Mastercard Canada testing latest technology to simplify consumer purchases through Chatbot conversations

By Sonya Davidson

You may have heard about Mastercard's Identity Check payment system that is being used to prove consumer identity online beyond passwords and fingerprints. It uses smart devices and biometrics through facial recognition to enable payments in authenticating purchases. Recently at DX3 in Toronto, the company showed trade show attendees a hands-on look at the latest technology for retailers. We had a tour with Jason Davies, VP of Digital Payments at Mastercard, who walked us through the new technology in efforts to simplify and engage consumers. 

Along side seeing how Mastercard's Identity Check worked, we were also introduced to Chatbots experience that is now being tested with banks and retaiilers to help personalize customer service and purchases. The Artificial Intelligence bots will allow consumers to message, manage finances and make transactions through a messaging platform.

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Review: 2016 Ford Flex Limited

Text and Photos by Emily Chung

I asked for the 2016 Ford Flex road test because I just couldn’t understand what the appeal was with the vehicle. I didn’t get a feel for the rectangular shape, stylistically… well, to me it looks like a big brick! After driving it for a week, the Flex grew on me and I can see why owners love the vehicle. For an SUV this size, it wasn’t underpowered (thank you, Ford!) and true to its name the vehicle definitely offers a lot of flexibility in terms of carrying passengers and cargo.

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Fitbit's new Alta HR fitness tracker is thinnest with built-in heart rate monitoring

By Gadjo Cardenas Sevilla

Fitbit is making a big impact in fitness trackers and wearables by going small. The new Fitbit Alta HR, is the slimmest and most inconspicous fitness tracker with a display and built-in 24/7 heart rate monitoring. Continuing to dominat the  fitness tracking and analytics segment, Fitbit has also added New Sleep Stages, Sleep Insights and Fitbit Community available this week in the free Fitbit app available for Android, Windows, and iOS.

Fitbit is the leader in the connected health and fitness market. The announced the availability of Fitbit Alta HR, which starts at $199 is available starting today at major retailers across the globe. Alta HR has world’s slimmest fitness wristband with continuous heart rate tracking, Fitbit Alta HR combines the benefits of PurePulse technology with automatic exercise recognition, sleep tracking, battery life of up to seven days.

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Spotify tries out new look for its menu options

If your Spotify app updated recently, you’ll notice something different when you tap on options of a specific song. The contextual menu you see this time looks different. The icons are gone and are replaced by larger text. The black overlay that takes up the entire screen needs you to scroll to get through all the options. This might be a result of having the text take up more space. But it does require you to scroll a bit more to get to what option you want. There isn’t a change in terms of functionality. It’s purely a visual update. While it easy to read, the icons did make it easier to distinguish what you wanted to do. What do you think? Do you like this change?

Source: Android Police