Mobile Commerce

Classroom QR codes to boost UNC Emergency Preparedness

03/24/202303/23/2023 Stephanie Beck

The University of North Carolina is using the barcodes and an app to improve safety. A group of University of North Carolina (UNC) faculty, including representatives from Campus Safety, University Police, the Center for Faculty Excellence, biology professor Kelly Hogan and others have developed and launch new emergency preparedness projects including classroom QR codes. The barcodes are placed on the podiums of large lecture halls to inform faculty in case of emergency. Scanning the QR codes provides the faculty member – or whoever else happens to be at the front…

Criminals in Brazil are benefiting from Elon Musk’s Starlink internet service

03/23/202303/22/2023 L. Green

Starlink internet - Word Criminal on paper

The technology was meant to provide connectivity in the Amazon rainforest, but criminals are using it. Brazilian federal agents are increasingly finding Starlink internet units on the sites they raid in the Amazon rainforest. The agents are shot at, and the criminals often escape, but the technology is being left behind. Starlink internet services are a division of Elon Musk’s SpaceX. The company has nearly 4,000 satellites in low orbit, providing with people in remote areas of the world – such as the Amazon rainforest – with online connectivity. The…

Facial recognition technology to be implemented for Paris 2024 Olympics

03/21/202303/20/2023 Sam Lambert

Facial recognition - Paris with olympic rings in background

France Television has been running a number of tests with the tech on Paris streets. Though it can’t really be seen as we go about our everyday lives, facial recognition technology has been making its way into a broad spectrum of our typical activities, from unlocking smartphones to interacting with certain businesses and when traveling. Even when we feel we’re just another face in the crowd, we are far from going unnoticed. Facial recognition technology advances have made it increasingly challenging for people to be able to move around anonymously,…

SpaceX curbed Starlink internet service for drones in Ukraine

03/16/202303/15/2023 QR Code Press

The company president said it has taken steps to stop the Ukrainian military from using the service. SpaceX has actively prevented the Ukrainian military from using the company’s Starlink satellite internet service in order to control its drones since Russia’s invasion, said Gwynne Shotwell, the president and chief operating officer at SpaceX. The president pointed out that connection is being used by the Ukrainian military on the whole. The satellite connectivity has been providing the military with broadband communications to help in the defense against the Russian military. That said,…

Florida commissioner thinks QR codes could replace paper restaurant menus

03/13/202303/14/2023 Jesse Collins

QR codes - Traditional restaurant paper menu

A Eileen Higgins (Miami-Dade) thinks there is no reason to require restaurants to have physical menus. A commissioner from Miami-Dade is currently seeking to change the Florida law that requires restaurants to have a physical menu, allowing them to use QR codes and other digital options instead. Florida restaurants must all provide a physical copy of their menu to patrons in all their locations. Commissioner Eileen Higgins is seeking to change that law. Throughout the pandemic, the use of QR codes skyrocketed. They became very popular in restaurants, which made…