At Home: What’s In Your Wallet?
So what’s in your wallet? If You’re like an increasing number of Canadians, the better question might be ?What is your wallet??
After all, as The Globe and Mail reports, a recent survey shows that Canadians are highly receptive to mobile payments, with 47 per cent of smart phone users open to ?the idea of [using] the smartphone as a wallet? or credit card.
According to the survey, conducted on behalf of CIBC, more Canadians than ever are using smart phones. Of these, 36 per cent already use their devices for mobile banking–a significant increase from last year’s 25 per cent.
CIBC is ready to ?[launch] a national mobile-payments system? that will allow users to ?make payments with a simple wave of their phone.? Credit card information will be stored securely on the device’s SIM card.
Around the World: Bionic Climber
In recent years, there have been incredible advances in medical technology for patients missing organs and limbs. One breakthrough occurred just this past week when a Washington man climbed 103 flights of stairs using an experimental bionic leg.
As the Huffington Post reports, Zac Vawter became ?the first person to [climb Chicago’s Willis Tower] wearing a mind-controlled prosthetic limb.?
Bionic–mind-controlled–limbs are ?designed to respond to electrical impulses from muscles? once the wearer has consciously created the thought to move. So when Vawter ?thought about climbing the stairs, the motors, belts and chains in his leg synchronized the movements of its ankle and knee.? During development, researchers ?spent months adjusting the technical aspects . . . to ensure that it would respond to his thoughts.?
Vawter’s achievement is part of a research project of the Rehabilitation Institute in Chicago, which is ?testing the leg under extreme conditions,? the Institute’s CEO told reporters.