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Google patent app describes NFC sharing between devices, gives us Beam deja-vu
Android Beam has been with us since October of last year and now we might just be getting a look into how it came to be. A patent application made public today describes "sharing application states" across messaging apps, ongoing phone call status, as well as playback position for video and audio on multiple devices via NFC and "other" wireless communication. If you think the potential uses for the tech discussed in this filing from September of 2011 sound strikingly familiar, you're not the only one. Could this really be a part of Android Beam, or does Google have something else up its sleeve?
Visa dubs upcoming digital wallet service 'V.me,' looks to differentiate product line
You may be using a Visa digital wallet next year, even if the brand name says otherwise (my Visa account was hacked twice in the past 18 months to procure vast amounts of premium shampoo and Xbox Live account add-ons, so maybe it's a good thing). Recently, the company announced that it will be using the name V.me to distinguish its upcoming digital wallet from its other services. The service, which is expected to launch in early 2012 following a private beta period, will allow customers to fund the account via their Visa card, a MasterCard account or their bank account. Taking a lead from competitors such as PayPal, Amazon.com and American Express, customers will be able to log in through a user name and password as opposed to keying in their 16-digit account number each time. A PayPal-esque send and receive money feature is also in the works, allowing for users to shoot money to each other on the fly. The company has also stated that it will be developing mobile-friendly applications for shopping from a smartphone or a tablet, the apps eventually allowing people to pay using near-field technology. And if someone can buy $500 worth of premium shampoo on an innocent man's card just by pointing their smartphone on it, that's technology in action.
ETSI finalizes NFC standard
The GSM Association has been rearing to go for a while now with its Pay-Buy Mobile initiative with the ultimate goal of making contactless payment more the norm than the exception, but naturally, the GSMA isn't the only standards body that wants in on the action. ETSI -- the European Telecommunications Standards Institute -- has just decided on the final piece of what will ultimately become Europe's NFC standard. It seems the little matter of communication between the NFC circuitry and the phone's SIM was the holdup, and now that it's settled, the GSMA says it'll "[enable] mobile operators to prepare for the rollout of contactless payment services and other applications that make use of this flexible short-range radio technology." If there's one surefire way to redouble support for a new technology, it's by standardizing it -- now, let's just hope those standards start to cross borders.[Via Phone Scoop]
