The California state government is debating whether to regulate Bitcoin—and other digital currencies—after legally concluding that they have the authority to do so, BusinessWeek is reporting. The issue is whether an existing state law that governs money transmitters—such as Western Union—would now apple to digital...
Virgin Money has agreed to a 7-year partnership with Monitise to create digital mobile banking services, the companies announced Friday (Dec. 5). This builds on a partnership the two companies announced a year ago, in December 2013. “We are excited to be extending our quest...
Beacons have become pervasive as the holiday selling season arrives — and that’s mostly because the numbers show they’re working, the Associated Press reported on Thursday (Dec. 4). Between July and September, 30 percent of shoppers who received a “push” ad from an in-store beacon...
Most shoppers with mobile devices prefer to look up information on their phones or tablets while shopping instead of talking to store employees, according to a new survey by the Consumer Electronics Association. In the survey of mobile shoppers, 58 percent said they’d choose mobile...
Fashion eyeglass designer Luxottica will be making “smart glasses” in partnership with chipmaker Intel, the two companies announced on Wednesday (Dec. 3) at the International Luxury Conference in Miami. The companies said their first wearables product should come next year, but they offered up few...
Hong Kong-based startup PassKit has added another item to its mobile loyalty toolkit: a digital-wallet version of that old small-business loyalty standby, the stamp card. PassKit’s Loopy Loyalty stamp card system is clearly aimed at cafes, coffee shops and other small enterprises that can’t afford...
American Express has updated its Amex Mobile app for iOS with a key new feature: Now iPhone and iPad users can log into their accounts by fingerprint, 9 to 5 Mac reported on Tuesday (Dec. 2). Along with the ability to sign in to a...
SimplyTapp announced today that it has raised $5.9M in a Series B financing round from unnamed new investors as well as existing investors Blue Sky Capital and Lightspeed Venture Partners. To date SimplyTapp has raised $7.6M in capital. The company, founded in 2011, is a...
Here’s a nice way to share a little holiday spirit: Mobile payments startup HouseTab will donate five meals to Food Bank for New York City each time a new user downloads and registers HouseTab’s iOS or Android app until Jan. 3, 2015 — and the...
