Google unveils Wallet, super-secure NFC tech made useful

Google opens pocked, Wallet falls out - no wait, for real, Wallet has been released.

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Google's Wallet has finally been unveiled, with Google saying "Your phone will be your wallet". This is what Google Wallet and Google offers will be capable of, by combining payments and deals into one package. It's the future of paying for things, really. Google Wallet is not a single thing, it's a cake mix of multiple products rolled into a single thing. It's an Android app, it's a way of paying for things with credit or debit cards by using your phone.

Google unveils Wallet, super-secure NFC tech made useful | TweakTown.com


It's a coupon collector and loyalty card system, it's another way for merchants to let you pay and offer up deals. It has tentacles into other Google services such as Shopper and Google Offers. The core technology uses wireless NFC and more specifically, MasterCards's PayPass system, so you'll be able to use it anywhere that offers PayPass.

At the moment, Citi's the sole banking partner with Sprint as the carrier partner. At the moment, you're limited to a single phone and credit card for the full Google Wallet experience. Only a Nexus S 4G and Citi MasterCard will give you the "full" experience, although you can fill up the Google pre-paid card that comes with every wallet using any credit or debit card. Google are saying that GoogleWallet is "more secure than your wallet", well I don't know about that, my wallet gets my ass-time than my chair.



The reasoning behind this is that Wallet never displays your full credit card details, it requires a PIN to access and the data is encrypted. If you lose it, the cards can be de-provisioned over-the-air which is quite the feature. There's a fair amount of security built into the phone's NFC chip (which stores and transmits the credit card info). Such as, the NFC antenna is turned off when the screen is off - this means it's completely secure in your pocket again "laser-attacks" (pew pew).

More info at the source, just watch out for those pew-pew lasers.
NEWS SOURCE:gizmodo.com.au

Anthony joined the TweakTown team in 2010 and has since reviewed 100s of graphics cards. Anthony is a long time PC enthusiast with a passion of hate for games built around consoles. FPS gaming since the pre-Quake days, where you were insulted if you used a mouse to aim, he has been addicted to gaming and hardware ever since. Working in IT retail for 10 years gave him great experience with custom-built PCs. His addiction to GPU tech is unwavering and has recently taken a keen interest in artificial intelligence (AI) hardware.

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