Samsung Pay, the company’s answer to Apple Pay and… Android Pay, Google is coming to the US on September 28 and Korea on August 20. Spain and China are the next markets to follow.
To pay using Samsung pay, it’s pretty much the same as Apple Pay: swipe up, scan your fingerprint and pay on the terminal. The company says it uses tokenization to protect credit card numbers, a technique that means your card number is never shared with the retailer.
The difference with Samsung Pay is it has a special technology along with NFC called Magnetic Secure Transmission, which means it works with most existing point-of-sale terminals, so retailers don’t need to do anything to get onboard.
Samsung says it “anticipates” working with payment networks including American Express, Discover, MasterCard and Visa, major banks including Bank of America, Chase, U.S. Bank and key financial partners including First Data, Synchrony Financial and TSYS. It’s not clear what the company means by “anticipates” — perhaps the deals aren’t signed yet.
If you’re dying to get using Samsung’s payment service on your phone, you’ll need a Galaxy S6, S6 Edge, S6 Edge+ and Note 5 to use it. A beta will run before the launch, but only select users will get access.
➤ Samsung Pay launch dates
Update your Kindle by March 22 to keep it from going offline
Own an old Kindle? You’ll want to update it by March 22 to ensure it can continue to connect to the Web and download new books.
Amazon has released an emergency update for the 2012 Kindle Paperwhite as well as all previous models. If you miss it, you’ll encounter the next time you try to connect to the Kindle Store or sync your device with the cloud.
Here’s a full list of the ebook readers that require this update:
Kindle 1st generation (2007)
Kindle 2nd generation (2009)
Kindle DX 2nd generation (2009)
Kindle Keyboard 3rd generation (2010)
Kindle 4th generation (2011)
Kindle 5th generation (2012)
Kindle Touch 4th generation (2011)
Kindle Paperwhite 5th generation (2012)
Kindles typically update by themselves if they’re turned on and connected to the Web via a wireless or Wi-Fi, but you’ll want to make sure yours isn’t out of charge and powered off.
If that’s the case, fire it up and select Menu on the Home screen; then choose ‘Sync and Check for Items’. You’ll then get a final confirmation letter titled ’03-2016 Successful Update’ on your device once it’s done.
Don’t worry if you spot this story past the deadline: you can still update your device, but you’ll need to plug it into your computer to do so. Simply select your device on this help page and follow the instructions to update your Kindle manually.
➤ Critical Software Update for Kindle E-Readers [Amazon]
All I want for Christmas is LG’s adorable cat toy
The LG Rolling Bot is a new gadget that looks a lot like a BB-8 and rolls around your house to entertain your pet — or for home surveillance.
It’ll only work if you’ve got a G5, but has a built in camera so you can speed around your house in real-time to stalk pets or keep an eye on things.
On top of that, it can control compatible LG appliances, like TVs, so you can turn them on and change the channel from afar.
It looks like an amazing way to entertain your cat if you’re away at work a lot, and I want one right now — though I’m not sure I’d switch phones for it.
https://www.youtubeom/watch?v=anyW8UY9ELg
LG didn’t say how much it’ll cost for the Rolling Bot or when it’ll be available.