access” within Account Services to receive their 8-digit access code. After entering the code and their PIN, the company said that the ATM transaction process is the same as when using a physical card.

“At Wells Fargo, we believe the future is cardless, and the launch of One-Time Access Code provides our 20 million mobile banking customers another convenient way to manage money,” said Brett Pitts, head of digital for Virtual Channels. “This new ATM feature exemplifies Wells Fargo’s commitment to innovation.”

In addition to One-Time Access Code, later this year customers will be able to initiate a cardless ATM transaction with the “tap and pay” technology in an NFC-enabled smartphone. When this feature is live, a customer will be able to initiate a transaction by signing into a leading mobile wallet (Wells Fargo Wallet, Apple Pay, Android Pay or Samsung Pay), and holding the phone near an NFC-enabled ATM terminal. Once authenticated, the customer will input their debit or ATM card PIN and complete their transaction.

Apple Pay support at Wells Fargo and Bank of America ATMs has been reported on for well over a year, with Bank of America adding in NFC Apple Pay withdrawals to around 2,400 of its ATMs last summer. Wells Fargo today didn’t mention a specific launch date for the debut of Apple Pay at its ATMs, but it did hint that the feature could launch on more than 5,000 of its machines in the U.S., which represent the number of its ATMs that are already NFC-enabled.

Related Roundup: Apple Pay
Tags: Wells Fargo, ATMs
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Apple Increasing Focus on Augmented Reality Eyewear, Any Launch Still Over a Year Away

Apple is “stepping up” its augmented reality eyewear efforts, with an eventual goal of releasing a consumer-facing product, according to the Financial Times.

Apple first began to build a team to examine the feasibility of a head-worn device more than a year ago. Now, it is devoting more resources to its augmented-reality efforts, with the aim of taking it from a science project towards a consumer product, according to people familiar with the company’s plans.

Don’t expect to be wearing a pair of Apple-branded augmented reality glasses in the near future, however, as the report said any potential launch remains at least a year away, or “perhaps much longer.”

Bloomberg was first to report that Apple is exploring digital glasses that would connect wirelessly to iPhones and “show images and other information in the wearer’s field of vision.” The report said the digital glasses, which may use augmented reality, would not launch until 2018 at the earliest.

One person who expects a sooner launch is tech evangelist Robert Scoble, who insists that Apple is working on a pair of “mixed reality” glasses that will debut alongside the 2017 iPhone lineup, according to his sources. He also said Apple and German company Carl Zeiss are working together on augmented reality optics.

Scoble’s information has yet to be corroborated by other sources, so 2018 or later remains a more likely timeline at this point.

While a standalone product appears to remain far off, most analysts agree that Apple will start incorporating AR-related features into its existing products in the near future. A future iPhone camera, for example, could be able to detect faces and apply Snapchat-like filters using augmented reality.

Apple CEO Tim Cook has shown a profound interest in augmented reality over the past few years, calling the technology everything from “profound” to a “big idea like the smartphone” in recent interviews. He also believes that augmented reality is more significant than virtual reality.

Last year, Cook said that Apple continues to “invest a lot” in augmented reality, and the company has filed several patents related to the technology over the past decade, confirming its interest in the field. However, Apple routinely tests new products and technologies that are never publicly released.

Apple’s augmented reality efforts have been preceded by the Microsoft HoloLens, a cordless, self-contained Windows 10 holographic headset that mixes virtual reality with augmented reality. Microsoft began shipping the HoloLens Development Edition in March 2016 for $3,000 in the United States and Canada.

Related Roundup: Apple VR Project
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Bitcoin down 20% from all-time high earlier this month

“Bitcoin Wallpaper (2560×1600)” (Public Domain) by PerfectHue​

Bitcoin has had an extremely turbulent March, hitting an all-time peak, before quickly entering into a steady decline in value. Cryptocurrency veterans are well aware that Bitcoin is an extremely volatile instrument. Its value is impacted extremely quickly by stories breaking in the news and media, as savvy investors look to buy and sell at the opportune time.

