January 28, 2020

Big Banks Are Watching You


Big Banks Are Watching You
Looks so inviting, doesn't it? Wikimedia, Valera N. Trubin

Some of Russia's largest banks are set to test new biometric ATMs, Izvestia reports.

Pilot projects for new technology that scans handprints and faces are to be introduced in 2020 by the banks Sberbank, VTB, and Tinkoff. According to Izvestia, facial, voice, and other recognition techniques will help customers access funds without cards, and receive service at unstaffed locations. Spokespeople for the banks point to greater convenience and low error levels; last year some even began to institute fingerprint-based ID for payments.

However, concerns have risen. The technology is still imperfect, leaving accounts vulnerable. And, of course, any foreigner that's used a Russian ATM in the past would likely be a little hesitant to hand over their biological data to companies that are tied to or owned by the Russian government.

All in all, though, we can't possibly see a way that this could go south, although this image of an out-of-order sign inexplicably comes to mind.

 

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93 Untranslatable Russian Words

Every language has concepts, ideas, words and idioms that are nearly impossible to translate into another language. This book looks at nearly 100 such Russian words and offers paths to their understanding and translation by way of examples from literature and everyday life. Difficult to translate words and concepts are introduced with dictionary definitions, then elucidated with citations from literature, speech and prose, helping the student of Russian comprehend the word/concept in context.

Fish
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Fish

This mesmerizing novel from one of Russia’s most important modern authors traces the life journey of a selfless Russian everywoman. In the wake of the Soviet breakup, inexorable forces drag Vera across the breadth of the Russian empire. Facing a relentless onslaught of human and social trials, she swims against the current of life, countering adversity and pain with compassion and hope, in many ways personifying Mother Russia’s torment and resilience amid the Soviet disintegration.

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Stargorod: A Novel in Many Voices

Stargorod is a mid-sized provincial city that exists only in Russian metaphorical space. It has its roots in Gogol, and Ilf and Petrov, and is a place far from Moscow, but close to Russian hearts. It is a place of mystery and normality, of provincial innocence and Black Earth wisdom. Strange, inexplicable things happen in Stargorod. So do good things. And bad things. A lot like life everywhere, one might say. Only with a heavy dose of vodka, longing and mystery.

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Vladimir Gilyarovsky's classic portrait of the Russian capital is one of Russians’ most beloved books. Yet it has never before been translated into English. Until now! It is a spectactular verbal pastiche: conversation, from gutter gibberish to the drawing room; oratory, from illiterates to aristocrats; prose, from boilerplate to Tolstoy; poetry, from earthy humor to Pushkin. 

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