Dec 06

Samsung Nexus S utilizing NXP’s PN544 NFC chip

Posted in: Android, gingerbread, NeXus, nexus s, NexusS, nfc, samsung, smartphone, Today's Chili, Wireless

Well, color us surprised. Just last Wednesday, Samsung announced that it had developed its very own NFC module in-house, but today we’re learning that it came just a few months too late for inclusion in the outfit’s forthcoming Nexus S. Right on cue, NXP Semiconductors has come forward today proclaiming its involvement in the first handset to ship with Android 2.3. The outfit’s PN544 NFC controller and accompanying open source software stack will be used in the Nexus S, and naturally they’ve both been “fully integrated and validated on Gingerbread.” Of course, only time will tell what sort of applications spring up to take advantage, but we’ve got a feeling that metro payments and the like could be first in line. Nice of America to finally catch up, right?

Continue reading Samsung Nexus S utilizing NXP’s PN544 NFC chip

Samsung Nexus S utilizing NXP’s PN544 NFC chip originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 06 Dec 2010 14:38:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourceNXP  | Email this | Comments

No Comments | Tags: , ,
Dec 06

NFC certification program announced just in time for Android 2.3 Gingerbread launch on Monday?

Posted in: Android, gingerbread, Google, nexus s, NexusS, nfc, release, rumor, samsung, speculation, Today's Chili

Call it coincidence if you want, but a December 7th press conference to launch the NFC Forum’s new Certification Program likely has something to do with NFC read / write support built into Google’s new Android 2.3 “Gingerbread.” An OS that could be officially unveiled as early as today according to a cheeky blog post by Notion Ink that includes this bullet:

“6th December is another big day for Android and you will find out how fast Notion Ink can work. (Eden is extremely compatible with 2.3).”

Recall how gung-ho Eric Schmidt was on the topic of Near Field Communication while demonstrating it using a still unannounced Nexus S with an embedded NFC chip at the Web 2.0 Summit. That was way back on November 16th when Schmidt promised a Gingerbread release “in like the next few weeks.” According to the NFC Forum, a device must be certified in order to display the official “N-Mark” (pictured) — a symbol for NFC that tells you where to touch in order to initiate NFC services on your device. So, Google… anything you’d like to announce before Tuesday?

P.S. Almost forgot that Google’s Andy Rubin will be kicking off the D: Dive into Mobile event later today. We’ll be there live just in case Andy feels like introducing something pungent and tasty during the opening session scheduled for 6:30pm San Francisco time.

Continue reading NFC certification program announced just in time for Android 2.3 Gingerbread launch on Monday?

NFC certification program announced just in time for Android 2.3 Gingerbread launch on Monday? originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 06 Dec 2010 03:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourceNotion Ink  | Email this | Comments

No Comments | Tags: , ,
Dec 06

NFC certification program announced just in time for Android 2.3 Gingerbread launch

Posted in: Android, gingerbread, Google, nfc, release, rumor, speculation, Today's Chili

Call it coincidence if you want, but a December 7th press conference to launch the NFC Forum’s new Certification Program likely has something to do with NFC read / write support built into Google’s new Android 2.3 “Gingerbread.” An OS that could be officially unveiled as early as today according to a cheeky blog post by Notion Ink that includes this bullet:

“6th December is another big day for Android and you will find out how fast Notion Ink can work. (Eden is extremely compatible with 2.3).”

Recall how gung-ho Eric Schmidt was on the topic of Near Field Communication while demonstrating it using a still unannounced Nexus S with an embedded NFC chip at the Web 2.0 Summit. That was way back on November 16th when Schmidt promised a Gingerbread release “in like the next few weeks.” According to the NFC Forum, a device must be certified in order to display the official “N-Mark” (pictured) — a symbol for NFC that tells you where to touch in order to initiate NFC services on your device. So, Google… anything you’d like to announce before Tuesday?

