By: Nicolas Goulet

With the rise of mobile platforms like Android and iOS, mobile payments have also become a necessity. Both Apple and Google are even expanding into the realm of mobile payments for real-world items, with Apple’s Passport and Google Wallet. Both systems support discounts and loyalty programs without the need for coupons and cards. Some cities are already supporting train and transit payments through the mobile phone itself.

But even with mobile banking on the rise, users will still need to support these with funds from an actual deposit account or a credit card, which makes it difficult for some individuals to purchase goods or pay for services without a funding source. This so-called “underbanked” sector is the target of a U.S.-based form called Green Dot, which has been offering co-branded card based products for some time now. Its latest product, GoBank, does away with a deposit account, but instead uses an account accessible through a smartphone app as your virtual source of funds.

GoBank  does not have any brick-and-mortar building, nor any branches. But account holders can withdraw funds from more than 40,000 ATMs without any usage fees. Most of the other services will also be for free. There are no overdraft nor penalty fees. Accounts do not have a minimum maintaining balance and there are no monthly fees. There are fees and charges for only four services: use of out-of-network ATM, using the debit card abroad, adding a personal photo to the debit card, and membership fees. Account members can pay whatever they want for the membership fees.

As a bank, bank interaction and signup is through the smartphone app. With a smartphone, users can pay for internet and in-store purchases and send money via SMS or email. They can also take a glance at their bank balance without sigining in. GoBank can write up a check on the account holders behalf. Like Green Dot credit cards, account holders funds are linked to a Visa debit card account. Account holders will also have a debit card, and they can have a photograph on Facebook printed on it instead of a bank logo.

What’s interesting with GoBank is its potential for use in both emerging economies and developed nations. Whether you’re paying for your subway ticket, claiming perks and rewards, mobile banking might be the way to go in the future.

Internet banking has had quite a long history. Most banks, and credit card companies have their own customer portals where the client can check their balances, and transfer money from one account to another. However, as bank run enterprises, the operations of these internet banking services are tied with established banks. For most banking services, the client has to physically go to their bank and sign up or transact business. With GoBank, all bank transactions are done through the internet. Is cash on its way out as a preferred means of payment even for real-world goods?

Photo credit: Kalyan Chakravarthy

But then given the dynamics between and among individual community members, I have come to realize that communities need guidance in order to keep moving toward the right direction.

However, today we talk about a different kind of community than what many of us in the online realm are familiar with: an actual, physical community — one in which a person or family resides within.

My family moved to a new community last summer, and we thought this would be a good move for us. The place is near the kids’ schools, there are a lot of greens, and it is considered generally safe. All was well, until a few months into settling down. We came to discover that discord and deceit has been plaguing the community for some time now. In short: people were not in good terms with each other, for one reason or another.

For some, these have been due to deep-rooted misunderstandings and grudges that often manifest themselves in collaborative decision-making processes. For some, these are due to mishandling and mismanagement of the community’s resources. For some, these are due to personal differences — some people just don’t click.

This is a relatively young community, and we’re what one may consider newcomers — the new kids on the block. But here are a few observations, so far.

In a community, there’s always power play. While we would ideally want to have an equal or at least equitable treatment of community members, there will be some who will want to take control and keep it. Then there is the never-ending battle of wills among those that want to be at the top. There may be times of peace, in which level-headed and responsible members of the community will take control, but this is often short-lived.

There will always be rotten apples. And we know what these do, right? They tend to spoil the whole bunch. It’s a matter of containing the problematic members of a society, and not letting these spread their influence too much throughout the community at large.

In a community, you will find people who are surprisingly good. Yes, first impressions matter. But what matters even more is finding the reality behind those first impressions. You might find true friends — or at least true neighbors — in those whom you least expect to.

The whiners. In a community, there will always be those who whine about this and that. It’s great to offer constructive criticism. But whiners will just whine about, without actually contributing anything good to the community. These are needy people who always want to make their presence felt, but in loud and irrelevant ways.

Then there’s everybody else. There are just some people who don’t really give a damn — those who just go about with their business, quite oblivious to the fact that there’s a whole lot going on around them. There’s truly nothing wrong with being oblivious, but being apathetic is a different thing altogether.

This is my ideal, though: I’d rather just go on minding my own business, which I especially need, given that my time is precious.

Photo credit: demi

My kids often ask me how many cups of coffee I drink in a day. Sometimes I surprise myself with my answer, because it’s very rare that I only take just one. Never mind if it’s the cheap instant coffee that comes from a packet or if it’s my preferred perfectly-ground, perfectly-brewed concoction. I make myself a cup as often as I sit in front of my computer to write and to work.

And that’s quite often, because in a day I would write in bursts for as long as my energy permits.