In the week beginning March 19, two pieces of Bitcoin-related news circulated around the internet which caused BTC value to drop. This development immediately followed the value of 1 BTC hitting all-time highs throughout the end of February and the start of March, trading at over $1200.

The value of cryptocurrencies are increasing across the board

As more people are coming around to the idea of cryptocurrencies, their usage is spreading. The uptake in the tech isn’t just limited to Bitcoin, either. Recently, competing cryptocurrencies such as Ethereum and Dash also hit all-time high values.

Part of this will be down to the development of services and infrastructures that make it possible to actually spend cryptocurrencies. For a long while, this is something cryptocurrencies struggled with. It was possible to mine and hold coins, but it was tricky to spend them on popular items. However, there are now payment platforms such as Bitpay and Litepaid that are helping people to spend their Bitcoin and altcoins.

Digital services are adapting to Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies at a much faster rate than other traditional shops and outlets. This isn’t surprising as the digital currency is deeply rooted in the tech sphere. The gambling and gaming space is enjoying a surge of Bitcoin custom, with Bitcoin-only gaming vendors starting to appear around the web. One example is Sportsbet.io, who are a Bitcoin-only live sports betting platform with fully anonymous registration and playing. Because of this, it’s possible to visit now, register, deposit funds and be betting within minutes. This fills a gap in the market, providing a gaming outlet for those with Bitcoin reserves, which is something most major gaming providers do not currently do. In time, as Bitcoin continues to grow in popularity, this is expected to change – and not just within the gaming industry, but across many other markets.

Is the drop in value a bad thing?

Peaks and troughs with any currency should be looked at as part of their wider contexts. Whilst the recent drop in Bitcoin’s value may seem steep, the reality is that Bitcoin is, and always has been, extremely volatile. In real terms, BTC value is up 142% year on year, which gives a much clearer picture of the currency’s true value and growth over time.

Bitcoin’s value will presumably continue to be unstable as people cash in on the coin’s current high value. People still seem to be undeterred by the flux in prices, with plenty of people still buying coins. This could be because they are envisaging another rally in value and want to be holding coins for when the next price increase appears.

Overall, the past month has shown us how far the currency has come, but also how unpredictable it can be. Many will be keeping a close eye on Bitcoin news and markets following market uncertainty and fears surrounding a possible blockchain split. One thing is clear, though: Bitcoin is helping other cryptocurrencies peak in value, helping to generate interest in other disruptive currencies.

Fitbit’s new sleep-tracking feature works well (most of the time)

It is a truth universally acknowledged that getting enough quality sleep is important for your well-being, The growth in the number of devices offering sleep-tracking features in recent years shows that companies are catching on. But sleep is a difficult metric to measure and understand, and most trackers these days can tell only when you’ve been asleep and awake. Fitbit’s latest wearable goes one step further than the competition, incorporating your heart-rate data into its algorithms to estimate what sleep state you’re in. The $150 Alta HR improves on the original, with a new heart rate monitor that constantly keeps tabs on your pulse. A software update that arrives on the Fitbit app today provides deeper analysis of how you’re sleeping. The new feature sounds potentially helpful, but after a few days with the new Alta, I don’t know if I can trust that it’s accurate. I also wish it were more consistent and easier to understand.

Before we get into all the things the Alta HR can do, let’s take a moment to examine how little its design has evolved. Like the original, the new Alta has a narrower footprint than Fitbit’s flagship Charge tracker, making it look more like a bangle than a cuff. My colleague Devindra Hardawar liked the Alta’s design when he reviewed it last year, but I’m less impressed by its plain, blockish aesthetic. Still, the Alta HR looks inoffensive and feels comfortable, and Fitbit offers a diverse variety of swappable bands for you to personalize the device.

Speaking of straps, I like that Fitbit has replaced the peg-and-hole closure on the original Alta with a watch buckle, making it easier to fasten. In addition to that and the new heart rate monitor on the underside, the updated Alta looks nearly identical to last year’s model. Oh, and like every other Fitbit, the Alta HR is water-resistant enough to withstand rain, sweat and light splashes, but the company cautions against taking it in underwater or in the shower.

