O'Grady's PowerPage

Tag: QR codes

  • Microsoft Office app for iOS now available for download

    Microsoft on Wednesday announced the release of its Microsoft Office app for iOS.

    The app combines Word, Excel, and PowerPoint into a single office suite, and also incorporates Microsoft’s Lens technology, allowing you to converted captured images on your iOS device into editable Word and Excel documents, scan PDFs, and capture whiteboards with automatic digital enhancements to make the content easier to read.

    Users can also add quick notes, sign PDFs, scan QR codes, and transfer files between devices.

    The Microsoft Office app is available for free and requires iOS 12.0 or later to install and run.

    Via The Mac Observer and the App Store

  • Walgreens becomes first retailer to merge Apple Pay with rewards card systems

    walgreens-logo

    You may love or hate Walgreens, but they’re now the first to offer a rewards program via Apple Pay.

    Walgreens announced on Thursday that the pharmacy chain has begun running its rewards program via Apple Pay. The company has long supported this through QR codes, but can now do this through NFC thanks to features in iOS 9.

    In addition to Walgreens turning on support for its Balance Rewards card through Apple Pay, Kohl’s recently became the first retailer to enable its store credit card for use with Apple Pay. Apple also added more than 50 banks to work with Apple Pay this week.

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  • Apple patent filing hints at NFC, digital wallet technologies

    NFC-N-Mark-Logo

    Sometimes it’s the patent filings that really tell you what’s coming down the road.

    Per BusinessInsider, a newly public patent application from Apple describes a detailed backend architecture for a mobile wallet designed to hold digital credit, debit cards and coupons issued by a range of merchants and financial institutions.

    The filing describes the system as capable of powering mobile transactions conducted via QR codes, the cloud, and contactless NFC (near field communication). It’s also explicitly engineered to handle large bursts of traffic, “such as can occur on a so-called ‘launch day’ of a client device.”

    The patent application describes an “omni-wallet,” which allows other parties to securely send data to Apple device owners, using sophisticated encryption and secure hardware to prevent fraudsters from intercepting or duplicating sensitive information such as digital credit cards.

    (more…)