Motorola will be selling a $20 accessory for the Moto X that could very well be the smartest thing it has ever done or be the dumbest phone accessory ever. Called the Skip, it’s a clip that houses a NFC chip that’ll let you unlock your Moto X by simply tapping it. No lock screens, no pass codes.
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The Motorola Moto X, the first made in the USA smartphone for a long time, has not been released yet for the masses although it has already been officially announced, but this has not stopped the folks over at Motorola from teasing the masses with a potential new accessory for it that they have called the Moto Skip. No, the Moto Skip is not something which is attached to your Moto X, allowing you to throw it across the surface of a lake to make it skip like a stone. Rather, the Moto Skip comes across as an NFC-based tag that has been specially designed in order to unlock your spanking new Moto X, now how about that? All it takes is just a single tap, and you’re good to go.
Of course, before that can happen, you will first need to perform the proper configuration, where pairing it up with the Moto X via NFC is the way to go. Once done, there is no need to input a passcode ever again in order to gain access to your handset. It is said to have been listed for $20 a pop, but the page concerning the Moto Skip was pulled down without notice – probably because it was not meant to be made public just yet. Sounds convenient? I don’t know, how hard is it to unlock your handset and enter a passcode? Not to mention the risk of your handset being accessed when someone steals your Moto Skip alongside the Moto X.
Moto Skip Lets You Unlock Your Moto X Via NFC original content from Ubergizmo. 
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The folks over at Microsoft Research might have stumbled upon something that is very, very interesting – that is, the ability to send files from one device to another using sound, calling this process the Secure Peer-to-Peer Acoustic NFC. Normally, NFC (Near Field Communication) would require the presence of a special chip to be placed within a mobile phone or tablet so that it can function, but considering how a huge number of smartphones out there do not come equipped with any kind of NFC hardware, the Microsoft Research’s India team decided to think of a different method in approaching this problem – by using a software solution instead.
The software will be called Dhwani, and once it is installed on a smartphone or mobile phone, you can basically use sound to transmit data over the speaker to another phone’s microphone. So far, the Dhwani software has been tested to transfer data at a rate of 2.4 kilobits per second. Painfully slow in this day and age, but it should be more than enough for a particular device to send payment to a store counter, or even to another handset. To avoid confusion, it will use JamSecure, where “the receiver intentionally jams the signal it is trying to receive, thereby stymieing eaves-droppers, but then uses self-interference cancellation to successfully decode the incoming message.”
Microsoft Secure Peer-to-Peer Acoustic NFC Transfers Files Via “Sound” original content from Ubergizmo. 
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With the release of a flagship phone comes a barrage of accessories, and every once in a while, it’s something new you’re not quite sure you need. Take, for example, the Moto Skip — an NFC-based tag designed to unlock the soon-to-be-available Moto X with one tap. Just pair it up via NFC once; after that, you won’t ever need to input your passcode to access the phone’s homepage again. We’ll reserve our opinion on the Skip until we get a chance to take it for a spin, but we foresee it being useful if you’re extremely busy — or forgetful — so long as it doesn’t get stolen with a Moto X. The company’s website listed Skip for $20 prior to publication, but it’s been pulled down since without notice of when the clip will become available.
Filed under: Misc
Via: Droid Life
Source: Motorola (1), (2)
There have been rumors in the past that NFC could be one of the features that would make its way into Apple’s iPhone, and while Apple’s Phil Schiller explained why NFC is missing from the iPhone, it has not stopped the rumor mill from suggesting otherwise. Well a recent patent by Apple has been spotted that seems to suggest that Apple has toyed with the idea of NFC in their phones, although when exactly it will make its debut remains to be seen.
This particular patent describes a method of gifting iTunes purchased products to other iOS devices. At the moment there are a number of ways that one can gift another person an iTunes product, through gift codes and such, but there is currently no way of gifting an iTunes purchase from iOS device to iOS device physically. The patent suggests that the use of NFC could be one of the ways in which someone could gift an iTunes purchase to another person, tap their devices together and the purchase should be transferred. Like we said there’s no telling when Apple will implement NFC in their phones, but at least they’re considering it.
Apple Patent Describes The Use Of NFC To Gift iTunes Purchases original content from Ubergizmo. 
