Near-fieldCommunication
Latest
Google rolls out NFC-equipped Places business kits, muscles in on location-based territory in Portland
Yelp may be the raconteur of restaurant recommendations and Foursquare the cardinal of check-ins, but Google has an ace up its sleeve: NFC chips. The company's embedded near-field communications chips into each and every one of these "Recommended on Google Places" window stickers, which you'll be able to trigger with a shiny new Nexus S -- just hold your handset up to the black dot, and voila, your phone gets a "tag." Google's now distributing the signs on a trial basis to Portland, Oregon businesses as part of a larger Google Places kit, though it doesn't explain how (or if) they'll be able to program the chips. Either way, if you own a hot new joint in Portland, you might as well give it a spin. Find the sign-up form at our more coverage link, or peep a Nexus S doing its thing after the break.
AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon announce Isis national mobile commerce network
Just in time for the total economic collapse of Europe and the rise of the cyber-nomadic tribes, the kids at Discover, Barclaycard, AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon have a name for their mobile phone-based payment system: Isis. Essentially it remains what we heard from Bloomberg a few months back: a system for using an app on your phone to send payments to a POS system using NFC technology. The Isis team thinks it has "the scope and scale necessary to introduce mobile commerce on a broad basis," and we wish them the best. But we know how it all ends anyways: with the lucky among us dead, and the rest of us living in caves, hiding from death-dealing robots, and bartering for what we can't scrounge from the ruins of our once-great cities. PR after the break.
ASSA ABLOY trials remote hotel check-ins, unlocking your room with NFC cellphones (video)
Just think of it, no more hanging around your hotel's front desk like some unrefined homo erectus. The Clarion Hotel in Stockholm is starting up a new pilot program to allow visitors to check in and collect their room key without the repugnant need for speaking to an actual human being -- it can all be done with an NFC-equipped mobile phone. Provided your smartphone can do the near-field communications dance, all your information can be remotely downloaded, stored, and wiped (if need be), and you can even check out from a room using the accompanying application. Samsung handsets are being provided to selected customers during the period of this trial, though once its four-month incubation period is over, you'll have to bring your own bit of advanced telephony to avoid the queues. We're sure you'll think of something. Video and full press release after the break.
Wireless USB reaches revision 1.1, makes for smarter and more efficient toys
Wireless USB 1.1 is here, whether you like it or not, and we're betting you're going to like it if manufacturers make it work. The USB-IF's new spec, finalized this week, is still capped at the same 480Mbps of its wired cousin USB 2.0, but it reportedly brings with it reduced power consumption and near-field communication for proximity-based pairing. And if the idea of, say, touching your smartphone and a wireless Pixel Qi panel together to automatically connect the twain doesn't make you jump for joy, we're not really sure what would. Perhaps you're still waiting for the one-gigabit-per-second Intel's Jeff Ravencraft promised three years ago this month? Download the full spec at our more coverage link to see what's what.
AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile team up to transform your smartphone into a credit card
Contactless payments made using your phone are hardly a new idea in themselves, but when three of the big four US carriers decide to unite behind it, the time might have come to start paying closer attention. Bloomberg reports that AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile are about to test the NFC payment waters with pilot schemes in Atlanta and three other cities, potentially aided by partnerships with Discover Financial Services and British bankers Barclays Plc. This would require all-new readers for merchants and embedded NFC chips in phones, but we reckon plenty of people might be happy to pay a small premium to streamline their lives that little bit more and leave the plastic behind. Either way, Visa's nascent attempts at conquering the mobile just got themselves a big old cabal-sized competitor.
