The Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) has announced planned updates to the Bluetooth specification, bringing longer range, higher speeds and mesh networking to the technology... More
US startup Lisnr has secured US$10m in Series B funding for a technology that uses inaudible sound waves called SmartTones to connect devices... More
Dutch public transport operator Syntus is to send out offers and promotions to commuters using a national network of 3,000 Bluetooth beacons that work in conjunction with a mobile ticketing app provided by Corethree... More
MasterCard has extended the capabilities of its tokenization service to enable payments to be made using “virtually any device”, including NFC-enabled clothing, jewellery and vehicle keyfobs. “Products will begin rolling out in 2016 in the US,” the payments network says, “with plans to expand to other markets.” More
Poynt, the POS maker founded by former Google Wallet lead Osama Bedier, has raised US$28m in a Series B funding round and announced that it has gained PCI PTS, PCI DSS and EMV certification for its device... More
Shenzhen-based wearable device maker FiiSmart has launched a campaign on ecommerce giant Alibaba’s Taobao Crowdfunding website for a smartwatch that will support Ant Financial’s mobile payment platform Alipay and allow its wearers to make payments by generating a QR-code that can then be scanned at the point-of-sale... More
Electrical engineers at the University of California San Diego have demonstrated a new wireless communication technique that works by sending magnetic signals through the human body. More
Commuters in Singapore are testing a contactless wristband to pay for public transport services and for goods at retailers equipped with contactless readers... More
Switzerland’s financial infrastructure operator SIX and telecommunications provider Swisscom have partnered with a number of banks in the country to establish a nationwide mobile payments service that would enable consumers to make in-store mobile payments at retail locations using either NFC, Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) or a combination of both, SIX has told NFC World... More
Smart lock maker August has updated its iOS app to allow people to unlock their front doors using an Apple Watch... More
Apple has filed a US patent application for a payments service that would enable peer-to-peer money transfers via NFC and Bluetooth... More
The Fido Alliance has added new NFC and Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) transport protocols to its Universal Second Factor (U2F) authentication specification... More
Apple’s latest patent details how an Apple Watch could exchange information with another when wearers greet each other with a handshake... More
A new Google patent details a system to allow the pairing of items such as keys or a wallet with a mobile device to alert a person when they are about to leave the house without one of the items... More
Facebook is offering free Bluetooth beacons to select businesses across the US that will enable them to send “useful and relevant” information to customers about the places they visit... More
Shazam has launched a visual recognition marketing platform that lets its mobile app users scan Shazam-enabled logos or QR codes placed on images to access custom mobile experiences including interactive content, special offers and the ability to purchase items or share them with others... More
Netherlands-based DS Tags is at an advanced stage with “several top-tier airlines” in planning the delivery of DS Bagtag, a solution that incorporates an NFC- and Bluetooth-enabled electronic luggage label, a secure cloud-based travel document delivery service platform and a mobile app that lets the user check themselves and their luggage onto their flight before arriving at the airport... More
Out-of-home media owner Exterion Media UK is to roll out Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) beacons across public transport services in “major cities” in the UK to deliver marketing messages to passengers’ smartphones... More
Visitors to Zoom Torino Biopark in Cumiana, Italy will be able to unlock information and rewards on their smartphones thanks to a network of Bluetooth Low Energy beacons that send location-based messages to their devices... More
A teardown of the Apple Watch shows a design centred on a custom processor with NFC components from NXP and AMS, ABI Research has revealed... More