TECH TALK: TravelersBox helps make use of your leftover foreign currency

TravelersBox has placed 75 kiosk machines in airports around the world, which enable people to get rid of all their leftover coins and bills.

By ARIEL SHAPIRA
Updated: JANUARY 26, 2016 20:43
Man counts money near currency exchange in Kiev [file] (photo credit: REUTERS)
Man counts money near currency exchange in Kiev [file]
(photo credit: REUTERS)
Israeli startup TravelersBox has developed an automated foreign-currency exchange service that takes your foreign currency, including change, turns it into dollars or euros and then deposits it into a PayPal, Skype or Starbucks account of your choosing.
TravelersBox was founded by CEO Tomer Zussman, CTO Idan Deshe and CMO Dror Blumenthal in 2012. It recently closed its Series A funding round, receiving $10 million from the Singapore-based Arbor Fund.
TravelersBox has raised is $15.5m. so far, including investments from Global Blue, Yuval Tal, Zohar Gilon, Yanai Oron, Roy Gavriel, Moti Rivlin, Harel Kodesh, Pitango Venture Capital and iAngels.
TravelersBox has placed 75 kiosk machines in airports around the world, which enable people to get rid of all their leftover coins and bills that probably would just have ended sitting in a jar back home.
Now, thanks to TravelersBox they can use this money. So far, almost one million people have taken advantage of these boxes, which are located in Canada, the Philippines, Italy, Georgia, Turkey and of course Israel.
TravelersBox has signed agreements with retailers such as H&M, Barnes & Noble and CVS, allowing users to use their money wherever they want. There’s also the option to donate the cash to charities.
TravelersBox is planning to use this new burst of capital to expand its operations in Asia, especially Japan, India and New Zealand.
It plans to install an additional 300 kiosks in 2016 and to open a branch in Asia and manage operations from there.
TravelersBox also plans to utilize this funding to improve its existing product and to develop new software that can be integrated in duty-free stores. It plans to double its workforce and fill positions in the areas of business development, marketing and R&D.
“It’s a wonder no one thought of this idea sooner,” said Yuval Tal, one of TravelersBox’s investors. “The company has grown tremendously, and the product is incredibly useful. I’m sure this is just the start and that TravelersBox is going to be extremely successful.”
Cybertech 2016
A delegation made up of Japanese electronic and cyber-company executives arrived in Israel this week to participate in Cybertech 2016 on January 26 and 27 in Tel Aviv. In recent years, Japanese research institutes have been going to great lengths to develop solutions to counter cyber warfare.
Tokyo is in the midst of preparing the city and its infrastructure for the 2020 Olympic Games, which are scheduled to take place there. They are concerned that serious cyber attacks could disrupt this major international event. The Japanese companies that have sent representatives to Israel for the show are considered trailblazers in the Japanese cyber world.
The delegation was organized by JETRO, the Japan External Trade Organization, which is also one of the organizations sponsoring Cybertech 2016.
Intel Core vPro
The sixth-generation Intel Core vPro processors for businesses are now available for purchase. Core vPro processors are meant to make it much more difficult for hackers to break into companies’ computer systems due to its double and triple authentication function.
Intel claims that its new Core vPro processors offer 2.5 times better SYSmark 2014 performance than a comparable five-yearold PC, which is how long it takes businesses on average before they are willing to invest in new computers. The Core vPro’s battery lasts three times as long as previous versions, and graphic performance has been improved 30-fold compared with comparable five-year-old machines.
Intel also offers Intel Unite, a smarter way to share information online with remote users by combining Skype for Business with improved audio and video capabilities, which enable customers to have highly productive meetings.
Every day, hackers are discovering new ways to break into old personal computers by going through the “front door,” or in other words, stealing, for example, a person’s user name and password. Nowadays, more than half of data-base infiltrations occur using stolen passwords.
Old personal computers use eight-character passwords that are changed every 90 days. This type of safeguard worked well enough a decade ago, but cyber attacks have become much more sophisticated over the years, and a much higher level of protection is needed to keep out hackers.
Intel’s new Intel Authenticate is an integrated solution that makes it more difficult for hackers to penetrate organizations.
Most infiltrations have been on databases that have weak software or operating systems.
Intel is offering a combination hardware/ software solution that can become an integral part of any security system.
Intel Authenticate verifies a user’s password through a combination of three parallel factors. Firstly, it asks for information that you know, such as a password. Then, it asks for something that you have, such as a cellphone or other piece of identifiable hardware. Lastly, it requires something that is part of you, such as a fingerprint.
IT systems administrators of organizations can choose from a large number of options to make authentication possible.
No longer do employees need to remember a series of complicated passwords to get into their systems. Intel Authenticate is compatible with Windows 7, 8 and 10.
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Translated by Hannah Hochner.