Bling Nation has announced the launch of its FanConnect service in Austin, Texas, expanding the reach of its social rewards program where consumers can tap to earn, redeem and share rewards with their social networks at checkout with their mobile phone... More
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SK Telecom opens retail outlet that uses NFC to let shoppers browse in-store and buy online
The Korean mobile network operator’s new Q-Store aims to combine the best of online and in-store retailing by enabling shoppers to look at products in a retail environment and then use 2D barcodes and NFC tags attached to them to go online with their phone to get more information and make a purchase. More
NFC will catch on ‘like wildfire’ says Sundance festival game creator
Visitors to the recent Sundance Film Festival were able to take part in Pandemic 1.0, a virtual treasure hunt set in a fictional world that brought together NFC phones and tags, social media and a real-world mission control set up to look like a disease-control hub. More
NFC phones help provide clean water to Haiti earthquake victims
Thousands of families in the poverty-stricken island nation of Haiti are receiving life-saving clean water with the help of near field communication technology. More
Mobile Tag launches mobile barcode and NFC marketing platform, raises €6.6m
Mobile barcode specialist Mobile Tag has added support for NFC to its 1D and 2D mobile barcode marketing platform, enabling marketers to use a single platform to deliver marketing campaigns using a full range of 2D barcode options (QR-Codes, Datamatrix, Flashcode or Fotokody), 1D barcodes (EAN or UPC) and NFC tags... More
First Android NFC apps begin to appear
The first NFC apps are starting to appear in the Android Market, just weeks after the NFC-enabled ‘Gingerbread’ version of the mobile operating system made its debut. More
Inside and Kovio add NFC support to ultra-low-cost printed RFID tags
“Consumers, while they shop, will be able to interact with smart labels on products and smart posters to receive product details, promotional offers, coupons, loyalty points, nutritional information, and other useful information to enhance their retail experience,” says Inside Secure. More
Patent application hints at Nokia’s business model for NFC
A patent application authored by two senior Nokia executives shows how the handset manufacturer could generate revenues from the NFC phones it plans to introduce next year — without needing to get involved in mainstream mobile payments and without mobile network operators needing to invest in NFC SIMs or back office systems. More
Innovision launches 512 byte NFC tag
Innovision Research & Technology has launched a new NFC tag with more than five times the memory of its existing NFC tag... More
New Apple patent shows NFC-enabled iPod, games controller, TV and iPhone
A newly published Apple patent application explains how near field communication could be used to enable a wide range of devices to share resources within a connected ‘Apple TV Living Room’. More
NFC Forum spec adds digital signatures to prevent tag tampering
The standards body has published an important draft specification that will enable developers to protect NFC tags in smart posters and other applications from being tampered with or replaced with an imposter tag. More
Mobile Distillery makes it easier to write NFC apps for multiple devices
The company’s new Celsius NFC platform enables application developers to write code once and then port it reliably to a range of NFC handsets and add-on devices. More
McDonalds, Arby’s, Qdoba, Dairy Queen and Dunkin’ Donuts testing Tetherball’s mobile loyalty system
“The results we’ve seen since launching our mobile rewards program in early July are greater than even our most optimistic projections,” says Brent Higgins of Aztec Partners, one of Qdoba Mexican Grill’s largest franchisees. More
Smart Stamp wins Touchatag and Microsoft Tag innovation awards for augmented print concept
A US start-up has won two innovation competitions for its ‘interactive correspondence’ concept, an augmented print solution that uses tags and 2D barcodes to update, verify and supplement postal mail. More
Dairy Queen tests stickers for targeted mobile coupon campaigns
“Tetherball’s sticker-based mobile marketing service lets us provide great offers to our customers in a fun and easy way,” says the desserts and fast food restaurant chain. More
NFC Forum reveals N-Mark symbol
The stylized ‘N’ symbol is designed to make it easy for consumers to spot embedded NFC tags in everything from posters to bus stop signs and medicines to food packaging and magazine pages. More
Fraunhofer researcher delivers update on NFC vulnerabilities
URI spoofing and redirection — where an authorised NFC tag is replaced with one that points to a resource under a fraudster’s control — is still an issue, says security researcher Collin Mulliner. More
CES 2009: NFC competitors and enablers on display
There wasn’t much to see in the way of mainstream NFC developments at the 2009 Consumer Electronics Show — but some interesting potentially competitive technologies and enabling solutions made the massive Las Vegas event worth casting an eye over. More
Air New Zealand issues 100,000 smart stickers to frequent flyers
The airline has provided each of its most frequent domestic travellers with contactless stickers from OTI that can be attached to the back of their mobile phone and act as a permanent and reusable boarding pass. More