In Singapore, I saw how much could be done with the digital ID system. Filing forms, healthcare, banking—it felt like everything was one login away.
In the US, even a short hospital visit can cost thousands of dollars. It made me wonder why some basic things that clearly work elsewhere are missing here.
What have you seen abroad that felt obvious, but doesn’t exist where you live?
Also: physical lockers with PIN/Code instead of keys (in basically every country aside from Germany). It's just completely bonkers to me, that German train station lockers still use physical Keys EVERYWHERE.
But the service is owned by the greedy banks so it will probably end with me abandoning it because it will get too expensive when they have enough users.
It was my impression that the whole thing was just about simplification in order to provide a better service.
https://tfl.gov.uk/fares/find-fares/capping
Depending on the frequency of travel, it can be cheaper to get season tickets though
In other countries (eg australia), the ticket machines could only take a single coin at a time and would reject if you did it too fast.
I believe this is one (of several) reasons why cash has continued to be dominant in Japan.
I've seen people on YouTube using the U-Scan at Walmart like a CoinStar. Apparently if you lift where the coin slot is you can dump in coins and it will process it all. If the total is more than your bill, it gives you the money back.
While I'm not sure about the refund of an overpayment, there are also the toll booths that have buckets to throw change into. Though most tolls seem to be electronic these days.
US businesses are basically all wheelchair accessible - easily, too. Most sidewalks have curb cuts at street crossings. Ramps are commonplace.
This is NOT the cause in Europe, and not only in the historic old buildings.
Even using a stroller is noticeably different; I can’t imagine being in a wheelchair in some cities.
Has been for well over twenty years at this point.
It had a number of unexpected consequences, like making it much harder/illegal to rent flats over shops in much of the city centres.
For residential rental units, landlords must make ‘reasonable accommodations, unless they would impose undue financial or administrative burden,’ which means if you get paralyzed while renting an apartment that isn’t ADA compliant you’re probably fucked unless you can afford to add a ramp yourself, and pay to have it removed when you leave. Adding a wheelchair ramp would be an undue financial burden, so a landlord isn’t required to add one. Replacing the door to a unit with a 36” wide door would likely not be considered an undue financial burden, so if you live in a building with ADA compliant public spaces and elevators, you’re probably OK since the landlord will likely install a larger door.
Government owned housing is required to be ADA compliant.
Yes, of course Europe doesn't have any US laws but to suggest that it doesn't have legislation about accessibility is simply wrong. Guess what... the legislation generally applies to buildings and construction post-dating the legislation. Applicability to earlier structures will vary depending on feasability and justification (cost, traffic).
Anyways, that is NOT the case in the parts I know of the US. Much less markings, much less signaling, much shrug, so what?
I guess the US are diverse too, uh?
What comes to mind for .de and its ADA-equivalents are:
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Behindertengleichstellungsgese...
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barrierefreiheit
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barrierefreies_Bauen
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bodenleitsystem ( I like to walk on these! )
Also funny, in the middle of the night, when there is no traffic at all, are the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syncopation 's the traffic lights produce.
Beeping or 'knocking' drifting slowly apart, to randomly come to be synchronized for a moment, then drifting apart again. I think I'd go crazy when I'd have to live near such things.
Otherwise, during daily life I tend to be annoyed by all that beeping.
1. Remove all mail from the mailbox
2. Place outgoing mail in the mailbox
3. Raise the outgoing mail flag
4. Carrier will empty the box and file outgoing mail during the next delivery before putting new mail in the box
Edit: here is a good example of a mailbox with that red flag https://www.amazon.com/Step2-541200-MailMaster-Mailbox-Black...
But this way around it makes a lot more sense.
Like they always shove (or drop) it into the mailbox so when there's letters that are obstructing the box from closing properly they know they didn't place them there so it's outgoing and they grab it.
Although some carriers will pick up outgoing mail in an apartment building if you leave it where they can see it and indicate it clearly.
In comparison with how tightly-guarded personal email addresses are protected (GDPR, etc.), it's shocking how common it is to freely give out your IBAN.
Better than being able to commit ACH fraud merely by virtue of having the bank's routing and account number.
Side note: shout out to both MB Way and Multibanco payments in Portugal that have made it so I haven't have to give payment information to an online vendor in years.
I'm not sure about Europe, but at least in the UK, what makes such a system secure is that the account holder can reverse any "pull" transaction for over a month, with the merchant being on the hook. So it reduces the incentive to exploit it (or at least shifts the risk off the account holder), to a level where it's pretty much never done.
In the US, I'd be more worried about a one-time fraudulent ACH withdrawal than a recurring payment situation.
I don't see a similar risk here. It seems like there are more hoops to go through to make a pull transaction?
I presume the only security there is arises from the fact that those transactions can be reversed by the account holder within a generous grace period, and that this method of payment is only ever used to pay for long-standing services where there’s a strong paper trail to the beneficiary of said service (so not much point in doing the fraud to begin with).
IME, though, the whole authorization system I've had to use with SEPA and IBANs feels more secure, and I've had no misgivings about using it to transfer or receive money.
By comparison, using ACH to transfer funds between accounts is usually bidirectional in bank apps, so if you give me your account info so I can send you money, I can also use that same info to withdraw money.
That means I'd never send you my routing and account number even if the original purpose is for you to send me money.
As a consumer, though, the way things work in Europe (at least where I live) just make more sense to me than what I experienced in the US.
I've only had to deal with credit card fraud in the US and it was easy enough.
