Nowadays, e-payment is almost the first choice when people purchase products in China. Alipay and WeChat Pay are two most popular solutions for purchasing. Back to over 10 years ago, there was no doubt that Alipay was the most popular one and none of its competitors could threaten it.  In the chart shown below, green represents Alipay, red represents WeChat Pay and dark blue represents others. In 2012, Alipay owned nearly 60% market share of mobile payments. It also had most yearly total mobile payments: 90 billion USD. WeChat Pay only owned about 10% market share and around 20 billion USD (China Internet Watch, 2017).

[ Image source: https://www.chinainternetwatch.com/20322/digital-payment-ecosystems-china/ ]

Monopoly ended until WeChat Pay was launched. In 2013, WePay was launched by TenPay and WeChat. TenPay started in 2005, and it is the leading third-party payment platform. It provides payment and security systems for WeChat Pay. WeChat is the most popular social media mobile application in China. After downloading WeChat, the users can turn on WeChat Pay service for free. Money can be simply spent from the account or collected as balance. Users can also link bank cards to deposit or withdraw money.

WeChat Pay developed rapidly during the past few years and has become the second most popular e-payment method in China. As of February 2017, WeChat Pay has 300 million users connected by bank account, which is 100 million less than Alipay. However, WeChat has nearly 500 million users, which is more than Alipay. WeChat users probably become WeChat Pay users. I think WeChat Pay has a huge potential to have more users than Alipay.

[ Image source: Emma Lee (2017) https://technode.com/2017/08/18/alipay-vs-wechat-challenges-and-strategies-of-two-payment-giants-going-global/ ]

This article generally introduced emoji about how it’s developed and then integrated into our communication. Emoji seems to be just a tool we use in our daily online interaction, but it has always been embodied with commercial purposes from its birth till now. According to the article, the emoji as we know today all started with a yellow smiley face. It was first used by the State Mutual Life Assurance Company of Worcester, Massachusetts, and Ohio’s Guarantee Mutual Company as a marketing campaign to restore public images because a smile is always contagious and people are more likely to be appealed to it. On the other side, the popularity of the emoji today also has to do with its social effect. We as people are heavily relied on visual communication just as much as we do on linguistics communication. Therefore, when we rely solely on the written language in social media and messaging, it is very prone to miscommunication. Emoji brings the visual element into the online communication environment, which enables it to create a much more similar environment as face to face communication. But different from face to face communication, emoji has formed its unique culture with millions of users interact around it every day. To learn more, please refer to the article https://sites.tufts.edu/mythritualsymbol2017/files/2017/08/stark-crawford-conservatism-emoji.pdf

This past week, T-Mobile has released information regarding its customers security. It has been estimated that close to two million people’s personal information has been leaked due to a recent hack. This is a very serious issue, now especially, considering how much vital information people have linked to their phones. This includes credit card numbers, zip codes, social security numbers, account passwords and other information that if gotten into the hands of the wrong person, could be devastating. The cybersecurity unit of T-Mobile immediately shut off all access to any of the possible mobile devices and reported the incident to law enforcement.

T-Mobile representatives released a statement saying that all the passwords that have been collected by the hackers were encrypted and were not able to be used. Regardless, T-Mobile was also accused of using an MD5 algorithm to secure the customers passwords which was claimed to be no longer safe and effective by the author himself. The hackers were not specifically identified as of right now, however T-Mobile and other companies have suggested the hackers were international and continue to search for the people who breached the system.

       Hopefully, no customers serious information has been compromised or been used to cause serious harm. This incident should be a learning experience for T-Mobile considering the magnitude of customers it provides service to. It is scary to think that such a wide-spread and reputable company had its security system breached by unknown hackers that took advantage of millions of people. T-Mobile should be working vigorously to tighten its security and make sure that its customers do not have to experience anything like this again.

More on this story:

https://www.cnet.com/news/t-mobile-hack-may-have-exposed-2-million-customers-data/

The classic futuristic, sci-fi idea of flying cars may not be so far away.  Flying cars have been a staple of the stereotypical sci-fi genre for decades.  But what people don’t realize is that these technologies are not so far in the distant future.

Japan has recently teamed up with companies such as Uber, Boeing Co., and Airbus SE in a government-led project to create airborne vehicles within the next decade.  According to the Trade Ministry in Tokyo, representatives from these, as well as many other companies, will meet on August 29th to begin to chart a road map for the endeavor. The Ministry stated “the Japanese government will provide appropriate support to help realize the concept of flying cars, such as creation of acceptable rules” (qtd in Bloomberg).

The concept of airborne vehicles is been considered by many startups worldwide.  Uber alone has invested $23 mil into the technology and aims to open an air taxi service in Paris by 2023.

Before anyone can take their flying car for a spin or even trust the new technology, safety regulations and guidelines must be constructed which could take several years. This is not unlike the beginning stages of aviation. The Japanese government shows strong interest and is working to pass legislation and gain leadership.  “[Japan is] trying to set a tone for the industry ahead of other countries” according to Yasuo Hashimoto, a researcher at Tokyo-based Japan Aviation Management Research.

