The ultimate ‘smell test’: Device sends rotten food warning to smartphones — American Chemical Society — “The scientists created a nanostructured, conductive, polymer-based gas sensor that can detect substances called biogenic amines (BAs), which give decomposing meat its bad odor. They embedded these sensors into NFCs placed next to meats. After the meats had been stored for 24 hours at 86 degrees Fahrenheit, the researchers found that the sensors successfully detected significant amounts of BAs. The sensors then switched on the NFCs so they could transmit this information to a nearby smartphone.”
NFC
ST launches Type 5 NFC tag chips with tamper detection and privacy features
PARTNER NEWS: STMicroelectronics has launched a family of NFC tag chips that can be read by both NFC phones and commercial RFID readers and incorporate tamper detection, anti-cloning, data protection and user privacy features... More
Fossil to add NFC payments to multiple smartwatch brands?
FCC reveals seven new Wear OS watches with NFC from Fossil Group [U: Two more models] — 9to5Google — “The Fossil Group is comprised of several fashion brands, with Fossil, Skagen, Misfit, Michael Kors, and others all making Wear OS devices. In general, they share the underlying technology, but different casing, styles, and sometimes features.”
UK government to use NFC to verify residency status of EU citizens after Brexit
Brexit: Three ‘simple’ questions for EU citizens to stay in UK — BBC — “Applicants with Android phones will be able to download an app which can read the chip in their passport to verify their identity — and they will be able to take a ‘selfie’ that can be checked against Home Office records, said Mr Javid. But he said there was an ‘an issue at the moment’ with Apple device users, who will not be able to make use of this app, and instead will have to send in their passport to prove their identity… The home secretary said he had raised the issue with Apple on a recent visit to Silicon Valley and the company was ‘looking at it actively’.”
Antelop adds Visa Token Service certification to its white label mobile wallet platform for banks and card issuers
PARTNER NEWS: Antelop Solutions has received certification from Visa as a Token Requestor-Token Service Provider (TR-TSP), enabling banks and card issuers to use its white-label multi-scheme SaaS solution to launch their own NFC mobile payment solutions based on Visa Token Service (VTS)... More
Car manufacturers back NFC for digital keys
Car Connectivity Consortium announces publication of the Digital Key Release 1.0 Specification, delivering to the industry a standardized smartphone as a car key solution — Car Connectivity Consortium — “The Release 1.0 specification provides a generalized deployment method that allows vehicle OEMs to securely transfer a digital key implementation to a smart device, using an existing Trusted Service Manager (TSM) infrastructure. By leveraging NFC distance bounding and a direct link to the secure element of the device, CCC is assuring the highest state-of-the-art security level for vehicle access.”
Apple Pay launches in Norway
Nordea launches Apple Pay in Norway, DNB stays focused on Vipps — Reuters — “Nordea Bank launched Apple Pay to its customers in Norway on Wednesday… Visa separately said Apple Pay will also be available to Norwegian customers at Santander Bank, and soon also at Sbanken. Norway’s biggest bank DNB said it had been in dialogue with Apple, but will so far not offer Apple Pay to its customers as it would rather concentrate on its self-made Vipps payment solution.”
Bankwest wins new customers with NFC payments ring
With this ring, I do my banking — Information Age — “An experiment in wearable payment tokens has become such a successful drawcard for new customers that Bankwest technologists have found themselves on a crash course in the dynamics of the fashion accessory market… Customers loved the rings so much that, despite the absence of formal advertising campaigns, they have proved to be adept at attracting new customers – who have snapped up half of all rings sold to date.”
Garmin adds NFC payments to Fenix smartwatches
Garmin debuts the Fenix 5 Plus, adds maps, music, Garmin Pay and wrist-based Pulse Ox to its popular multisport GPS watch series — Garmin — “Garmin International Inc, a unit of Garmin Ltd, today announced the Fenix 5 Plus series, its next generation of GPS multisport watches with built-in routable topographical maps, storage for music playlists, Garmin Pay contactless payment solution and wrist-based Pulse Oximeter 1 for altitude acclimation awareness.”