For me, coffee helps keep me awake and focused during those times. Perhaps it’s the caffeine. Perhaps it’s a psychological effect that having my favorite cup beside me brings. Or maybe it’s a bit of both.

So it becomes a question not only of how much I drink, but for also what reason. I drink because it helps me work. I like being focused at work because I know I have to earn a living. I earn a living for my family.

Because of this, drinking coffee is not only sustenance for oneself, but it now has a bigger purpose. One’s motivation for doing it is not only for the sake of the bitter-sweet taste, nor just for the stimulating effects. Nor just for the added productivity. You do it because you know it helps you do things better for those who matter in your life.

In anything you do, you have a motivation. The question is whether it is a good one, and if you are doing the things you do for the sake of the ones who are important.

By: Tamara Smith

As  I write for a living, I find my three-year old articles to still be very much applicable to my profession. Even as I mostly write news reportage and enterprise-related editorials these days, one can perhaps still find underlying hints of the same writing style in my output. But what’s more important here is that I get to learn more about myself in looking back.

Back then, people still had time to read tips and advice on writing. Today, I think the online community has an increasingly declining attention span. Discussions have moved to microblogging services and social networks.

These discussions are not as sticky as articles, though. For instance, you can only go so far back in your Twitter timeline. Facebook discussions are the same, although it’s more straightforward to check out a posted article than a Facebook discussion.

Most great sites today use a combination of both: posting the main article on their blog or CMS and using a social-aware commenting plugin. As such, you can post your comment as your Facebook or Twitter profile. This simplifies the login process and helps reduce spam.

I still believe that these are just media, and the more important thing that drives value are content and engagement. Reading my old posts has been fun, though. I feel like I’m rediscovering myself.

We want the new Digg to deliver the best of what the Internet is talking about right now. It must be alive and responsive to its participants. When we asked people in the v1 survey why they visit Digg, the overwhelming answer was to find, read and share great stories.

The new Digg is getting rid of fluff and is focusing on leading people to their destination. If Betaworks pulls this off, then I might just start using Digg again.

(CC Flickr/Holtsman)

For parents, it’s another year of allowances, school supplies, books, and other expenses. Or perhaps we can consider these an investment. After all, it’s for our kids’ future.

Ready for school? This question goes for both the kids and parents.

Sometimes, you compare. Other people are richer. Other people are happier and more fulfilled. They have more money, better gadgets, better education, a satisfying profession, a clearly-laid career path. You’re on the losing end. You drew the shortest straw. Your at a dead end. You’re in a sinkhole.

Unfortunately, life doesn’t have U-turns. You can’t just keep dwelling on the past, mulling on the what ifs and the bygones. If time machines existed, a lot of people will probably take advantage of the technology and keep on trying to correct mistakes of the past. But this would split the world into infinite universes, and there would be no single reality at all.

Where to turn to, then?

Perhaps, even if life doesn’t have U-turns it does offer some paths along the way, and you are the one who has the power to choose which to take and what to do. Only, there are no assurances that things will be easier. It’s always a tough thing to make decisions, and it’s sometimes even tougher to stand by these decisions.

Sometimes it just needs a bit of an effort. You need a push. You need a catalyst. It might be a great idea. It might be a person. It might be a tragedy. The important thing is to see those opportunities for what they are, and to act now, without blinking an eye. Know what you want and go for it.

The great thing about being the biggest loser is that when you’re at the bottom, there’s usually no other way but up.

Who knew free could be so expensive?

We were advised we could wait until the next day to transfer the fish to a new container, since the bag had enough oxygen for 24 hours, and so that the fish could have time to adjust. We got a total of five fish, so we thought of first transferring them to a big fishbowl we had. The first day, one of the fish died, and my kids were devastated. The next day, two more died.

We weren’t really emotionally attached to the fish (they’re fish!), but we thought we might as well give them a good home, since they were given to us in goodwill (although I had a feeling the cost of fish was included in the tour package). So through the week, we found ourselves going crazy researching online about fish care. We discovered a lot of things about caring for goldfish and fish in general. We also realized that we had been doing a lot of things wrong!

Among the things we learned:

• Goldfish need space. They will usually require a ten-gallon tank for the first goldfish and an additional five or so gallons for each additional fish.
• Fish bowls are not ideal for goldfish. Ever see goldfish living in fishbowls on TV or the movies? Don’t be fooled. (One exception, though is Tish, who lived to a ripe old age of 43.)
• Goldfish are messy creatures. They will require a good filtration system.
• Goldfish are vegetarians. If you have aquatic plants, they will nibble and pull on them all day. We learned this the hard way when we found our plants floating all over early one morning.
• Fish need oxygen. We also learned this the hard way. We were wondering why the fish were always on the surface on our fishbowl. Apparently, they were breathing through the surface.
• Fish need a feeding schedule. If you overfeed them, they die.
• Fish need a balanced ecosystem. We also learned that it’s a bad idea to change your tank’s water 100%, and so now we only change about 20 to 25% twice a week.

