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The Humintell Blog October 14, 2011

The Future of Finance

Technology, technology, technology, everywhere you turn you are inundated with the advancements of our ever growing world.

According to CreditCards.com the future of banking has arrived.  Just like with the advancements on the iPhone and computers, ATM’s have launched into the technology race.  We now have 3D touchless ATM’s.  The idea was created by Brazilian Itartec and was first revealed in Sao Paulo, Brazil this past summer.

The new ATM accustomed with 3D technology and a completely touch-free interface allows the user to navigate with the swipe of the hand.  It also comes equipped with Face Tracking, which could virtually eliminate card/cash jacking.  A camera in the ATM will focus in on your facial features to identify you.  This type of technology is already in place as a security measure in a variety of industries and could eliminate the global need for ATM cards.

Other security ideas being developed for the ATM of the future is a “pillar” type design that uses your fingerprint to read  the biometrics under your skin and detect your body’s personal chemistry to identify you.  The “pillar” ATM is being designed more for underdeveloped, illiterate countries and icons will replace the now used keyboard and display screen.

Industry veteran Bob Tramontano, vice president of marketing at NCR, comments, “I don’t think holograms are ready for prime time as far as the technology is concerned,” says Tramontano. “but I think gesture-based interaction is something that will be very appropriate in the near to distant future.”

This new technology provides greater security for ATM users and for banks. It will be harder, with this technology in place, to force someone to withdrawal cash or to try and hijack the entire cash dispenser.

There are other prototypes that are focusing on a myriad of divergent security measures such as a built in audio lie detector and replacing the traditional moneygram to ones that can be sent via the internet right from the ATM machine itself.

There is also a cash into gold machine coined “Gold to Go”.  Just visit the Golden Nugget in Las Vegas to see how this one works.

For detailed information on ATMs of the future watch the Youtube video below (it’s in Portuguese but the video shows how the technology works).

Click here to view the embedded video.

Filed Under: Hot Spots, Science

The Humintell Blog September 25, 2011

You Can Buy Happiness!!

Two recent studies show that acts of kindness such as doing a good deed or buying a gift as long as it’s for someone else will make you happier. Perhaps, that ‘s why Saint Nicholas AKA Santa Claus is so jolly.

The first study, which was published in the Journal of Social Psychology had participants perform acts of kindness for a mere ten days.  The Great Britain researchers formed three groups out of the 86 participants in the study.  The control group was given no instructions and at the conclusion of the ten days were not happier than before the study began.  However, the group that was instructed to perform an act of kindness each day reported a significant elevation in their happiness.

The second study, conducted by researchers at Harvard Business School and the Univeristy of British Columbia suggests that kindness has a long lasting effect on our happiness.  This study’s findings reflected that people felt happier simply by recalling a time they bought something for someone else rather than when recalling a time when they purchased something for themselves.

Another intersting fact about the second study, which was published online in the Journal of Happiness Studies, was that the price of the gift didn’t seem to have an effect on the level of happiness the person experienced.  It didn’t matter if the gift had cost $20 dollars or $100 dollars. Also, the happier the participant felt about past acts of kindness, the more likely they were to choose to continue doing for others in lieu of themselves.

Click here to view the embedded video.

This is all according to the Greater Good website from the University of California, Berkeley.

With the holidays just around the corner, we all have the opportunity to test these findings.  The new mantra Give and Be Happy.

Below is a video about enjoying life

Filed Under: Science

The Humintell Blog September 21, 2011

Social Networking

Facial expressions are are a major part of communication and can be critical in a conversation between two hearing impaired individuals.

Business Standard Technology reports that a new program RockeTalk, a mobile social networking platform, allows users to send video messages which make conversing for the hearing impaired easier by allowing them to see each others facial expressions.

Rajesh Ketkar, head of a Vadodara-based NGO, Mook Badhir Mandal (MBM) states, “With video messaging, talking to one another becomes easy. In addition, users can also send their video messages to an interpreter who in turn would talk to a normal person on their behalf over the phone.”

This new app allows users, in India, to place free calls to social platforms such as Mig33,a moblie social platform and  Nimbuzz, a cross-platform chat app, over WiFi without using any voice minutes.

What are your thoughts on this?  Should these social applications allow the hearing imparied access to video talk for free?

Filed Under: Science

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