NFC mobile payment ‘Google Wallet’ confirmed for Thursday press event

By Jeff Hughes May 25, 2011

Yesterday we wrote about a Google rumor that had to do with mobile payments being introduced on May 26. It has been confirmed with a memo that tomorrow the search engine giant will be unveiling its service which will be called Google Wallet.

According to a memo from The Container Store which was published by Thisismynext.com, this summer will be when Google launches their test for contactless payment through mobile device. The fine details aren’t certain, though it’s most likely that Google will be partnering with Sprint and be using the Nexus S. The rumors say that Sprint phones with NFC chips will allow customers to pay with their phones at POS. Consumers will be able to tap their phone on a specialized reader at checkout and be on their way. It is also rumored that Citigroup and MasterCard have collaborated with the Google project.

The company plans on announcing the retailers who will be participating in the test at this Thursday’s press event in New York. Macy’s and American Eagle’s in those cities may be among retailers introducing a near-field communication (NFC) reader. Though the memo doesn’t say, Google reportedly will be introducing the service in New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Washington D.C. for their test run.

The memo also contains the date September 1, though it isn’t certain whether that date is when the Google Wallet program will begin or if that’s when The Container Store will be participating.

Topics

Former Digital Trends Contributor

I'm a SF Bay Area-based writer/ninja that loves anything geek, tech, comic, social media or gaming-related.

Computing

Does RAM speed matter for PC performance?

Installing RAM sticks in a motherboard.

RAM is one of the primary components in a PC, and it's important that you have at least a certain amount of RAM depending on what you want to do with your PC. However, there are more things to RAM than just capacity: Frequency and latency are important considerations, too.

The question of whether RAM speed matters is especially important now that we have two generations of RAM available, both DDR4 and DDR5 -- and they have vastly different speeds. The official maximum clock speed for DDR4 was 3200MHz, while DDR5 starts at 4800MHz, an increase of 50%; however, you'll easily find RAM kits reaching above 7000MHz. Although latency significantly went up, from CL14 on most 3200MHz DDR4 kits to CL40 on most 4800MHz DDR5 kits, DDR5 is still found to be faster.

Computing

The 6 best 2-in-1 laptops for drawing in 2024

Portal RTX running on the Surface Laptop Studio 2.

Whether you're a seasoned professional or enjoy drawing as a hobby, investing in a 2-in-1 laptop is a great idea for all sorts of artists. Drawing on a laptop makes it easy to quickly share your creation with others, which is especially useful if you're doing it as a professional–negating the need to upload your pen-and-paper sketch to the computer before sending it to a client. Moreover, working on a laptop lets you undo mistakes, zoom in to better handle small details, and quickly change utensils.

There are a lot of perks to drawing on a 2-in-1 laptop, but not all of them are great for creators. Some have unresponsive displays that can't register all your movements, while others might have a lackluster resolution or color spectrum that turns most images into a muddled mess. Because of that, it can be hard figuring out which laptop is best for your needs. And if you'll be spending a good chunk of change on the laptop, you'll want to make sure you get it right.

Computing

Best Buy’s deal of the day is $150 off the MacBook Air M2

A woman working on a 2023 MacBook Air with M2 chip.

For Mac lovers, Best Buy has one of the best laptop deals at the moment with $150 off the MacBook Air M2. Usually priced at $999, you can buy it for $849 right now making it great value for anyone who wants to get involved with the Apple ecosystem without breaking the bank. Stylish and speedy, this is a laptop that will suit mostly everyone from students to people working from home or commuters. Here’s what you need to know before you hit the buy button. As always with such good deals, bear in mind that you could miss out if you wait too long.

Why you should buy the MacBook Air M2
One of the best laptop brands for reliability and being high quality, buying a MacBook Air is an investment that will last. While Windows-based laptops can lose their lustre over time, MacBooks tend to keep going for longer. While the MacBook Air M2 doesn’t have the latest Apple silicon -- the M3 -- it still offers fantastic performance. The M2 chip has an 8-core CPU and 10-core GPU and this model is still considered to be the best MacBook for everyone. This particular model comes with 8GB of memory and 256GB of SSD storage which is sufficient for all everyday tasks and saving documents easily.