On to what makes the Alta HR special, then. The device delves deeper into sleep analysis than other fitness trackers. While most other devices use just accelerometer data and an algorithm to figure out when you’re asleep, the Alta HR also taps your heart rate variability as a source of information. This lets Fitbit estimate what stage of sleep you enter (REM, deep or light) and track how long you stay in each phase.

As a refresher, humans don’t just fall asleep and wake up feeling energized. Research shows that the body and brain go through five or six sleep cycles a night, with each round including different types of slumber. During the REM stage, for example, you’re likely to be having vivid dreams as your brain recovers from the day and forms memories. In the deep sleep part of the cycle, your body is repairing itself.

The good news is the Alta HR’s sleep stage-tracking tool works, and I love waking up to a colorful, detailed sine-like wave graph of my time in bed. Below that is a bar chart that breaks down the exact duration in each zone, telling me I spent four hours in light sleep, an hour and a half in deep sleep and about the same in REM. Fitbit’s estimates of when I was awake mostly matches my fuzzy memory of being conscious while I tossed and turned or when I had to dismiss a phone alert, although that’s not a very scientific assessment.

The bad news is that the Alta HR’s sleep tracking can be inconsistent, at least if the pre-release unit I tested is any indication. I was disappointed one morning to find my sleep-tracking chart for the night didn’t include any sleep stage information. There was only movement-based data about how long I had been awake, restless and asleep. The company explained that there could be several reasons for the discrepancy. The Alta HR could stop tracking your sleep states if you slept for less than three hours or your battery level is critically low. Also, “your tracker needs to detect your heart rate to estimate your sleep cycles. If you slept in a position that prevented your tracker from getting a consistent heart-rate reading or wore it too loosely, you may see your sleep pattern… instead of sleep stages for the previous night.” So that means I have to make sure my arm doesn’t shift into an Alta-hindering position all night. Someone should tell Fitbit that is basically impossible.

It’s easy enough to make sure you’ve put on the tracker securely around your wrist before going to bed, but you can’t guarantee that your arm doesn’t move and nudge the device out of position while you’re passed out. I found during my testing that fastening the Alta HR tighter than I normally would helped ensure it didn’t budge, but that’s slightly uncomfortable and I ultimately didn’t find the discomfort worth the information gleaned.

Fitbit should also improve its app’s Sleep Insights. When you tap the Benchmarks button on each day’s results page, you’ll see a shaded bar laid over each sleep stage indicating how long people in your age range and gender typically spent in each zone. It’s nice to compare my performance with my peers, but the data otherwise didn’t tell me how well I was sleeping. I found myself Googling “How much time a night should I spend in REM sleep?” — which is information Fitbit could have easily provided within the app.

Based on each night’s performance, the app will offer encouragement and education on how to get better sleep. Over time, Fitbit’s system is supposed to learn your habits, sleep patterns and activities, and tailor its advice to what it knows you’re doing. Since I’ve only been using the Alta HR for a few days, the tips I’ve been getting have been generic. Each morning, I get a message within the app that either congratulates me on meeting my seven-hour sleep goal or encourages me to work toward that milestone.

My few complaints aside, I’m satisfied that the Alta HR’s new sleep tracking features work as promised, although its accuracy is hard to verify. The rest of the device’s functions are the same as they were on the original, except that with the added heart rate sensor you can now monitor your cardio performance while you exercise. As before, the Alta HR sports a “Tap Display,” a pseudo-touchscreen that uses an accelerometer to tell when you’re jabbing at the panel. It’s much less sensitive than a typical touchscreen, and takes some time to get used to, but it’s easy enough to activate once you figure it out.

The screen is supposed to wake up from sleep and display your selected watchface when you raise your arm, but this feels sluggish in practice. I have to move my wrist very deliberately before the Alta HR’s display will light up. That’s more frustrating than having to jab harder at a screen to use the device.

