In the summer of 2009 Margo and I enjoyed a Baltic cruise. For me, the most interesting port of call was St. Petersburg, Russia. Long considered the "other Venice," the city's network of canals …

A short time ago I was asked by Tom Harper, president of Networld Media Group, co-founder of the ATM Industry Association and publisher of ATMmarketplace.com, whether I would be interested in …

Yesterday, while perusing the current electronic issue of Australia's Sydney Morning Herald (as an expat I still like to keep up with the footie scores) I came across the article, "Stop treating …

A few days ago I was paging through photos I took with my smartphone at the ATM Industry Association (ATMIA) conference in Scottsdale, Ariz. I came across a snapshot of my wife, Margo, checking out a …

A recent advertisement by IBM caught my eye: "Why do today's smartest systems have built-in expertise?" "The good news is IT solutions are more sophisticated," the ad copy said. "The bad news is they …

Sad to say, but no matter how hard we try to make sure there are no disruptions to the services we provide our customers, they continue to happen. Checking the headlines in the Feb. 1, edition of USA …

It was a big weekend of football here in America, but for me the most interesting story was one that followed the games: that week's edition of "60 Minutes," and in particular, the report, "Are …

At a time when so many banking tasks can be accomplished online and via mobile, why the video ATM?

A couple of stories posted to this site of late have caught my attention. And after a fashion, they surprised me. Not because of the technology they describe, but because of the direction in which …

In the fall of 1977, I was living in Dallas and happened by a mall just after HP introduced a watch that had an integrated calculator in the watchband and a micro stylus so you could tap on the keys …

When it comes to ATMs, I am often left perplexed by how old-fashioned most of them are and how the technology lags behind just about everything else associated with financial institutions. Yes, they …

I have just returned from Germany where I spent a week at an HP NonStop user group conference, GTUG. On the return trip I stopped by Munich. After all, it was Oktoberfest and even in the many years I …

Tomorrow I board a plane that will take me to Germany. After a few hops, I will end up in Dresden where I will be speaking at a NonStop user community event being held jointly by the German Tandem …

Just a few weeks ago I became a U.S. citizen. After living in America for more than two decades it was probably time to step up and complete the formalities. Just this week a brand new passport …

ATMs connect to a payment platform; the network may differ by geography and local mandates, but eventually every transaction makes it to an application running on a server somewhere. Processing …

I travel a lot. Not so much by plane these days as by car, SUV and even RV. And this is by choice — I simply have lost patience with the process involved in catching a plane. Four to five hours …

Like everyone else with an interest in the ATM marketplace — from the ATMs themselves on through to the servers that support them — I remain a firm believer that cash will long be a …

What is it with our gas stations of late? Pulling up to a pump recently I was soon engaged in one of the longest interactions of all time with a kiosk. First, enter my loyalty program info, as of …

As a professional blogger with a lengthy background in payment platforms as well as in networking, I happen to believe I am associated with a technology area that holds perhaps the greatest promise …

There's no question in my mind that the role of cash in more mature societies is declining, but it has a long way to go before it can be viewed as irrelevant or representative of former "quaint …