Filed under: Cellphones

With services like NTT DoCoMo's FeliCa-based Osaifu-Keitai in Japan and Mifare deployed through much of Europe, perhaps one of the last great hurdles to widespread acceptance of phone-based e-wallets is a lack of standardization. Either that, or most people don't feel the need to pay for things by tapping their phone on various devices, but we digress; the point is that the GSM Association has now taken up the cause of getting everyone on the same page with its global "Pay-Buy Mobile" initiative. We really mean global, too -- among a slew of carriers, AT&T, NTT DoCoMo, Vodafone, and KTF are on board, representing the US, Japan, Europe, and South Korea, respectively, and the manufacturer camp counts Nokia, Samsung, and LG as its members. The first Pay-Buy Mobile trials are schedule to kick off this October, a schedule that is probably helped along by the availability of existing software and chips from Sony and NXP and the GSMA's pledge to build off financial institutions' existing NFC initiatives. We can't promise we'll use it -- but yeah, if it's secure, go ahead and build it into our phones, folks.

[Via Phone Scoop]

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

One of manufacturers and supporters of DRM's favorite lines is about how DRM "enables" all sorts of wonderful new things, when it simply isn't true. DRM makes nothing possible in and of itself, it merely exists to frustrate users and lock down content. It's all hot air, no matter how many times it gets repeated by entertainment industry execs trying to make their content-restriction technologies sound like a good thing. The RIAA's Mitch Bainwol, as you might expect, has talked plenty of nonsense about the value of DRM and why it's necessary. He's now gone a step further, telling an industry event that "DRM serves all sorts of pro-consumer purposes." Really? Name one, Mitch. He then put the blame for consumer frustration with copy-protection on interoperability issues. While interoperability certainly is a major pain point, it's one that exists only because of DRM. Ditch the DRM and the interoperability problems disappear, and along with it, so many consumer headaches. That would be the "pro-consumer" move.