Lately, I’m hearing a lot about crypto, blockchain, bitcoin, Ethereum, smart contracts, defi (decentralized finance), dapps (decentralized applications), DAOs (decentralized autonomous organizations), NFTs (non-fungible tokens), web3, and on and on. I wanted to learn more about all of this stuff so I started digging around…
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TCCHS group attends WIT event; Mickles wins invitation to special conference Technology as a man’s domain is an antiquated idea getting a redesign thanks to opportunities like the Virtual Reality Environment Design event sponsored by Women in Technology and attended by Thomas County Central High School Girls Who Code club. Sponsor Mark Thompson, who teaches
Great Expectations, a leading open-source platform for data quality, announced the results of a survey highlighting top pain points and consequences of poor data quality within organizations. Insights from 500 data practitioners (engineers, analysts, and scientists) showed that 77% have data quality issues and 91% said it’s impacting their company’s performance.
In recent months, you may have gone out to dinner only to realize you left your COVID vaccine card at home. Luckily, the host is OK with the photo of it on your phone. In this case, it’s acceptable to show someone a picture of a card, but for other things it isn’t — an image of your driver’s license or credit card certainly won’t work. So what makes digital versions of these items more legit than a photo? To better understand the digitization of what goes into our wallets and purses, I talked to product manager Dong Min Kim, who works on the brand new Google Wallet. Google Wallet, which will be coming soon in over 40 countries, is the new digital wallet for Android and Wear OS devices…but how does it work?Let’s start with a basic question: What is a digital wallet?A digital wallet is simply an application that holds digital versions of the physical items you carry around in your actual wallet or purse. We’ve seen this shift where something you physically carry around becomes part of your smartphone before, right?Like..?Look at the camera: You used to carry around a separate item, a camera, to take photos. It was a unique device that did a specific thing. Then, thanks to improvements in computing power, hardware and image processing algorithms, engineers merged the function of the camera — taking photos — into mobile phones. So now, you don’t have to carry around both, if you don’t want to.Ahhh yes, I am old enough to remember attending college gatherings with my digital camera andmy flip phone.Ha! So think about what else you carry around: your wallet and your keys.So the big picture here is that digital wallets help us carry around less stuff?That’s certainly something we’re thinking about, but it’s more about how we can make these experiences — the ones where you need to use a camera, or in our case, items from your wallet — better. For starters, there’s security: It’s really hard for someone to take your phone and use your Google Wallet, or to take your card and add it to their own phone. Your financial institution will verify who you are before you can add a card to your phone, and you can set a screen lock so a stranger can’t access what’s on your device. And should you lose your device, you can remotely locate, lock or even wipe it from “Find My Device.”What else can Google Wallet do that my physical wallet can’t?If you saved your boarding pass for a flight to Google Wallet, it will notify you of delays and gate changes. When you head to a concert, you’ll receive a notification on your phone beforehand, reminding you of your saved tickets.Wallet also works with other Google apps — for instance if you’re taking the bus to see a friend and look up directions in Google Maps, your transit card and balance will show up alongside the route. If you’re running low on fare, you can tap and add more. We’ll also give you complete control over how items in your wallet are used to enable these experiences; for example, the personal information on your COVID vaccine pass is kept on your device and never shared without your permission, not even with Google.Plus, even if you lose your credit or debit card and you’re waiting for the replacement to show up, you can still use that card with Google Wallet because of the virtual number attached to it.This might be taking a step backwards, but can I pay someone from my Google Wallet? As in can I send money from a debit card, or straight from my bank account?That’s actually where the Google Pay app — which is available in markets like the U.S., India and Singapore — comes in. We’ll keep growing this app as a companion app where you can do more payments-focused things like send and receive money from friends or businesses, discover offers from your favorite retailers or manage your transactions.OK, but can I pay with my Google Wallet?Yes,you can still pay with the cards stored in your Google Wallet in stores where Google Pay is accepted; it’s simple and secure.Use payment cards in Google Wallet in stores with Google Pay, got it — but how does everything else “get” into Wallet?We’ve already partnered with hundreds of transit agencies, retailers, ticket providers, health agencies and airlines so they can create digital versions of their cards or tickets for Google Wallet. You can add a card or ticket directly to Wallet, or within the apps or sites of businesses we partner with, you’ll see an option to add it to Wallet. We’re working on adding more types of content for Wallet, too, like digital IDs, or office and hotel keys.Developers can make almost any item into a digital pass.. Developers can use the templates we’ve created, like for boarding passes and event tickets — or they can use a generic template if it’s something more unique and we don’t have a specific solution for it yet. This invitation to developers is part of what I think makes Google Wallet interesting; it’s very open.What exactly do you mean by “open” exactly?Well, the Android platform is open — any Android developer can use and develop for Wallet. One thing that’s great about that is all these features and tools can be made available on less expensive phones, too, so it isn’t only people who can afford the most expensive, newest phones out there who can use Google Wallet. Even if a phone can’t use some features of Google Wallet, it’s possible for developers to use QR or barcodes for their content, which more devices can access.So working with Google Wallet is easier for developers. Any ways you’re making things easier for users?Plenty of them! In particular, we’re working on ways to make it easy to add objects directly from your phone too. For instance, today if you take a screenshot of your boarding pass or Covid vaccine card from an Android device, we’ll give you the option to add it directly to your Google Wallet!
