UK-based printing company Moo has given its business cards a post-smartphone remix by creating a design which imbeds a near-field communication (NFC) chip within, enabling it to interact with NFC-equipped smartphones. By having an clear NFC tag on your keychain, you can save battery while you’re on the go without the need of Wi-Fi, for example. An NFC label in your wallet can erase that risk by containing your emergency business card ready to be scanned by others. If you’re using Tasker to automate actions on your phone you can use NFC tags to trigger some of your tasks. Place an NFC tag in your living room or near the entrance, which gives your friends instant access to your Wi-Fi without revealing your password. You could have a NFC tag hidden on your desk somewhere and you could discretely place your phone on the tag.
The close proximity an NFC device needs to have with the tag makes it impossible for strangers to connect to it from outside the house. Besides being able to lock and unlock your door with an NFC tag or device you can also control the lock with your smartphone ( iOS & Android ) from anywhere in the world. The Kickstarter project ‘NFC Ring’, designed by John McLear, comes with two NFC inlays to store data or control other devices like the smart door lock Lockitron (see #15). The NFC Ring comes at a very reasonable base price of £22 ($36 / 26€) and shipping to all Kickstarter backers has just started. Schools and universities can use NFC tags to supply students with special hidden” information.
One great example for an educational use of NFC is the Central College Nottingham in the UK On its campus, many NFC touch points are placed close to different objects to make it easier for foreign language students to learn English. Although it makes a lot of sense to use CXJ NFC tags in education, I admit that using them to learn a new language in your spare time does not really make sense.
Bars, restaurants, hairdressers and similar businesses can use clear NFC tag to promote their business and increase customer satisfaction. Restaurants and bars could use NFC tag stickers on tables which send some sort of signal, saying that a customer needs a waiter or wants to have the bill. They failed to mention that in order for guests to get access to your WiFi using the tag, they also need to have the NFC Tag Launcher app installed on their phone. In addition to the basic Tap-to-Pay functions, Google wallet can store all you rewards cards and gift cards.
But I’d imagine it’s possible, how ever I doubt turning on by NFC is possible since the device (obviously) is off so it won’t emit power to the tag. It all depends what you do with it. A few of the commonly cited things you can do with an NFC tag do seem a bit overkill from just simply doing them manually. But for certain tasks, NFC tags can be very helpful, especially if you need to invoke several settings or apps to do that task (e.g. one swipe of a tag causes several settings to change and apps to run). Here’s another classic use of clear NFC tag… put an NFC sticker tag on your clothes washer or dishwashing machine.