US merchants increase support for NFC in stores, cut back on Apple Pay and Google Pay online
New survey finds fewer merchants accepting Apple Pay — Kount — “Support is up across the board for near field communication (up from 29% to 37%) and other mobile payments at the physical point-of-sale… Online merchant support for Apple Pay has gone down from 48% to 35%, Google Pay (previously Android Pay), is down from 38% to 25%, support for PayPal increased (from 48% to 64%) while 10% accept AliPay and 10% accept other e-wallets. The share of merchants who accept Samsung Pay, Visa Checkout, MasterPass, and Chase Pay all stayed constant from last year.”
NFC World welcomes 120 new members from 43 countries
120 new members from 43 countries joined The NFC World Knowledge Centre in May 2018, bringing our total membership to more than 10,500 executives, technical experts and decision makers at banks, card issuers, mobile network operators, merchants, brands, device makers, regulators and policy makers around the world... More
NXP launches full-service NFC mobile wallet platform for wearable, mobile and IoT device makers
PARTNER NEWS: NXP’s new mWallet 2GO platform offers OEMs a pre-certified and validated turnkey payments solution and is being used by luxury brand Montblanc to add Visa and Mastercard payments capabilities to its watches, via its new Twin smart strap... More
ST offers contactless payments terminal ‘in a box’
PARTNER NEWS: STMicroelectronics has released a contactless payment terminal reference design that can be used to quickly build EMV-compliant POS terminals “by making the exhaustive EMVCo certification process easier and faster than ever before.”... More
Apple to add support for campus cards to iPhones and Apple Watch
Students at six US universities will be able to use their iPhone or Apple Watch to replace their student ID card from later this year, Apple has announced at its Worldwide Developers Conference. More
Valitor picks Dejamobile to offer mobile payments and branded mobile wallets to clients
PARTNER NEWS: Payment solutions provider Valitor is to use Dejamobile’s cloud-based payments platform to provide its clients with the ability to add mobile payments and a branded mobile wallet to their services... More
Mastercard to pilot cardless ATM withdrawals
It’s app, tap and go at ATMs thanks to Mastercard and Diebold Nixdorf — Mastercard — “Here’s how it works: Consumers open their bank’s app on their smartphone. They use the app to find nearby ATMs, choose the amount they want to withdraw and see the associated fees. Once at the ATM, they quickly snap or tap, often by scanning a QR code, authenticate using optional biometrics on device, and take the dispensed cash.”
TCL picks ST’s NFC controller for Alcatel 3V smartphone
STMicroelectronics’ NFC technology chosen to distinguish TCL Communication’s Alcatel 3V smartphone through outstanding contactless user experience — STMicroelectronics — PARTNER NEWS — “ST’s technology ensures robust connectivity for fast and reliable contactless payments, e-ticket transactions, peer-to-peer data transfer, and emerging use cases including interacting with ‘physical web’ objects like smart posters or store shelves. Superior RF performance also helped TCL Communication to streamline certification to mandatory stringent EMVCo, GSMA and NFC Forum standards for handsets.”
Meet NFC World’s partners at Money20/20 Europe
NFC World partners Antelop Solutions, Dejamobile, NXP and Rambus will be attending the Money20/20 Europe expo in Amsterdam from June 4-6... More
Apple to add new NFC features in iOS 12?
Apple is set to announce that iOS 12 will include “a significant change” to the iPhone’s NFC capabilities that “could pave the way for people to use iPhones for other security-sensitive interactions, from paying transit fares and opening car doors to verifying their identity in other ways”, according to a report in The Information... More
ST releases Raspberry Pi driver for NFC readers
Linux demo of ST25R3911B for Raspberry Pi — STMicroelectronics — PARTNER NEWS — “The STSW-ST25R009 provides a complete software solution to enable fast integration of NFC functionality into Linux based systems using the ST25R3911B/ST25R391x high performance NFC frontends… The package contains a sample application to detect different types of NFC tags and mobile phones supporting P2P.”