Filed under: Gaming

A select bunch of Transmeta investors may not completely agree with how the outfit is being managed, but one thing’s for sure: it’s bringing in some serious coin on this deal. During a brief timeout from counting those stacks of Benjamins handed over by Intel, it decided to license its Long Run and LongRun 2 technologies (among “other intellectual property”) to NVIDIA for a cool $25 million. Additionally, the agreement grants NVIDIA a “non-exclusive and fully paid-up license” to all of Transmeta’s patents and patent applications. Unfortunately, it’s still unclear how exactly this will end up affecting NVIDIA fanboys (and girls), but we’ll go out on a limb and suggest that a mobile GTX 280 with a remarkably low power draw is just around the bend.

[Via SlashGear]

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Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

We’ve definitely seen some outlandish attempts at improving or outright replacing the humble credit card, but South Koreans will soon be able pay for purchases using the most easy-to-lose system we’ve seen yet — by inserting a special USB flash drive into a slot. The system, which is being rolled out by Shinhan Card and VIsa, also lets users pay for online purchases by sticking the drive into their computers’ USB ports, and Shinhan is also rolling out new terminals that will enable contactless payments using the device as well. Of course, the drive itself is locked down tighter than a drum, but we still aren’t convinced a bulky flash drive is a better option than phone-based or biometric payment systems.

[Via The Raw Feed]

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Filed under: Cellphones

For whatever reason, phone-based contactless payment systems have been incredibly slow on the uptake stateside, while others — those on NTT DoCoMo’s well-received Osaifu-Keitai system, for example — have had no qualms about turning their handsets into wallets. Every so often we catch wind of a trial in the works, though, which gives us hope that we’ll eventually all be able to whip our cellies out of our pockets and clog our arteries in one deft motion. Case in point: Sprint has teamed up with Jack in the Box and San Francisco’s Bay Area Transit Authority to offer fare and food payments with a tap of a phone in a trial that runs from January through May of next year. Strangely, the pictured phone appears to be the somewhat ancient A920 clamshell, so we’re guessing Sprint is modifying the devices for the trial; Boost Mobile customers should be able to get on the action in some capacity as well. If you live in the area, ride BART at least once a week, and are willing to sacrifice that Touch for a trial phone, go sign yourself up — just take it easy with the bacon burgers, k?

[Thanks, Allan]

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Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless

Chances are, you had forgotten all about Sony and NXP’s little initiative to cooperate on a NFC (near-field communications) standard, but the two seem to have finally worked out all the kinks and are ready to move forward. The joint venture, dubbed Moversa, will seek to “drive global adoption of contactless smart card applications in mobile phones,” and it’s already planning to develop, produce and market a Universal Secure Access Module (U-SAM) that “incorporates both MIFARE and FeliCa operating systems and applications.” Essentially, the duo is hoping to accelerate the adoption of integrated contactless support, which would enable users to make payments (among other things) easily via their handset. If you’re curious about availability, we’re hearing that samples should be shipped out in mid-2008, but commercial deployments aren’t scheduled to happen until the end of next year.

[Via Yahoo / Reuters]

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

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets, Transportation

Simply swiping one’s credit / debit card at the pump is probably sufficient for the bulk of us, but for certain Shell customers in Chicago, paying for gasoline is getting even quicker. Ten stations in the Windy City are trialing biometric payment systems — crafted by California-based Pay By Touch, which has units in a variety of other stores already — that enable customers to scan their fingerprints, fill up and cruise off. The machines are purportedly linked directly to checking or credit card accounts, which customers initiate at the store or online. Unfortunately, we’ve no idea if Shell plans on expanding this to other locales after the pilot program has concluded, but Chris Susse, Shell’s manager of global refueling innovations (nice title, eh?) did note that he hoped the initiative would increase customer loyalty at the very least.

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