Protecting our users’ privacy and securing their data is core to Google’s work. That’s why we design products to help people keep their personal information private, safe, and secure — with easy-to-use tools and built-in protections.Privacy matters to people — especially around topics such as their health. Given that these issues apply to healthcare providers, telecommunications companies, banks, tech platforms, and many more, we know privacy protections cannot be solely up to individual companies or states acting individually. That’s why we’ve long advocated for a comprehensive and nationwide U.S. privacy law that guarantees protections for everyone, and we’re pleased to see recent progress in Congress.But we haven’t waited for a law to take action. We understand that people rely on Google to keep their personal data secure. We’ve long been committed to this work, and today we’re sharing additional steps we’re taking to protect user privacy around health issues.Protecting user privacyWe offer a variety of easy-to-use privacy tools and settings that put people in control of their data. This is particularly important to people around health topics, which is why our data policies include a number of restrictions. In addition, we have protections around:Location History: Location History is a Google account setting that is off by default, and for those that turn it on, we provide simple controls like auto-delete so users can easily delete parts, or all, of their data at any time. Some of the places people visit — including medical facilities like counseling centers, domestic violence shelters, abortion clinics, fertility centers, addiction treatment facilities, weight loss clinics, cosmetic surgery clinics, and others — can be particularly personal. Today, we’re announcing that if our systems identify that someone has visited one of these places, we will delete these entries from Location History soon after they visit. This change will take effect in the coming weeks.User Data on Apps: Google Play has strict protocols to protect user privacy — including policies that prohibit developers from selling personal and sensitive user data and a requirement that they handle that data securely and only for purposes directly related to operating the app. To further promote transparency and control for users, we also recently introduced Play’s new data safety section that developers use to give people more information about how apps collect, share, and secure their data. For Google Fit and Fitbit, we give users settings and tools to easily access and control their personal data, including the option to change and delete personal information, at any time. For example, Fitbit users who have chosen to track their menstrual cycles in the app can currently delete menstruation logs one at a time, and we will be rolling out updates that let users delete multiple logs at once.Law Enforcement Demands for User Data: Google has a long track record of pushing back on overly broad demands from law enforcement, including objecting to some demands entirely. We take into account the privacy and security expectations of people using our products, and we notify people when we comply with government demands, unless we’re prohibited from doing so or lives are at stake — such as in an emergency situation. In fact, we were the first major company to regularly share the number and types of government demands we receive in a Transparency Report. We remain committed to protecting our users against improper government demands for data, and we will continue to oppose demands that are overly broad or otherwise legally objectionable. We also will continue to support bipartisan legislation, such as the NDO Fairness Act recently passed by the House of Representatives, to reduce secrecy and increase transparency around government data demands.We’re committed to delivering robust privacy protections for people who use our products, and we will continue to look for new ways to strengthen and improve these protections. We support Congressional efforts to reach bipartisan agreement on nationwide privacy protections that move the burden of privacy off individuals and establish good data practices across the board. In the meantime, we will continue our focus on securing our products and protecting the privacy of our users around the world.
