Trade Your Wallet for Wireless

Wired article which mentions another technology and company to look out for: Near Field Communications.

Here's a related Engadget post.

Is Cash Becoming Extinct?

Nobody creates small, nutrient rich bites of information like the Motley Fool.

Card purchases outnumbered cash or check for the first time in 2003. Though Selena Maranjian rightly points out that this isn't all good news, I don't think this necessarily means we are headed down a path of profligate spending and credit problems. I think the use of cards also means we can more easily track our purchases and possibly hold to budgets better. I foresee credit cards that let you set up a budget and alerts you, on your receipt or in an email, that you've reached your monthly coffee allotment or ease back on the dinners out. More information is going to be created and should keep getting easier to track.

Sending Money Through Cell Phone Numbers

It's not clear from article how this works. Does the recipient have to be using the same cell phone company that you are? Does the recipient have to set up an account, like PayPal, to receive the money? Another good idea and one that gets better as more and more people get a cell phone.

"Ubiquitous Banking Interface (UBI)" is the system that this works on. I'm going to file away that name and variations ("Everywhere Banking") for possible future use.

Cyber Fears On Fed's Web Plan

I understand the concern about the Fed moving to the web but either the web is a [relatively] secure medium or it isn't. If it's good enough to move consumer or business funds, which if lost could be catastrophic for those involved, it should be good enough for the fed and banks.

Phoning home pesos from across the ocean

Sending money internationally via text message. Still sounds complicated, time consuming, and costly for the sender but it's a start.