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VeriFone this week launched a new service for NYC taxi passengers, letting customers pay for a cab by tapping any compatible smartphone. Way2ride utilizes Zoosh ultrasound technology, enabling secure payments using the speaker and mic in your device and the payment terminal on the other end. The app, available for Android and iOS devices, lets you pre-select payment info and even a tip amount. To initiate a transaction, you’ll simply tap your phone anytime during the ride, then hop out right when you reach your destination — a receipt will appear within the app. You can even use the app to hail a cab, estimate your fare and report a lost item. Download it now at the source links below.
Filed under: Cellphones
Source: VeriFone, Way2ride (Android), Way2ride (iOS)
Apple hasn’t implemented NFC or near field communication technology in any of its devices as yet. The next generation iPhone will reportedly have NFC, but there’s no confirmation about that just yet. Nevertheless, the company has filed for a new patent that describes a method that users might be able to take advantage of in the future. The patent describes the ability to gift iTunes content to other iTunes users simply through NFC.
Apple Patent Describes Method To Gift iTunes Content Through NFC original content from Ubergizmo. 
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Apple isn’t known to be that bullish on NFC use in mobile devices, but a new patent application originally created earlier this year and published by the USPTO today (via AppleInsider) shows it’s thinking about the tech in a few ways at least. The application describes a means for transferring iTunes content from device-to-device, via NFC when two people are in physical proximity.
The patent describes a couple of different media “gifting” scenarios facilitated by NFC. In the first, it would enable the kind of existing media gifting already possible on iTunes via email, where one user buys content for another at time of purchase. But the second scenario is more interesting, because it deals with transferring already-owned media from one user to another.
This kind of “used” digital media sales is something we’ve seen Apple key in on before in patents; Apple previously applied for a patent for a system that would allow for the transfer of previously-owned digital media from one user to another in a patent filed in June, 2012 and published in March.
In both that application and this one, transfer of digital goods is facilitated by use of an authorization key that tells Apple’s servers that the receiving party has permission to access the track, movie, book, etc. The original application was mostly about resale, whereas this one focuses on gifting (and the use of NFC for in-person transfers) but both applications are so similar in basic concept that it seems very likely Apple is seriously looking into how it can make ownership of digital media more like ownership of physical media.
While you could technically just copy files from your library to someone else’s with the current DRM-free iTunes audio media files (though that’s not exactly kosher), it’s still much better to imagine a system in place where gifting and transfer are built-in to digital media marketplaces. And the mention of NFC might give hope to those wishing Apple would start investing in that tech to help encourage its widespread use.
It’s been a busy couple months for the folks over at Mozilla. The company rolled out a new logo, launched the first Firefox OS handset and shipped version 23 of its popular web browser. Still, Mozilla shows no signs of slowing down — it just announced a new version of Firefox for Android Beta, which is ready for download and testing. The update brings a raft of new features and improvements, including WebRTC support for real-time web communications, a new Reader and Reading List with enhanced functionality, NFC Bump to share URLs on compatible phones, a Quickshare menu to share content with other apps and additional languages (Catalan-Spanish, British-English and Swedish) for a total of 24. Moreover, Firefox Beta for Windows, OS X and Linux gains a tweaked Browser Console to help web developers — phew!
Filed under: Cellphones, Tablets, Internet, Mobile
Source: Mozilla blog
Now here is a Kickstarter project that you might probably be interested in, especially when you want a ring that can “rule them all”, so to speak. I am referring to the NFC Ring which has long since crossed the financial requirement for it to enter production, and the video above will show you just how useful it is to unlock your smartphone – as long as your device comes with NFC connectivity, of course. It might not rely on the power of your will like a Green Lantern, and is unable to conjure constructs of your will, but it would still come in pretty handy if it were to be properly managed and programmed. In fact, theoretically speaking, the NFC Ring can be used to unlock doors, mobile phones, transfer information and even link people. What makes this bit of news even sweeter is, the NFC Ring will glide right onto your finger, without you having to worry about issues such as updates and running low on battery, being fuss-free and all. Now how about that?
What would be some of the other functions that you would like the NFC Ring to be able to “perform”? Surely the depths of human creativity concerning NFC connectivity has yet to be plumbed, and we would like to head in that general direction.
NFC Ring Does Not A Green Lantern Make original content from Ubergizmo. 
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