A British tourist was amazed by the cutting-edge technology in China after using his palm to pay for a packet of crisps at a convenience store.
The new technology, called PalmPay, allows people to make payments simply by placing their hands on a sensor equipped with an infrared camera.
This sensor analyzes both the unique palm print and the vein pattern under the skin, enabling secure and convenient palm print payments.
Traveling couple Ben and Reanne Dridge experienced the futuristic technology during a visit to Zhuhai, China, and shared a video on social media.
“We’re in China, and that’s how advanced cashless payment is in this country,” Drridge said in the clip, which has clocked up more than two million views.
At the counter, Dridge placed his palm on a terminal and paid for a packet of chips without touching his debit card, phone or using cash.
“Wherever you are in the world, you can pay with your palm print,” Ms Dridge said.
‘How smart is that? “It’s literally one of the best things I’ve ever seen in my life.”
Drridge added: “China lives in a future so far away that it is incomprehensible.”
A British tourist was amazed by cutting-edge technology in China after using his palm to pay for a packet of crisps at a convenience store.
Cutting-edge technology scans palm prints and vein patterns to enable fast, secure and cashless payments.
Travelers who don’t want to use technology still have the option to pay by card, phone or cash.
Tencent, the developer of the technology, is confident it will become widespread.
Palm technology can also be used to unlock doors in homes and workplaces, as well as to pay for public transportation.
“The application scenarios may be a little different,” Tencent’s Guo Rizen told CNN. “We hope that palm payments can save people the trouble of carrying physical items, so that our lives will be more convenient.”
However, security experts warn that the system could face significant security risks.
‘Retailers get hacked all the time. “When most retailers get hacked, worst case scenario you have to change your credit card number,” Surveillance Technology Oversight Project executive director Albert Fox Cahn previously told MIT Technology Review.
Palm recognition technology can also unlock homes, workplaces, and pay for public transportation, making daily life easier.
But you can’t change your palm print if it is compromised.
“So we look at this as a way for people to potentially save a couple of minutes in line at the cost of their biometric privacy for the rest of their lives.”
Edward Santow, professor of responsible technology at UTS, also offered some words of caution.
‘When your personal information accumulates on a large scale, it creates a bit of a honeypot for cybercriminals.
“And if that information is obtained illegally, it can be sold on the black market and cause huge problems.”