Author: Julie Campbell

Fraud is already rapidly on the rise in this sector which remains relatively limited, and it is only expected to grow.

When it comes to the adoption of smartphone based payments, one of the biggest concerns of consumers is mobile security, and for good reason, according to the latest data that has revealed that fraud in this area is a growing trend and it is coming at a considerable price.

The m-payments market was slow to get started, but it is experiencing some growth.

However, at the same time that m-payments are slowly growing, mobile security risks are increasing rapidly and are expected by experts to increase at a more rapid pace in coming years. This problem is expanded when m-commerce is taken into account, as shopping over smartphones has been taking off at a very rapid rate and is expected to become quite explosive over the upcoming holiday buying season.

A recent report has shown that the cost that mobile security issues is going to be a pricy one.

According to the Gartner technology research group’s projections, over the next four years, m-payments will experience a 35 percent average annual growth rate, which will send the number of users to around 450 million, and the amount of spending over this method up to $721 billion by 2017. In North America, alone, there is expected to be a growth rate of 53 percent, this year, so that by the end of 2013, it will have reached $37 billion, when compared to last year’s $24 billion. This is positive news for that industry, but also represents a growing mobile security risk as it becomes a more lucrative target to potential scammers and thieves.

All of the major players in smartphones and technology seem to have made their way into m-payments in one way or another, each with their own efforts to enhance mobile security to the point that they can make consumers comfortable with the tech and keep out fraud at the same time. This includes the acquisition of Braintree by PayPal, the new and improved mobile wallet launch by Google, and the addition of fingerprint scanning and biometrics by Apple.

Still, the primary barrier that all of those companies face is in mobile security, as consumers are still not convinced of the safety of their sensitive data. As many consumers are already quite comfortable with the payments methods that they already use, they are not ready to take a risk on a new and little known technology, when they don’t feel that their credit and debit cards are causing them an inconvenience.

The Glass features will now include a “listen to” option added to its standard voice commands.

It has now been announced that Google Glass, the wearable mobile augmented reality product form the tech giant, will be including music among its standard voice commands.

This gives wearers the ability to use their voices to complete many tasks relating to listening to music.

The hope is to help to further expand the benefits of these augmented reality glasses, allowing the wearer to listen to music based on voice commands. However, it will also allow the wearer to be able to search for songs, browse through various playlists that have been saved, and stream music that is available at Google Play.

This has further enhanced Google Glass far beyond only augmented reality capabilities.

To be able to access songs and other features through these wearable augmented reality devices, users will be able to link them to their Play accounts. This will give them the ability to stream music as well as the view playlists and song recommendations that are based on the tunes that they have previously listened.

The headphones which will allow wearers to change the use from visual, such as augmented reality, to private listening are not a cheap product. The Glass, itself, currently comes with a price tag of $1,500, for the Explorer Edition, which has been available on a limited basis since April. By the end of the month, the headphones will be $85. That transforms the eyeglasses into a full audio experience that is voice controlled.

Beyond this new standard feature, Google Glass also provides a unique wearable computer experience, similar to a type of smartphone in the form of glasses. It allows for augmented reality, capturing photos, recording videos, chatting, looking things up on the internet, and obtaining directions.

According to Ed Sanders, the Google Glass director of marketing who spoke about this new feature beyond augmented reality, “With these new features, we’re now building a great music experience on Glass, whether you’re a classical music professor, an acclaimed sound engineer and hip-hop producer, or someone who wants to listen to their favorite tunes anytime, anywhere.”