Qi wireless power standard finalized, universal contactless chargers look closer to reality than ever
The Wireless Power Consortium took a big step forward this past week with the confirmation that its precocious Qi interoperability standard has been finalized. Composed of three documents setting out the interface, performance and compliance requirements, the new dictum has set itself the not inconsiderable challenge of making wireless charging universal, so that any Qi-approved phone can soak up juice from any Qi-verified base station, dock or omnitool. This first spec is limited to devices requiring no more than 5 Watts, an appropriately humble early goal, though cauldrons are already bubbling with ideas for laptops and the like. We just hope the impressive list of big time companies on the Consortium will succeed in taking Qi into the mainstream -- who here hasn't dreamt of their phone being compatible with the Touchstone? [Thanks, MrStringTheorist]
NFC suffers identity crisis, becomes N-Mark, denies prior existence
Things just got strangely... interesting in the world of near-field communications. The NFC Forum, which just a few weeks ago issued a press release repeatedly using the term "NFC" and seemed quite fond of the logo to the left above, has apparently decided that "NFC" isn't particularly trademarkable. So, it will now be calling its suite of (ever dizzying) connectivity options "N-Mark," identified by the new, swoopier logo to the right. The latest addition to those head-spinning wireless standards? Sagem and Telenor are adding WiFi into the mix, creating a hybrid device to interact with the new SIMFi, allowing NFC (or whatever you want to call it) at rather greater than "near" ranges, running at 2.5GHz instead of the usual 13.56MHz. Confused? Just gaze at that new, blue logo and all will seem right as rain.
NFC goes peer-to-peer, won't help you download next week's Lost premiere
Near-field communication, or NFC, has been slowly but surely creeping its way toward mainstream adoption, and this latest announcement by the NFC Forum, rulers of the 13.56MHz frequency, should only help things to go more smoothly. It has announced the Logical Link Control Protocol (LLCP), enabling NFC-compliant devices to talk to each other. We're not talking massive transfers on a gigabyte scale here, rather things like contact infos, web addresses, and surely other types of secret message ("UR Cute!"). Along with LLCP comes the new NFC Signature Record Type Definition (RTD), which not only yet another acronym but also entails a new way of digitally signing those messages, theoretically preventing their being usurped and used for evil purposes -- like recess blackmail.
Bluetooth 2.1 on the way: near-field communications and 5x battery
Gear Live got the chance to check the new Bluetooth 2.1+EDR specification live with Michael Foley, executive director of the Bluetooth SIG (Special Interest Group). Most definitely, the coolest new feature is delivered via an optional part of the spec dubbed "near-field communications." Using a prototype Nokia cellphone and Parrot picture frame, Foley was able to snap a photo on the handset and then pair and transfer it to the frame by simply holding the phone a few inches away from the display. Other notable enhancements are 5x reduction in battery drain (hoozah!) for Bluetooth mice and keyboards as well as enhanced security. The spec is "just being finalized now" with first product expected to hit around the 2007 holiday season. Fingers crossed eh, as these things tend to drag out a bit longer than expected. In the mean time, check the full video demonstration after the break.
Nokia's 6131 does NFC
With all the hullabaloo going 'round about Cingular's increasing involvement in NFC trials, it seems like it's in manufacturers' best interests to start pumping out phones that can do the duty (read: GSM 850 and 1900 radios, please). Nokia's first to answer the call with an NFC-enabled version of the standard-duty 6131 clamshell, aptly named the 6131 NFC. An N76 it's not, but it still gets the job done with FM radio, microSD expansion, Bluetooth, and a 1.3 megapixel cam -- and, of course, that all-important NFC hardware for quick payments, wireless contact info exchange, or whatever nifty use cases the NFC folks can dream up. The 6131 drops this quarter for around $340 before carrier (and when we say "carrier," we think we probably mean "Cingular") subsidies.
Details emerge on Cingular's NFC plans
We'd previously noticed that Cingular was collaborating with Citigroup on some sort of mobile payment system in New York City, though details were pretty slim for the picking at the time; now the carrier has come out with full disclosure on exactly what it is they have up their sleeves. Like its Atlanta trial last year, the New York program involves Nokia handsets fitted with NFC (near-field communication) guts -- though for the sake of the trial participants, we hope Cingular is offering something a little more up-to-date than the lowly 3220 this time around. Unlike Atlanta, however, Cingular has switched up their financial partner from Chase / Visa to Citi / Mastercard, giving users the ability to use their phone for payment anywhere Mastercard's PayPass system is accepted. Parties involved expect the trial to last a total of three to six months, at which point we should all have a better perspective on how folks feel about shedding cash by tapping their cellphones against various surfaces. Of course, Japan seems to like it just fine -- so why not us?