Flying cars may not be so impossible after all.

http://fortune.com/2018/08/24/uber-airbus-japan-flying-cars/

As we approach an era associated with the reliance on technology, we begin to also see a shift in the evolution of corporate structures, specifically in the financial sector. The video (linked below) discusses the increasing use of AI in the world of finance, and how it changes way we view the world of finance.

Antoinette Schoar, a professor at MIT, discusses the impact that the use of AI has on consumer finance, and how the utilization of “fine-grain data” brings a new perspective to how we interpret finance at the micro-level. The use of multiple sources to determine financial eligibility for certain programs, such as getting a mortgage loan, has vastly disproved the essential nature of the need for other methods of financial records (i.e., FICO). Complexity of consumer financial history can now be used to determine individual financial “risk,” thus, allowing for loans and credit card plans to more properly fit the history of consumers (those with less complex financial history are more likely to make financial “mistakes”).

I find that this news is very relevant to the ways consumers should be viewing finances in the age of technology. As the prevalence of artificial intelligence continues to expand, we are quickly becoming aware of the affects that this is having individually and nationally. The research that Dr. Schoar describes in the interview suggests a reduced cost of loan approvals for those with good credit.

The stability of the financial sector through the shift in focus to those who are of lower “financial complexity” appears to be the most logical prediction for our future, and I am interested to see the affects this will have in years to come.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/videos/2018-08-24/how-ai-and-big-data-impact-the-structure-of-the-financial-industry-video

Technology has changed the way we operate in the 21^st century. Many believe that the culture we once had is dead, but others believe that our culture has just changed to new and exciting heights. According to The New York Times, one of the most affected aspects of our culture since technology has grown is business culture. For example, when people were able to get news content online for free rather than paying for physical newspapers, many newspaper companies were in fear of going out of business. However, business culture changed that by having people pay for online subscriptions and placing ads on their websites in order to avoid losing the income they once had.

People also began paying for entertainment subscriptions through companies such as Netflix, Apple Music, YouTube, and much more. Instead of physical stores selling CDs/DVDs, companies have shifted to all online services and are now financed in drastically different ways. As a result, our culture has changed in terms of how we view and receive entertainment. Most of us no longer place such a high importance on face-to-face interaction and prefer the ease of entertainment at our fingertips.

We are also able to make careers out of our impact on social media through ad revenue, sponsorship deals, and donations through companies such as Patreon. This new culture that has been created through technology has given us a whole new outlook as to what we consider a sustainable job. People are able to make solid careers off of what they post on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, etc. They are able to have a much more flexible schedule in terms of being able to choose the content they create if they wish to work from home, and how many hours they feel they must put into their content creations.

The development of technology has caused large shifts in both how businesses operate and how people finance themselves. As a result, our culture is simply growing, not dying.

Despite the many distractions drivers can face in today’s world, such as texting, eating, and making phone calls while driving, the leading cause of fatal accidents are situations involving intoxicated drivers.  “Out of the 37,461 people killed on the roads in 2016, 10,497 people — nearly 30 percent — died because they were, or someone else was, drunk” (Nicole Gelinas).

Drunk drivers only make up approximately one eighth of one percent of the drivers in the US.  It is unlikely that any amount of safety programs will ever reduce this number.  Driver Alcohol Detection System for Safety (DADSS) would prevent drunk driving through data collection and interpretation technology in cars.

The technology would work in one of two ways, without disrupting the function or design of the car.  Bud Zaouk, program manager of DADSS, says the would-be driver places their finger on a sensor and a signal “tells us the alcohol concentration through your finger.”  The other sensor monitors a driver’s breath and can differentiate between the breath of a passenger and the breath of a driver.  A computer uses information from the sensors to disable the motion function of a vehicle, while still allowing heat, communication, and other features to run.

While many argue this new technology is the future of car safety, it raises many questions.  Could a driver override the system?  If a driver overrides the system and still causes an accident, is there any liability placed on the car/technology manufacturer?  Furthermore, who makes the decisions based on the data collected by the sensors: computers or humans?  Many questions arise regarding how much personal freedom drivers are willing to sacrifice in the name of safety.

https://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/commentary/2018/08/26/new-autonomous-vehicle-technology-can-halt-drunk-driving

https://www.aceable.com/safe-driving-videos/car-accident-statistics/

In our first class of the semester, we all went around the room and stated our favorite thing about the internet. For most individuals, social media was the biggest contender and the overall number one answer for our class. Social media is such a huge part of college students lives and has become a piece of technology we cannot live without. Some of the major players of social media for college students are Twitter, Snapchat, Tinder, and Instagram. Since a majority of these social media users, their age range is from 18-24 and this is the reason these companies are so focused on capturing what these individuals want to see next.

Instagram is currently testing out a new feature which helps college students connect with other students within their area. This feature is similar to Tinder which allows users to connect with users in a similar area range. The goal of this new feature is to attract more college students (18-24 year range) and allow them to make friends and find people who are similar to them within a close proximity. Possibly igniting a few interactions even outside of the social media app and creating an in-person relationship (something which seems to be getting lost with the advancement of addiction to our phones and social media.)

The CNN Tech article can be found here which details the plans of Instagram and also the similarities to Tinder and its commonalities with the new feature.

I think this new feature may be able to help connect individuals to start to have an in-person interaction again and may help social media become a tool which helps bring back people talking to people. What are your thoughts?