I did have a restaurant accidentally charge me $983 instead of $98.30 on a debit card for a meal during a holiday and, even though they immediately voided it, that still ended up basically blocking almost $1000 for several days. I can't imagine reversing an ACH transaction would be faster.
Overall I have no huge complaints about banking in the US. I just find it better in Europe so far, particularly sending money with IBANs.
In Germany water is not free, but instead another income for restaurants. Also it needs a law (only since 2001) that the cheapest beverage must be non-alcoholic. (Yet water could be more expensive than beer, as long as e.g. apple juice costs equal or less.)
Even if you don't order anything, you can just drink it and leave.
Some fancy restaurants don't allow it though.
It's a code you generate in your bank app to pay for anything - no need to fill in card details etc, you just provide this one time code.
- Sweden’s national digital ID, run by banks - Used for login, payments, contracts, gov services - Legally binding like a handwritten signature
The app has a certificate set up so if some rando has the app and shoulder surfed your pin they would not be able to login.
Establishing the app certificate initially on your device requires interaction with your bank account - via an existing BankID setup or a bank issued OTC dongle.
It works extremely well and allows for a lot of "joined-up" thinking. For example I can log in to various online pharmacies and see and refresh the prescription from my doctor (and from the vet for my cat). The ubiquitous Swish cash transfer app is authenticated by BankID.
Downsides:
It can be a nuisance for those moving here; before you get your state ID ("personal number") you can't get BankID and it's borderline impossible to get a bank account!
The app has a single owner and uses pinned certs so it's virtually impossible to do BankID on anything except an Android or iOS device. No Pine Phone for you unless you want to carry a second device for BankID.
and japanese toilets
Found it super helpful for getting around London. Would be great for somewhere like Athens. Google Maps decently supports this as well, bit CityMapper UX is better for the task.
I keep hearing that X wants to be the "everything" app. WeChat is _already_ the everything app. It's DoorDash, Venmo, Facebook, Instagram, and about 500 other apps in one.
I will say that I disliked the pattern of every restaurant using a WeChat "mini app" where it basically loads an entirely new app within WeChat just to see the menu or order. It felt much clunkier than just using a web page.
With bike rental systems the frustration is slightly less common as you often need to put them up against a bicycle rack in order to return them.
Ultimately this is just a societal issue, but unfortunately there's neither the public co-operation nor enforcement of sensible rules about where to park them in many large cities such as Berlin.
Nextgrid•5mo ago
As a bonus there are no ticket barriers so no queues and no overheads of maintaining those machines.
leandot•5mo ago
marcyb5st•5mo ago
Compare that to Italy/France/Spain (those that I know) where, depending where you are traveling to, you have to download, sign in, and give your credit card details to N different apps in different states of disrepair/being barely maintained.
Virtual credit cards (I use Revolut) that I then delete mitigate that, but still, what a mess.
interactivecode•5mo ago
gogusrl•5mo ago
dotcoma•5mo ago
ipaddr•5mo ago
petralithic•5mo ago
Gud•5mo ago
The Netherlands has a great train system except for the god damn turnstiles blocking the entrance to the train station.
They are not needed.
FWIW I live in Switzerland and work a lot in Netherlands.
liamwire•5mo ago
kingkongjaffa•5mo ago
theothertimcook•5mo ago
Our public transport systems are so bad.
The Brisbane airport rail connection runs about half as many train services as the Perth airport, which seems about half the amount of travellers each year as Brisbane airport. It’s crazy, double the fare burden, half the patronage, and stuck in a monopoly contract until 2036.
Don’t even get me started on the stupid busways, gimped light rails, the new “metro” and the endless amount poured into the motorways that they have been widening one lane at a time for 3 decades…
aosaigh•5mo ago
p_v_doom•5mo ago
netfortius•5mo ago
Gud•5mo ago
octo888•5mo ago
Just as buying a ticket with cash is becoming increasingly hard in parts of Europe, I can see a near future where having a phone sending constant GPS updates becomes a requirement (a requirement in an strict sense, or the sense that the alternative is unreasonably cumbersome or more expensive)
tpm•5mo ago
octo888•5mo ago
tpm•5mo ago
Nextgrid•5mo ago
seabass-labrax•5mo ago
LargoLasskhyfv•5mo ago
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Revelation%2013...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Number_of_the_beast#Mark_of_th...
Furthermore: Nostradamus, Mühlhiasl, Alois Irlmaier, Baba Vanga
They all had something to say about universal tracking of movement in general, and payments especially. Depending on interpretation, of course. But visions and trips can be hazy and vague. As can be translations of very old texts.
For instance, that (mark of the) beast can also mean just a (new(emerging)) thing, not a literal animal.
Which in this context can mean anything from credit-/debit-/chipcard/smartphone/bar-, QR-code/(implanted or otherwise mandatory)RFID, where without that you can't do a thing.
The new passport, revokable anytime, for any reason.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ID2020 , https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/You'll_own_nothing_and_be_happ... , https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bank_Secrecy_Act , https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suspicious_activity_report , https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Know_your_customer which on paper look all very good und justified.
But... when you are cought as bystander in some dragnet, or your accounts are canceled by some zalgorithmic system spasm, the banks have (mandatory)internal systems which forbid them to give any information about why to the affected person.
Which also can be (ab)used to silence/disable/cancel politically divergents/misfits, whistleblowers, etc. Triggered by their political enemies.
Brave new world, isn't it?
Gud•5mo ago
You can buy tickets to the trains and trams everywhere.
octo888•5mo ago
equinox_nl•5mo ago
yen223•5mo ago
jjice•5mo ago