Archive for September 2012

Instant messaging app IMO has added support for NFC, allowing users of the latest version of the company's Android app to share profiles by touching their devices together.

Shoppers at the French supermarket chain's Les Belles Feuilles branch in Paris will be able to use shelf-edge labels equipped with NFC tags to obtain details of each of 25,000 products on offer, scan items into their basket and then checkout by simply tapping their NFC phone to a reader attached to the retailer's cash register. More

Beginning with the UK, consumers in Europe will be able to equip their Apple and Android smartphones with an NFC add-on and use it to make prepaid contactless payments from later this year. More

The Google Prepaid Card service will end on 17 October, Google has announced, due to the arrival of the new Google Wallet 2.0 NFC service. "Since we recently launched the ability to use any debit... More

HP has announced a new addition to its range of all-in-one (AiO) Windows 8 PCs that includes NFC. The HP SpectreOne AiO has a 23.6-inch display and, says HP, "is one of the thinnest AiO PCs available on the market today".

The access control giant — owner of HID Global, Yale, Vingcard Elsafe and more — has unveiled a new platform that allows NFC phones to be used to replace mechanical keys and access cards in homes, hotels, offices, hospitals, universities and commercial buildings. More

The company's new AirConnect platform enables customers to use an NFC phone to trigger personal settings on a room-by-room basis for lighting, temperature, window blinds, entertainment systems and more. More

The Google Ventures-backed service has introduced a new POS terminal that supports NFC as well as mobile barcodes and is available free of charge and with no transaction fees to merchants that participate in its payments and marketing programme. More

"For the first time, customers will be able to provision and manage credentials over the air with the same ease and simplicity as downloading a song from a cloud-based music service," says the employee ID giant. More

The Internet Engineering Task Force's TLS working group has published a draft document that describes the implementation of the TLS (transport layer security) protocol over the NFC LLCP layer. "LLCPS enforces a strong security in NFC P2P exchanges," says author Pascal Urien. Producing an IETF draft is the first stage of a process which can lead to the publication of an internet standard.

New software for Seeed Studio's US$30 NFC shield for Arduino, an add-on that brings NFC functionality to the low cost computing platform via an NXP PN532 controller, has been released. The new library replaces the... More

Music streaming service Spotify has added NFC support to the latest version of its Android app, allowing users to share music via NFC on devices running Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich and above.

The Droid Razr M, Droid Razr HD and Droid Razr Maxx HD will be exclusive to Verizon in the US and developer editions will also be available. More

Both the flagship Nokia Lumia 920 and the Lumia 820 will come with NFC, the handset maker has announced, and NFC functionality will be included in WP8 apps from Vimeo, YouSendIt and the Michelin Guide. More

Israeli start-up Tag-a-Bag has begun beta testing an NFC-based travel service that uses baggage labels equipped with NFC tags to help travellers manage their journeys. The service, which won the "Best Innovative Solution" category in... More

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA), the government body responsible for the maintenance and development of Hong Kong's financial infrastructure, has announced plans to implement a series of retail payment initiatives, including a first step... More

Geolocation game platform Munzee has added NFC capabilities to its service. Munzee combines the traditional scavenger hunt concept with gamification elements to enable smartphone users to claim rewards for finding hidden "Munzees" — tags posted... More

The new ferrite sheet antenna for NFC phones meets EMVCo's requirements for a 40mm read range, the component maker says, and can be customized to meet handset manufacturers' individual requirements. More

Chip and pin standards body EMVCo and the NFC Forum have agreed to work together to optimise the development and testing process for NFC devices. "The goal of the collaboration is to establish a framework... More

NFC software stack specialist Stollmann, automotive infotainment specialist Philips & Lite-On Digital Solutions (PLDS) and in-vehicle mobile communications specialist Funkwerk Dabendorf are to work together to integrate mobile phones with car information systems via NFC.... More