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Future NFC uses showcased in MIT project

Monday, October 27, 2008

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Mobile Experience Lab, along with Nokia’s NFC Business Development department, have produced a video and white paper featuring some future applications of near field communication around campus. As noted on its Web site, the lab wants to focus “on radically reinventing and creatively designing connections between people, information and physical places using cutting-edge information technology to improve people’s lives…”


The lab researched current NFC initiatives and tried to imagine how to further incorporate NFC within the everyday life of its students. The results are highlighted in this video featuring two fictional MIT students, Sarah and John, as they go through their day one year in the future, when NFC is seamlessly integrated with all aspects of student life.

For example, from the moment John wakes up, he can start his MP3 player with his cell phone, then simply tap his cell phone against a picture of his girlfriend to give her a call.

Other uses include the subway, tapping the phone to pay for a trip, the gym where Sarah’s gym workout can be uploaded to her cell phone, tapping a poster of Boston’s bus system to see when the next bus is due, exchanging information between cell phones, playing a multiplayer game with another NFC-enabled phone by simply tapping the two phones together to initiate the game, and more.

Federico Casalegno is the director of the MIT Mobile Experience Lab and associate director of the MIT Design Laboratory and led the team that produced the various NFC uses featured in the video and white paper.

View the video here or read the PDF file describing the various NFC uses here.

The MIT/Nokia Web site is here[end] 

The Smart Card Alliance Transportation Council has published a white paper examining how the transit industry can best make use of NFC technology.

“One of the major challenges facing transit agencies today is how to capitalize on the ever-growing popularity of mobile phones with a solid mobile strategy,” said Transportation Council Chairman Craig Roberts. “This white paper builds on the knowledge base developed in earlier white papers to foster a greater understanding of NFC technology, explain its role in the transit industry, and shed light on key issues facing the transit industry in developing a mobile strategy.”

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India’s Bangalore University will soon launch a smart card-based ID for its students and faculty, reports Daily News & Analysis.

The e-ID will function as an identification and debit card. The university plans to add functions to enable hall tickets, attendance records, report cards and degree certificates.

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The OneCard from Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine, can now be used at three off-campus restaurants with more merchants set to join.

“It’s a project we’ve been working on for some time now and its finally coming to fruition,” said OneCard Coordinator Chris Bird.

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Oracle has released a new version of Oracle Retail Point-of-Service that aims to increase security, operational efficiency and functionality in part by integrating biometrics.

Oracle partnered with DigitalPersonal to add integrated biometrics to the POS package. Users of the software will login using their fingerprint, which will replace the need for PINs or passwords. This feature intends to reduce fraud by eliminating the possibility of unauthorized employees using a manager ID or swipe card to access the POS and approve overrides.

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Superdrug, one of Britain’s largest beauty and health retailers, has introduced contactless payment for its in-store customers, according to Retail Gazette.

Created by Streamline and Visa Europe, the contactless system will enable customers to make payments of up to £15 (approx. USD $23) by simply waving their contactless bank card at the more than 50 participating Superdrug stores in London and Liverpool.

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la Caixa and Visa Europe have begun rolling out their contactless payment system in Barcelona. The bank is set to make all cards and point-of-sale across Barcelona contactless, requiring the distribution of 1 million cards and more than 15,000 new POS terminals.

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