Disruptors

The smartphone blog Android Police has discovered several latent features buried in the code underlying the software for Google’s wearable computer. Among them are panoramic image capture (suitable for check imaging), a stopwatch, and commands to play music or games.

Udi's, which operates a group of cafes and pizza establishments in the Denver area, just launched a customized mobile payments program with the goal of obtaining the data that is normally invisible to it when patrons pay with credit and debit cards.

Mobile software developers increasingly use common platforms for payments and other functions. And many of those developers rely on Braintree, a company eBay is purchasing for $800 million.

Square has officially launched its person-to-person payment system, Square Cash, which lets debit card users send funds by typing an email.

At 800 stores, the Checkers/Rally's fast-food chain may seem overshadowed by giants like McDonald's. But to CardFree, merchants of Checkers' size are ideal customers for its mobile payments technology.

There has been a flurry of activity in payments technology in recent days. But as the dust settles, it's becoming clear that some of the most disruptive products are coming from outside the payments industry.

Dickie Brennan is a New Orleans staple, a local business owner whose family has operated restaurants in the Crescent City for decades. A protégé of legendary chef Paul Prudhomme, Brennan is also an early adopter of a new mobile technology he hopes will change the way people dine out.

As the world accelerates toward faster and contactless payments, the U.S. has been reinforcing checks, avoiding global payments standards and pursuing closed-loop innovations that further isolate it.

E-Commerce sales on the Visa network in the U.S. surpassed $1 billion 188 times during the first nine months of the 2013 (out of 273 total days), a 16% increase in volume over the same period last year, the card network reports.

Groupon's strategy in mobile payments relies heavily on the feedback it gets from its merchants. The company's latest update to the Breadcrumb POS mobile payment app allows those merchants to get similar knowledge about their own customers' needs.

Digital Reasoning, a BTN Top 10 Tech Company to Watch in 2012, has ten large banks using its software to uncover employees' nefarious activities.

U.S. Bank is developing a mobile app that can provide physical stores with the sort of data that is typically only available to online and mobile shopping sites.

Banks still using Microsoft's Windows XP operating system had better beware, the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council announced this week.

Two payments industry veterans have come up with a way to make mobile phones and terminals communicate wirelessly without a conventional wireless or Near Field Communication signal.

In its digital payments strategy, American Express is placing more bets on cash. The card network plans to add a free cash reload option for its Serve prepaid digital wallet, reducing its reliance on Green Dot's MoneyPak reload cards. Amex is also adding several features that broaden the functions of the Serve account, and plans a $1 monthly fee that can be waived with direct deposits.

Visa, MasterCard and American Express are seeking ways to replace account numbers for digital payments. As they research possibilities, they can learn from the many existing and developing technologies that already accomplish much of what the card networks want.

The original iPhone revolutionized consumer technology and breathed life into the market for mobile payments — but the newest iPhone's most futuristic feature may signal a growing problem for banks and card networks.

MasterCard is adapting its rewards technology to better suit a world that's swimming in smartphones and abundant in app developers.

Visa, MasterCard and American Express introduced a proposed framework for new global standards that would replace traditional account numbers with a digital payment "token" for online and mobile transactions.

PayPal's $800 million purchase of Braintree is only the beginning. How PayPal decides to integrate the six-year-old processor could matter a lot to banks.