Forget the quarters
Tired of having to save those coins all week long for the laundry machines? Two companies recently announced they were teaming up to help eliminate that problem. IVI Checkmate Corp., based in Atlanta and Toronto, will supply Coinamatic laundry rooms across Canada with its wireless transaction terminal. The Elite 770 is a short-range wireless terminal, which Coinamatic will be able to use to install a smart card re-value station, according to a press release issued by the companies. The contract between the two companies includes the sale of the terminals and communication bases, and the development of a software application. The application, according to the release, includes the ability to instantly transfer money from a customer’s bank account or credit card onto their smart card, which is in turn used to activate the laundry machines in Coinamatic locations across the country.
It’s all about the font
Lexmark International Inc. recently announced the findings of a study it had commissioned about how typefaces can reflect a writer’s personality, and influence what a reader thinks about you. The study, entitled “The Psychology of Fonts,” was written by psychologist Dr. Aric Sigman. Findings included that Courier is a favourite for librarians and data entry companies – a sure sign of a nerd. Sex kittens, on the other hand, use “soft and curvy” fonts such as Georgia and Shelly. People who value their anonymity use Sans Serif fonts such as Arial Modern and Universal. Comic Sans, on the other hand, was found to be used by self-confessed attention seekers. Some sample celebrity fonts, according to the study included: Tom Green (attention seeker): Comic Sans; and Peter Mansbridge (trustworthy and respectable): Times.
Air Canada e-mail takes off
After a type trial, Air Canada announced last month that it will be offering its customers e-mail and Internet services onboard its entire fleet. The air carrier has signed a letter of intent with Seattle-based Tenzing Communications Inc., which will begin installing the system in all of the aircraft beginning this fall. Air Canada originally began to offer the system on a free trail basis in November 2000. It is currently installed on five Boeing 767s, and will gradually be deployed throughout the rest of the fleet. Until then, passengers are able to continue to use the service for free on the five equipped airplays. Air Canada’s in-flight Internet and e-mail services allow passengers to browse a selection of content via their own laptops, and send and receive e-mail. The service is accessed through Bell Mobility’s existing on-board communications system. The necessary software, supplied by Tenzing, is compatible with PCs, PDAs and Macs, according to a release.
Canada leads the world in time online
Media Metrix Canada in Toronto recently announced the findings of its April 2001 Total Canada at Home Web Usage Report. Results of the study found that since May 2000, the number of Canadians online has grown 14 per cent. However, the firm also found that on average, the time spent per user per month online has grown a whopping 82 per cent over the same time frame. The firm’s findings also indicated that Canadians led the world in time spent on-line (based on a per user, per month basis) in April. The average amount of minutes (per user, per month) spent online by Canadians was 932, while the U.S. only totalled 876 minutes. Germany ranked third highest with 710 minutes, while Japan totalled 707 minutes. Of all the categories visited online, Canadians spent the most time using digital media applications such as gaming and instant messaging, followed by portals and entertainment sites, the study also found. Results also indicated that 13,584,000 Canadians visited Web sites or used digital media applications – an increase of over 2 per cent over the previous month.