codes

Bank of America is testing a new mobile-payment service that lets customers use their Apple or Google smartphones to scan pictures to pay for things.

The bank is testing technology developed by a company called Paydiant. The solution uses Quick Response or QR codes. The way it works is that users use their smartphones to scan the QR code, which unlocks the users' bank information stored in Bank of America's network to complete the transaction.

The QR codes could be displayed at the register in a store when a customer is checking out, or a restaurant could print the code on the check, allowing patrons to scan their bills right at the table and pay without ever handing over a credit card or cash.

Because the technology doesn't require any special hardware on the device, it can be used with any smartphone running Apple's iOS or Google's Android software.… Read more

Owners of the Samsung Galaxy S2 and S3 may be vulnerable to a flaw that could allow their personal data to be deleted from their device, a security researcher has discovered.

The malicious code, which is now circulating on the Internet, could trigger a factory reset of the popular handsets, according to Ravi Borgaonkar, a researcher in the Security in Communications department at Technical University Berlin, who demonstrated the vulnerability at the Ekoparty security conference in Argentina last week (see video below).

The flaw lies in the way Samsung's TouchWiz UI interacts with unstructured supplementary service data (USSD) codes, … Read more

A number of Samsung smartphones have been found to be vulnerable to a remote factory reset, according to details surfacing today. The hack, which was detailed at a recent Ekoparty security conference, shows that the Galaxy S3 is susceptible to the simple reset.… Read more

SAN FRANCISCO -- Does Passbook, Apple's new digital wallet, live up to its lofty expectations?

With the first batch of companies just rolling out integration with the feature, we're getting the first taste of just how well it works in the wild.

Tonight that's a baseball game here at AT&T Park, where the San Francisco Giants face off against the Colorado Rockies, a game we got into using Apple's newly released wallet technology.

Passbook, which went out today inside of iOS 6, is a new application from Apple designed to store membership cards, tickets, … Read more

Leaked from today's 404 episode:

- Nintendo turns on TVii for Wii U.

- The closest thing we've got to a Nintendo Wii U launch list.

- Nintendo Wii U arrives November 18 starting at $299.

- Is the iPhone 5 worth cutting off your penis?

- London theater employing volunteer ninjas to confront rude moviegoers.

- Enter CNET's Best Seats in the House Sweepstakes for a chance to win a home theater set!

- Bathroom break video: Hop! The Suitcase That Follows You… Read more

Most QR codes are little things that are attached to ads or show up in the corner of TV commercials. A farm in Alberta, Canada, has made one that covers 309,570 square feet.

The Kraay Family Farm took a little departure from its usual corn maze themes. Recent years have had homages to Rick Hansen's Man in Motion tour and Alberta tourism. This year, it's a massive QR code that leads back to the farm's Web site.… Read more

How do you tweet in Morse code? Using Arduino and antique signal lamps, it turns out.

Thanks to students from the Copenhagen Institute of Interaction Design, you can now see what "I just washed my face and brushed my teeth. #Monday" looks like when expressed via old maritime communications technology.

The students' #CPHsignals "Morse code light signal installation" transmits signals between two Copenhagen, Denmark, neighborhoods, Nyhavn and Chavn. Visitors can tweet messages using iPads attached to antique signal lamps on either side of the harbor or from anywhere using a @reply to @signals_nyhavn and @signals_CHavn.

An Arduino interface translates the tweets into Morse code and broadcasts them across the water (in what happens to be a very pretty light show at night, it's worth noting). So far, conversations between the two sides of the harbor have proven pretty tame, with lots of friendly greetings exchanged and no "man overboard" crises reported yet. … Read more

In an effort to sign up 1.5 million new voters, Rock the Vote has been stashing its voter registration QR codes in all sorts of strange places. Recently, it was on T-shirts. Now it's way, way up in the air.

With an assist from Virgin America, Rock the Vote has gone airborne. The voter registration drive coincides with Virgin's new nonstop route from San Francisco to Washington D.C.… Read more

InstaWifi lets you share access to your wireless connection by using NFC tags or a generated QR code. This is a great tool for business owners who have customers or office guests who want to connect to their wireless connection. It's definitely a faster option than giving them a password to type in, or keeping said password written down with the potential of getting lost.

If you need a quick recap on how to create NFC tags, check out Jason Cipriani's How to program an NFC tag with your Android device before you get started. The … Read more