Continue reading NFC certification program announced just in time for Android 2.3 Gingerbread launch

NFC certification program announced just in time for Android 2.3 Gingerbread launch originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 06 Dec 2010 03:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourceNotion Ink  | Email this | Comments

No Comments | Tags: , ,
Dec 01

Samsung cooks up its own NFC module, destined for the Nexus S?

Posted in: bluetooth, Google, nexus s, NexusS, nfc, samsung, Today's Chili, wifi

Curious timing, no? Just last month, Google’s own Eric Schmidt revealed that the Nexus S (manufactured by none other than Samsung) would have “NFC features,” and he even went on to proclaim that this kind of technology would eventually supplant the tried-and-true credit card. Today, Sammy itself has revealed a new near field communications (NFC) chip with embedded flash memory, and we’re told that this guy remains active for mobile payment even without battery power. Of course, we’re still waiting for a confirmed price and release date for the aforesaid smartphone, but could Samsung’s NFC mass production date of Q1 2011 be the clue we’ve been yearning for? Fingers and toes crossed, okay everyone?

Continue reading Samsung cooks up its own NFC module, destined for the Nexus S?

Samsung cooks up its own NFC module, destined for the Nexus S? originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 01 Dec 2010 13:15:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments

No Comments | Tags:
Nov 16

Jim Balsillie says BlackBerry PlayBook has a ‘module cavity,’ hints at NFC capabilities

Posted in: BlackBerry, blackberry playbook, BlackberryPlaybook, nfc, playbook, RIM, Today's Chili
He unfortunately didn’t have one on hand (or at least on stage), but RIM co-CEO Jim Balsillie did make a bit of news about the BlackBerry PlayBook at the now-happening Web 2.0 Summit. The first is that the tablet packs what Balsillie described as a “module cavity” — the most obvious use for which would be to add WWAN capabilities to the WiFi-only model (something Balsillie himself suggested), although the possibilities certainly extend far beyond that. Balsillie also later mused a bit about NFC capabilities, stating that “we’d be fools not to have it in the near-term, and we are not fools.” That’s obviously in relation to BlackBerry phones in general and not just the PlayBook, but it does seem like a prime candidate for that aforementioned “module cavity,” which we really hope is not the final name.

Jim Balsillie says BlackBerry PlayBook has a ‘module cavity,’ hints at NFC capabilities originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 16 Nov 2010 15:19:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments

No Comments | Tags: , ,
Nov 16

AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon announce Isis national mobile commerce network

Posted in: att, nfc, partnership, t-mobile, t-mobile usa, T-mobileUsa, Today's Chili, verizon
Just in time for the total economic collapse of Europe and the rise of the cyber-nomadic tribes, the kids at Discover, Barclaycard, AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon have a name for their mobile phone-based payment system: Isis. Essentially it remains what we heard from Bloomberg a few months back: a system for using an app on your phone to send payments to a POS system using NFC technology. The Isis team thinks it has “the scope and scale necessary to introduce mobile commerce on a broad basis,” and we wish them the best. But we know how it all ends anyways: with the lucky among us dead, and the rest of us living in caves, hiding from death-dealing robots, and bartering for what we can’t scrounge from the ruins of our once-great cities. PR after the break.

Continue reading AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon announce Isis national mobile commerce network

AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon announce Isis national mobile commerce network originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 16 Nov 2010 10:23:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourceIsis  | Email this | Comments

No Comments | Tags:
Nov 16

Nexus S teaser by Eric Schmidt now available on video

Posted in: Android, AndroidOs, gingerbread, Google, interview, nexus s, NexusS, nfc, Pre-Release, samsung, teaser, Today's Chili, video

Ah, the “unannounced product” that Eric Schmidt brought along for his latest interview — you want to see more of it, don’t you? We know you do, so we’ve naturally tracked down the full 44-minute marathon chat session between Eric and his Web 2.0 Summit hosts, which thankfully kicks off by delving right into the phone that we know and love under the Nexus S name. Notably, the Google chief never calls it that explicitly, though he takes a moment to stress that in the past he was quoted as saying there’d never be a Nexus Two, not that there’d never be a Nexus successor at all. See the whole thing unfold after the break.