Fitbit continues to promise seven-day battery life for the new Alta, and based on my testing, that’s actually a conservative estimate. In the two days since I last plugged in the Alta HR, its battery indicator still says it’s fully charged. That’s impressive, given that the device has been continuously monitoring my pulse while relaying a handful of alerts from my phone each day. I also check my heart rate at least a few times a day, particularly after climbing up five flights of stairs to my walk-up apartment.

Ultimately, the Alta HR is a successful follow-up to its predecessor, thanks to its new heart rate sensor. It’s also one of the more full-featured general-purpose fitness and sleep trackers on the market. Depending on your taste, you might appreciate its bland design too. Those who don’t mind a chunkier bracelet should consider the more-capable Charge 2, though. It offers more advanced and precise tracking with its exercise modes and cardio fitness level features, all for the same price as the Alta HR. The Charge 2 will be getting the same sleep stage-tracking feature in April with its next firmware update. But that means it will track the same unverifiable sleep data, which is unlikely to be helpful, regardless of the device it’s on.

MakeVR turns the HTC Vive into a virtual design tool

Consumers are giving the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive a tepid reception, but organizations like NASA and BMW think the VR headsets are great for things like training and design. HTC is today launching MakeVR, a program built in collaboration with Sixense that lets you do modeling and sculpting in VR, then export the results to a CAD program or 3D printer. As we saw last month, it uses the Vive’s controllers (and maybe the new trackers, more on that in a sec) to let you do freeform modeling and design.

The app interface resembles a studio where you can do hands-on work with the controllers. “Room-scale VR gives creators a virtual workshop, and the use of natural physical motions brings unprecedented expressiveness and intuitiveness to object design,” said Vive Studios Head Joel Breton.

A brief HTC Vive Studios video shows an artist creating a cartoon turtle’s eyes, exporting the files and 3D printing a physical version. The company says the app is designed for “all ages and skill levels with a low learning curve and intuitive two-handed 3D multi-touch interface.” It can supposedly help you “easily and naturally” create 3D objects on a one-to-one scale with simple physical movements and gestures. However, another video I saw the process look a little janky.

HTC further says that using the apps can give you an experience that’s “more powerful and expressive” than a mouse and touchscreen, but again, it seems more like a toy than a powerful app like ZBrush. You can then send your files to modeling apps or 3D print them directly. The app is now available for $20 at Viveport, and HTC has promised a more powerful version called MakeVR Pro later this year.

HTC made a few other key announcements today. As alluded to earlier, the company has finally released its wireless Vive Trackers to the developer community for $100 each. The devices can be attached to your hands, body and objects like guns to let you incorporate props into VR play.

Vive also released an open-source full tracking system on Github that uses three Vive trackers. That will help developers build full body tracking apps, “bringing feet and natural movements into VR,” the company says. It has already showed off a few demos using the software, including firefighter training, VR rifles, tracked boxing gloves and dinosaur kicking (for a full list, see the blog post here).

Finally, Vive announced that it’s teaming with Warner Bros. to create VR content for Ready Player One, a sci-fi action film by Steven Spielberg “that unfolds largely within the virtual reality space.” It’ll release the content on Viveport “across all VR in-home platforms from high-end PC-based VR systems to mobile solutions,” presumably meaning the Vive and Rift, along with Samsung’s Gear VR and Google VR-based Daydream headsets. The film is set to arrive in spring of 2018.

Source: Viveport

iPad bomb threat led to recent device ban on flights

When the US and UK banned people from carrying large devices aboard flights originating in the Middle East and northern Africa, they only made vague claims about this being in response to threat reports. But just what were those threats, exactly? We might have an idea. A Guardian security source understands that the bans were prompted in part by a plot to tuck explosives into a fake iPad. This wasn’t the only motivation — there was a “combination of factors,” according to the newspaper — but it played an important role. It’s not clear where and when this faux tablet bomb would have been used.

