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They're a system whereby you can use your cellphone instead of a credit card or cash when paying for goods or services.

Sounds pretty cool doesn't it?

According to the ads on TV, you can buy soft-drink, pay for taxi-fares and even fill up your car in Texas then pay by MPay.

Now I see that something similar is on offer from the LTSA who are trialing a system that lets truckies pay their road-user charges using their cellphone.

Here in NZ you can buy tickets to various sporting events such as Vodafone Warriors league matches using your cellphone for payment.

But hang on a minute -- aren't Vodafone also running a pre-pay promotion right now that offers to double your top-up when you add credit to your phone before midnight Sunday?

Well by gosh they are!

Ads on the radio keep telling me that whether you top up with $20 or $1000, Vodafone will double the amount of the top-up during the period of this special offer.

Hey, does that mean those tickets to Vodafone Warriors' games will effectively be half-price when you pay using MPay?

Well I tried to ring Vodafone this morning to find out -- but it looks as if a whole heap of others are also badgering them with similar enquiries because an automated response told me they were experiencing an unexpectedly high number of calls to the customer service line.

But hey, if they haven't spotted this little "opportunity" during the latest promotion, perhaps those who load up their pre-paid phone with lots of doubled-up credit this week will find MPay to be a very cheap method of purchasing goods in the months to come.

If MPay becomes a more widespread payment method, those who have filled their prepay phone to capacity during this special promotion could be on a winner. It might pay to check with Vodafone first though -- odds are that prepaid phones won't qualify for all MPay purchases.

Lighten Up
Time for more mirth, mayhem and miscellany from the wonderfully weird world of the web.

And I have an important announcement to make today. Aardvark has struck a deal with the NSW legislature that has seen a new law added to the state's books.

As of today, it becomes mandatory for all Australian citizens to visit this website at least once a day. Failure to do so will result in an instant fine of $500 for each and every offense.

The benefits of this arrangement are obvious. The NSW State Government is able to collect valuable extra revenues from infringers, Aardvark significantly boosts its Australian readership, and many more Aussies become better informed as to events in the Internet and other tech industries.

Offenders will be automatically notified by email when they're found to have failed to visit Aardvark and will be referred to the NSW Infringement Processing Bureau's website where they can pay using this secure webpage.

Negotiations are now underway with the NZ Government to pass a similar law here -- so you have been warned!

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