[Thanks, Thomas]

Continue reading Nexus S teaser by Eric Schmidt now available on video

Nexus S teaser by Eric Schmidt now available on video originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 16 Nov 2010 07:20:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Mobiflip.de  |  sourceO’Reilly (YouTube)  | Email this | Comments

No Comments | Tags: , , , , ,
Nov 02

ASSA ABLOY trials remote hotel check-ins, unlocking your room with NFC cellphones (video)

Posted in: nfc, Today's Chili, video

Just think of it, no more hanging around your hotel‘s front desk like some unrefined homo erectus. The Clarion Hotel in Stockholm is starting up a new pilot program to allow visitors to check in and collect their room key without the repugnant need for speaking to an actual human being — it can all be done with an NFC-equipped mobile phone. Provided your smartphone can do the near-field communications dance, all your information can be remotely downloaded, stored, and wiped (if need be), and you can even check out from a room using the accompanying application. Samsung handsets are being provided to selected customers during the period of this trial, though once its four-month incubation period is over, you’ll have to bring your own bit of advanced telephony to avoid the queues. We’re sure you’ll think of something. Video and full press release after the break.

Continue reading ASSA ABLOY trials remote hotel check-ins, unlocking your room with NFC cellphones (video)

ASSA ABLOY trials remote hotel check-ins, unlocking your room with NFC cellphones (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 02 Nov 2010 10:31:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments

No Comments
Oct 12

Sony and Global HID to unify FeliCa and NFC laptop reader technologies

Posted in: nfc, sony, Today's Chili

Sony and Global HID are coyly batting their eyelashes at each other over a memorandum of intent to jointly develop an embedded contactless smart card reader platform for laptops. The idea is to create a single reader compatible with Sony’s popular FeliCa solution in Japan as well as NFC, HID Global’s own iCLASS, and more. As a refresher, about 315 million FeliCa cards are in circulation worldwide with another 67 million FeliCa-capable mobile phones in Japan used for electronic payments, access, interactive advertising, and membership rewards systems. Hell, Sony’s even got a FeliCa reading remote control. The dark arts of Near Field Communication have been given a boost recently with support from Nokia and the US carriers AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile. Even Apple is rumored to be getting in on the action. So let’s ink a contract already fellas, anything that will unify all these “standards” into a common embedded laptop reader sounds like a good idea to us.

Continue reading Sony and Global HID to unify FeliCa and NFC laptop reader technologies

Sony and Global HID to unify FeliCa and NFC laptop reader technologies originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 12 Oct 2010 06:42:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourceSony  | Email this | Comments

No Comments
Oct 01

Wireless USB reaches revision 1.1, makes for smarter and more efficient toys

Posted in: nfc, Today's Chili, usb, Wireless

Wireless USB 1.1 is here, whether you like it or not, and we’re betting you’re going to like it if manufacturers make it work. The USB-IF’s new spec, finalized this week, is still capped at the same 480Mbps of its wired cousin USB 2.0, but it reportedly brings with it reduced power consumption and near-field communication for proximity-based pairing. And if the idea of, say, touching your smartphone and a wireless Pixel Qi panel together to automatically connect the twain doesn’t make you jump for joy, we’re not really sure what would. Perhaps you’re still waiting for the one-gigabit-per-second Intel’s Jeff Ravencraft promised three years ago this month? Download the full spec at our more coverage link to see what’s what.

Continue reading Wireless USB reaches revision 1.1, makes for smarter and more efficient toys

Wireless USB reaches revision 1.1, makes for smarter and more efficient toys originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 01 Oct 2010 06:13:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink The Register  |   | Email this | Comments

No Comments