If this is accurate, there’s some precedent to justify the response: in 2016, a terrorist blew a hole in a Somali airliner with a “laptop-like” device. There’s a mounting concern that attackers are once again finding creative ways to bring explosives aboard flights, and electronics are an obvious conduit.

However, this also raises some questions. If there was a specific threat of a bomb-laden iPad, why are the American and British bans different? Why are France and other countries not implementing their own bans when they could also be targets? It’s possible that differing intelligence reports played a part, but the inconsistencies suggest that the threat wasn’t so specific that it could be narrowed down to exact airports and destinations.

Via: 9to5Mac

Source: The Guardian

TSMC to Begin Production of ‘iPhone 8’ and ‘iPhone 7s’ A11 Chip in April

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company will begin volume production on Apple’s A11 chip in April, with a production capacity of 50 million units of the chip aimed to be completed before July. The A11 chip is slated to power the new iPhone lineup launching later in 2017, including what is believed to be iterative “iPhone 7s” and “iPhone 7s Plus” updates, along with the specced-out “iPhone 8.”

The A11 chips will be built on a 10-nanometer FinFET manufacturing process and are packed with a “wafer-level integrated fan-out” technology, according to a report by the Economic Daily News (via DigiTimes). For the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus, TSMC currently manufactures the A10 chip on a 16nm FinFET process. The jump to 10nm is tipped to yield chips that are more power efficient, and subsequently provide end user experiences that are snappier.

Before the end of 2017, TSMC is expected to “maintain a capacity” for producing a total of 100 million of Apple’s A11 chips.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) will begin volume production of Apple’s A11 chips in April and will prepare a capacity for production of 50 million units of the chip before July, according to a Chinese-language Economic Daily News (EDN) report.

The A11 chips, which will power the upcoming iPhone series slated for launch in September 2017, will be built on a 10 nm FinFET process and packed with a wafer-level integrated fan-out (InFO) packaging technology, said the report.

Last summer it was confirmed that TSMC would become the sole supplier of the A11 chip, with the design of the chip reportedly being completed around that time as well. The supplier was also the sole maker of the A10 chip in the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus, which ultimately helped lead TSMC to revenue growth towards the end of last year.

TSMC company spokesperson Michael Kramer earlier this month said that an official decision regarding the creation of a major production plant in the United States would now be held off until 2018. Kramer said the company would lose much of its “flexibility” if it moved production stateside, but if it does end up building a U.S. plant for the production of Apple chips it could become an investment worth upwards of $16 billion.

Related Roundup: iPhone 8 (2017)
Tags: TSMC, A11 chip
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Lyft wants to help you donate to charity with every ride

Why it matters to you

If you’re feeling charitable, consider opting in to Lyft’s scheme so that you can make a small donation with every ride.

Lyft is telling its riders they can “take a seat to take a stand” against global issues with a new scheme giving them the chance to donate to charity with every ride.

Set to launch in a few weeks, the “Round Up & Donate” program means that with future rides, Lyft will automatically round up your fare to the nearest whole dollar and donate the difference to fighting issues “impacting everyone everywhere, from climate change to the pursuit of equality.”

All you’ll have to do to take part is opt in to the program via Lyft’s app by way of a one-time tap. “Set it and forget it,” the company said.

On its website, the San Francisco-based Lyft offered an example of how Round Up & Donate will work: “If a passenger has opted into the program and their fare is $12.75, we’ll round up the total to $13. That difference of $0.25 will then be donated to a charity.”

Now, 25 cents might not sound like much, but multiply similar amounts racked up via millions of Lyft rides across the U.S. — as of August 2016 it was completing more than 14.5 million rides a month — and we could be looking at some seriously useful cash donations for a range of causes.

More: Ride-sharing showdown — should you grab an Uber, or hail a Lyft?

In a New York Times ad on Sunday announcing the initiative, Lyft told its riders, “The power of this community is yours. You made it. And whether you tap in, or just do your bit by riding, you’re sitting on a changemaker. All you gotta do is take a seat to take a stand.”