One good thing we discovered is that my wife and I now have yet another shared passion. We didn’t really spend a lot of money for our aquarium setup, since we borrowed some old equipment and accessories from my in-laws (the expenses totaled to less than $20, but I have a feeling it’s going to grow). But we do get to spend time each day taking care of the fish, feeding them, cleaning their tank, and even observing their strange, fishy behavior.

All this from people who aren’t particularly fond of animals (although I must admit I have an affinity for cats).

You learn new things everyday. What’s surprising is that you get these from the most unexpected of sources.

After seven years of marriage, my wife and I have discovered a common passion, which is television. We find ourselves excitedly waiting for new episodes of our favorite shows to air. Sometimes we download them and watch series in marathon.

Maybe we’re just too busy with our everyday lives that we have no recourse but to be couch potatoes. Or maybe we just like the medium so much because of its convenience. And yet I think it’s deeper than that.

We’re not really TV persons. We barely have enough time to sleep or have time for ourselves, and spending time just sitting and watching is a luxury we can’t always just give in to. Heck, we can’t even watch the evening news in its entirety. But, perhaps, due to that fact, we’re consciously trying to use that downtime to spend quality minutes with each other. TV shows usually last for 43 or so minutes (sans the commercials), and so why not spend those 43 minutes of togetherness?

Add to that the fact that most of the shows that we grow a liking to are those with which we can relate, to some extent. Lately, our interest has been in this series called Life Unexpected. It’s not the most popular of shows, and it’s somewhere near the bottom of the US popularity/ratings ladder (considering the top 140 shows). But the series has a solid fan-base consisting of people who can relate to the show. It’s a story about family, albeit a quirky and unconventional one. It’s a story about loving in the face of difficulty, and understanding in the face of fear.

It’s not so much a drama as it is a lighthearted show. I find myself laughing out loud at the situations the characters are in, although online reviews elsewhere would also write about tearjerker moments. Truth is, being a young father, and having experienced dreadful losses in my family at this age, I have come to appreciate and relate to programs like this. It’s one of those shows where characters can be both the good guy and the antagonist. It’s one of those shows where you see how life can just drop a bomb on one character, who has to learn to deal with things. Yes, just like the rest of us.

I often tell my wife how I admire people who create and write good and watch-worthy TV series. As a struggling writer, one of my dreams is to write or create a concept that would eventually be produced as a pilot and then picked up by networks. It’s a far fetched dream, I know. But, I’ve read about someone who has gone that path and is now producing a show now in its second season. That person advises: just keep on writing.

And that’s just what I’ll do–along with watching, that is.

Have you been to the movies lately? In the past few years, you might have chanced upon a few films that dealt with people using avatars to socialize with the environment or with other people. Technology has not advanced to the point of controlling avatars as in Avatar, surrogates in Surrogates, or even virtual-reality selves as in the Matrix Still, in some ways, this can be approximated by how we deal with each other in the virtual world through social networks like Facebook and Twitter.

In some ways, it might be a necessity. In some ways, it can be a life choice.

Sometimes one might ask: are you your social network profile?

Have you lost enough touch with reality that you prefer to interact with other people online? Or, has the social network been ingrained into your life that whatever happens to events in the virtual world deeply affect what happens with your actual life?

The great thing with social networks is that they have let us interact with other people in ways previously not possible. We have found long lost friends. We have reunited classmates and cliques. We have established identities and communities online.

What happens to the individual, though? In social networking ,you are shielded behind the safety of your computer. You might be bolder at doing something you haven’t imagined doing in real life. It’s easy to do something when the repercussions might not necessarily be felt in real life. However, in some cases, what you do in the virtual world extends into real life? Do you still have a firm grasp of what is real?

I sometimes think that social networks are a misnomer. Yes, they are networks, in that they let users connect to other users online. However, as for being social, that might be where the trouble lies. It’s social inasmuch as you can connect with friends. But it sometimes draws you away from actually connecting with your friends, whether online or offline. For many people, social networking is about having the most number of followers or friends, or having the most “likes” or “favorites” for a certain post. The social interaction is no longer there. It’s sometimes a mindless maze of shout-outs and me-toos.

Of course the best way to socialize is to actually be with people, physically. I worry that people today are no longer aware of the value of interacting with people face-to-face. I must admit that I’m a bit lacking in that department, perhaps not having enough self-confidence to go out to the world and meet people. But I do put a premium on the value of being able to see someone in a face-to-face encounter. Or, at the very least, there’s value in someone actually reaching out and sending a nice email, or a text or an IM saying hello.

Is there still value in human interaction? Or are we on our way to becoming simply avatars of ourselves?