Paying for Stuff Will Soon Be Almost as Easy and Reliable as Using Cash

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Sarah Halzack describes the difference between between ApplePay and a competing system, CurrentC, due to roll out next year:

Apple Pay’s system relies on near-field communication chips, allowing users to wave their smartphones in front of a reader and confirm the purchase with a fingerprint scan. CurrentC, on the other hand, will require shoppers to use their smartphone’s camera to take a picture of a code generated by the retailer, a series of steps that may feel slower and more complex to consumers than Apple Pay.

Say what? You have to pull out your phone, open the CurrentC app, and take a picture of a QR code that’s displayed on the merchant’s screen. If that doesn’t work, you have to manually enter a numeric code.

And this is faster and more convenient than swiping a debit card because….what? Am I missing something here?

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BEFORE YOU CLICK AWAY!

“Lying.” “Disgusting.” “Scum.” “Slime.” “Corrupt.” “Enemy of the people.” Donald Trump has always made clear what he thinks of journalists. And it’s plain now that his administration intends to do everything it can to stop journalists from reporting things they don’t like—which is most things that are true.

No one gets to tell Mother Jones what to publish or not publish, because no one owns our fiercely independent newsroom. But that also means we need to directly raise the resources it takes to keep our journalism alive. There’s only one way for that to happen, and it’s readers like you stepping up. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible.

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