Lyft promised it’ll be “keeping close tabs on this program and will report back on its impact.”

Pressto’s Button piggybacks free cellular data to revolutionize the Internet of Things

Pressto can send unlimited, short messages for free, from anywhere in the world, and that could have a big impact on the Internet of Things. 

The Internet of Things, or IoT as it’s commonly referred to, has been widely heralded as the biggest thing to happen to enterprise, manufacturing, and yes, even the humble family home. That’s because when “things” can talk to one another automatically — without the intervention of us dumb humans — magic happens.

When the things use Wi-Fi or Bluetooth — or protocols like Z-Wave and ZigBee — to chat amongst themselves, there’s no cost to this communication. But when mobile networks like 4G or LTE are needed, it’s a much more expensive proposition. For IoT devices that don’t have fixed installations, e.g. a dashcam in a car, there’s no other option: Customers will have to pay a carrier for the data transmission. For a specific class of IoT device however, that is about to change, big time.

IoT devices running on 4G or LTE is like hitting a mosquito with a sledgehammer.

Enter Pressto, a £40 (about $49 US) Amazon Dash lookalike, created by Swiss-based Myriad Group, a company whose roots in wireless telecom go back to 2001. Don’t let the Pressto’s similarity to Amazon’s one-click product ordering gimmick fool you: You can configure what the Pressto does using an online dashboard. Button presses initiate recipes, which at the moment are pretty basic. Recipes can send emails or post data to a server. The emails can contain a maximum of three types of data: A map showing the button’s location, today’s weather forecast, and the raw data generated by the button in JSON format.

If you’re yawning right about now, stay with us. The Pressto is actually a proof-of-concept device built on Myriad’s IoT platform, ThingStream.io, and uses the little-known Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) protocol to send short, 182-character messages to the Pressto server, across cellular networks.

More: A button for every order: Amazon has more than 250 Dash buttons for sale

Here’s the kicker: Not only can the Pressto send an unlimited amount of these short messages for free, the device works anywhere in the world that has a GSM network, costs very little to build from off-the-shelf components, consumes hardly any power, requires no carrier accounts or contracts, and there are no roaming charges. In fact, the only ongoing charge for using a Pressto is $5 a year. Even Amazon’s IoT version of the Dash can’t make that claim.

Put simply, Pressto just became the only device that can communicate with the internet, from anywhere, without the need of a paid carrier relationship, over existing GSM cellular networks.

Simon Cohen/Digital Trends

Myriad CMO, Bruce Jackson explains why the Pressto and its use of USSD changes everything. “A lot of people think of IoT services like Google Home or Alexa that are pretty rich, heavy-bandwidth applications,” he told Digital Trends. “But if you look at the whole spectrum of things you might like to do, there are loads of things that require relatively small amounts of data to be sent.” This is where Myriad’s repurposing of the USSD protocol comes into play. “USSD is a really good bearer for taking that kind of data,” Jackson said, and the evidence does seem overwhelming. Here’s a quick snapshot of what USSD can do. Think of USSD as a network engineer’s version of SMS. It has the same constraints on payload (182 characters per message), but with some awesome extra perks.

USSD messages are point-to-point. They originate with the sending device (in this case the Pressto button) and terminate at the destination (in this case, the Pressto servers). SMS messages make a stop along the way at your carrier’s SMSC (Short Message Service Center), where a copy of the message will reside for zero to four days, depending on the carrier. If you’re roaming, the number of copies increases with the number of carriers involved in getting the SMS message back to your home network. For privacy, USSD is much better.

Just like HTTP, USSD uses sessions. Once a device initiates a session with another device, that session will remain open until either the sender or receiver closes the session. In developing countries, the session-based nature of USSD is used for Facebook access on feature phones, via a menu system.

USSD is fast, with a latency that can be measured in milliseconds in some cases.

It’s low-power. The Pressto’s built-in rechargeable 800mAh battery is good for about six months between charges, even if the button is pressed several times an hour.

