Today in Google

Today Google announced their newest tool in an already vast arsenal, Google Wallet has made it's debut. The rumors of such a service have been floating around for a few weeks now after it had been revealed that the big G was looking to secure a new form of checkout scanner in select stores across the country. Also not to mention the fact that they had released the Google Nexus S phone with a new form of wireless communication known as NFC or, Near Field Communication, as it were.


The big news today though isn't necessarily that they have announced the new service in of itself but who they have already partnered up and ready to roll with it. The first big contender is MasterCard and their PayPass system. If you happen to have a capable phone, it will now essentially act as a it's own PayPass MasterCard virtually anywhere that PayPass is accepted. This could mean in many places around the world even, negating the hassle of exchange rates of currency and the like. Very cool stuff.


Next up we also have Citi Bank MasterCards being officially supported. Then we also have Sprint which there doesn't seem to be a lot of concrete details on yet. With the way Sprint has cozied up with Google Voice recently though, I expect some really tight integration of Sprint services (payments, etc) into the Android OS on their handsets.

As far as retailers go we have so far: Macy's, Subway, Walgreens, Toys 'R Us and Noah's Bagels with 'many more in the coming months'. 


The service itself will begin with some trials in New York and San Francisco before spreading around the states, again in the 'coming months' which could or could not happen at this point. Things seem very beta-like to me as it stands now.


Finally Google has announced Google Offers, a new service which will provide discounts to consumers from the various retail partners that have signed up. I'm guessing there will be tighter integration with this and Google Latitude as things start to get rolling full-steam. Latitude has had similar offers for about a month now when you check in to various locations frequently, very much the same way 4Square works.


There's a lot more in store with this and if anyone will really be able to bring the fire, it's Google. This really seems like a natural progression for them being as heavily monetized by ads as they are. Anyway, that's all I really have to say about things now, may write a small followup later on as more information is brought forth.

I Feel Like Writing Something

It's been a slow weekend. I've been battling pink eye and strep throat for the past four days now and have been in a world of pain. I didn't do much except for rest this weekend which gave me ample opportunity to kick back and do something I haven't had much time for recently, play some video games.

I was just about to write up a review of Beyond Good and Evil HD, which just released this past Wednesday in the Xbox Live Marketplace (you can download it here) but ultimately am not feeling up to it at the moment. I will say that it is a gem of a game, originally released years ago for the Playstation 2 and Gamecube, it's finally been given a fresh coat of paint and a new audience. It never sold well the first time around which is a damn shame, I had always meant to pick up a copy but never could afford too but now it's only 10 bucks and will probably decide the fate of the much needed sequel.

All that aside, I don't know much else to write about, I had planned on taking a small day trip out of the city this weekend to get some new pictures and a new post up over at AZ Rogue Travels, my currently 'a work in progress' travel blog but due to being ill that fell through. Things were pretty quiet around here this past weekend and it was really nice.

I'm pushing lots of tea and medicine, hopefully I can kick these viruses before much longer and get back out there on the road. Probably gonna put up a small post at AZ Rogue tonight too.

That's all for now, peace.