It’s free. While there are a few smaller carriers who charge for USSD messages, as a rule, most don’t. It’s legacy as a protocol used at the core of a network, rather than a subscriber-facing function like SMS, keeps it from being treated as a chargeable service.

Is there any other way to do the same thing?

The full implications of the Pressto button and ThingStream.io — the IoT platform built by Myriad that powers it — don’t become apparent until you consider the current state of the mobile connectivity marketplace.

Until now, if you wanted to create an IoT device that could communicate from anywhere, you’d need to create a relationship with a carrier that included roaming, acquire the necessary SIM cards, and then keep an eye on your business model to make sure the cost of communication didn’t outweigh the benefits. This can get so expensive, businesses have already gone to some unusual lengths to control it.

A device that has no internet connection of its own is able to communicate with a remote server for free.

“You would be amazed at the number of IoT devices in North America that are being done with SIM cards from European operators,” Jackson said, pointing out a reality in the current carrier environment: It’s often cheaper to buy data from overseas carriers and take the additional hit of roaming charges, than it is to buy data domestically.

For bandwidth-intense applications like voice or video, these carrier agreements still make sense. But when it comes to the low-bandwidth, low-power communications needed to run the millions of IoT devices that are now pouring into the market — like industrial sensors or switches — they can feel like overkill. These devices don’t need 4G or LTE — even the aging 3G standard is like hitting a mosquito with a sledgehammer — but where can you turn?

“People are looking at LoRa and Sigfox because there’s no great solution for it,” Jackson said. He’s referring to two new platforms, France’s SigFox, and LoRa, an alliance that wants to standardize “carrier-grade IoT communication,” both of which are slowly rolling out low-bandwidth alternatives to traditional carriers. Neither SigFox nor LoRa have anywhere near the size of the existing GSM network footprint, they both require investments on the network and client sides, and naturally there are charges to use them, even if these charges are more proportional to the data used than with GSM carriers.

Aaron Allsbrook, CTO of ClearBlade, lamented this situation recently, pointing to the challenge of connecting simple devices like lights and temperature sensors to the internet. “A lot of people think it’s difficult because of carriers, contracts, data charges, and because of roaming,” Jackson said. “We want to demonstrate that for a lot of applications that’s not true. We’ve built [Pressto] as a technology demonstration platform to show people it works.”

Can’t anyone do this?

Well, no, not exactly. Because USSD is a core GSM network technology, you’d need a carrier to let you link your USSD gateway servers via VPN to their core network architecture. Jackson claims that this is no small imposition and that’s it’s only by virtue of Myriad’s long-standing relationship with its partner carrier that it was able to do this. “For all intents and purposes, we are our own network operator,” he said.

Our biggest question to Jackson was just how Pressto could essentially use carriers’ networks without charges, especially if they sensed there was potential money to be made. After all, these are the companies that in the past charged 50 cents or more just for a SMS message, and many still do when one of these SMS messages is sent to a phone in another country.

More: Wireless sensor technology is upending the garbage industry in Europe

His answer was based partly on reality and partly on wishful thinking. “This is a line of business that carriers aren’t that keen to look at,” he said. “I think they’re after something different.” He reasons that carriers have spent so much money rolling out LTE that they’ll be exclusively focused on monetizing the apps that make use of that technology’s high-bandwidth capacity. Jackson also points out that carriers’ tendency to charge for equally low-bandwidth items like SMS messages had to do with perceived value to customers, not the cost of delivery. Since USSD has an even lower impact on networks than SMS, “We would have to be amazingly successful to even register as something that anyone would take any notice of,” he said.

So how does it work?

It took a few tries, but eventually Jackson was able to furnish us with a prototype Pressto button that does exactly what it promises. After quickly setting up an email-based recipe, a press of the button produced two green flashes of the tiny LED, and two corresponding beeps. Then about 10 seconds of silence, followed by a series of three beeps and flashes. A few moments later, the email arrived.

Simon Cohen/Digital Trends

That’s not exactly the millisecond response time we were expecting, but Jackson explains that there’s a lot going on between the button press and the email being sent. Pressto uses no power whatsoever while it’s waiting for you to press its button. When you do, it has to wake up, find and sync with the nearest cell tower, send and confirm its USSD package, and then shut itself down once more. The actual USSD transmission is very quick, but it’s bookended by some much slower processes.

None of this detracts from the fact that a device that has no internet connection of its own via Wi-Fi, ZigBee, Bluetooth, or smoke signals, was nonetheless able to communicate with remote server for free, and nearly in real-time.

What’s next?

Needless to say, Myriad hopes that Pressto will be the catalyst for an entire ecosystem of low-power IoT devices that use its ThingStream.io interface. Jackson pointed out that even though the current recipes and ingredients available to Pressto owners are limited, Myriad plans to create links to automation services like IFTTT. In fact, with the existing email functionality, IFTTT can already be used with Pressto as a trigger, even if it’s not a direct link.

During our interview with Jackson, a number of possible consumer applications immediately came to mind. The first was asset tracking. At the moment, tracking tags use one or more of Bluetooth, GPS, Wi-Fi, or cellular data for communicating their whereabouts. While Bluetooth and Wi-Fi are free, their range and power demands severely limit their utility.

One application would be a panic button that works globally, doesn’t require a phone, and is instant and free to use.

Those that use cell towers for triangulation are better for power consumption, but still require data contracts with carriers to pass the information back to the user, resulting in annual fees. With what Jackson describes as a “relatively straightforward engineering change,” these trackers could use the Pressto’s USSD messaging service to drastically reduce costs.

Another application would be a panic button/locator that works globally, doesn’t require a connected phone, is instant and free to use. If the price is right, it could a be no-brainer for everyone from parents to backpackers, to search and rescue operations.

There’s even a chance it could be used to power the next generation of smartwatches. Taking a page from a now-defunct product, Microsoft’s MSN Direct collaboration with Fossil, could succeed in a world where no true killer app for smartwatches has emerged other than fitness and notifications.

The big money however, will be in the industrial IoT. Everything from pipeline monitoring to weather stations are potential use-case scenarios, and as the global GSM footprint increases, so too will the opportunities for ThingStream.io.

Qualcomm licensing blocked Samsung from selling Exynos chips

Deal dating back to 1993 is reportedly why we’re not seeing more non-Samsung phones running Exynos.

South Korea’s Fair Trade Commission has claimed that Qualcomm blocked Samsung from selling its own Exynos processors to other manufacturers through a patent licensing deal, ZDNet reports.

The deal reportedly dates back to 1993, when an agreement was reached to allow Samsung to make its own modem chips using certain CDMA patents, but only for use in its own phones. Subsequently, either Samsung or the phone maker would’ve had to pay Qualcomm licensing fees if they wanted to use an Exynos SoC in a non-Samsung phone. Talks between the two to reach an alternative agreement reportedly broke down in 2013.

Since then, non-Samsung Exynos phones have been few and far between, with the Meizu Pro 5, being a rare example.

Qualcomm’s patents are considered standards essential patents, which must be licensed under fair terms.

Qualcomm’s patents are considered standards essential patents, which must be licensed under fair terms, and the chip giant fell foul of Korea’s regulators last December, when it was handed an $865 million fine. Qualcomm is currently fighting a ruling which would require it to change its licensing terms.

While Qualcomm’s licensing terms may hold back Samsung’s semiconductor business, the group has benefitted in other areas from Qualcomm’s dominance. The past two generations of high-end Snapdragon processors have been manufactured by Samsung, and the upcoming Galaxy S8 is widely reported to have first dibs on the upcoming Snapdragon 835, giving Samsung a competitive advantage over rivals.

Qualcomm faces similar legal action in from the U.S. FTC over allegedly abusive licensing practices, and in 2015 it paid a $975 million antitrust fine in China. Apple is currently suing the firm in the U.S. and China, claiming Qualcomm has abused its position in the market.