Fast food chain KFC and Chinese internet giant Baidu have opened a smart restaurant in Beijing’s Financial Street that uses facial recognition to make menu suggestions to new customers based on their gender, age and mood, and recommendations to returning customers based on items they have ordered in the past... More
Games
STMicroelectronics to use NFC assets acquired from AMS to deliver next-generation solutions
PARTNER NEWS: STMicroelectronics (ST) will use its July acquisition of NFC and RFID products, resources, technologies and intellectual property from AMS to create a new generation of high-performance NFC solutions for both mass-market and vertical-market applications, the company’s Sylvain Fidelis and Mark Dickson have told NFC World... More
Android Pay to include a game?
Mobile payments service Android Pay could have a game built into it, with prizes on offer, an APK teardown report from Android Police suggests... More
STMicroelectronics joins the NFC World partner program
NFC World today welcomes global semiconductor company STMicroelectronics as a member of our partner program... More
Pokemon Go to add NFC for trading
Players of augmented reality mobile app Pokemon Go will soon be able to trade the Pokemon they catch with other players through NFC, according to PokeGoFans... More
Disney cancels Infinity NFC game
Disney has discontinued production of Disney Infinity, the NFC figurine based multi-platform video game that began shipping in August 2013... More
Consortium to develop NFC packaging across UK supply chain
The Centre for Process Innovation (CPI) has formed a specialist consortium to create a UK manufacturing supply chain that will support the widespread adoption of NFC packaging. More
McDonald’s turns Happy Meal boxes into virtual reality goggles
Diners at McDonald’s restaurants in Sweden can now turn their Happy Meal boxes into a set of virtual reality goggles and play a skiing game endorsed by the Swedish National Ski Team using their smartphone. More
Meet NFC World’s partners at Money20/20
NFC World partners Bell ID, SimplyTapp, Carta Worldwide, Mahindra Comviva, Kona and Gemalto will be exhibiting at the Money2020 expo in Las Vegas from October 25-28... More
Blocks smashes Kickstarter campaign for build-your-own NFC smartwatch
A UK startup raising funds on Kickstarter for a modular smartwatch that includes NFC and contactless payment functionality has amassed pledges totalling more than double its US$250,000 target in just two days. More
NXP introduces plug and play NFC solution for Internet of Things
PARTNER NEWS: NXP Semiconductors has unveiled a ‘plug and play’ NFC controller with integrated firmware and an NCI interface that is aimed at accelerating NFC adoption in the internet of things (IoT) by allowing hardware makers to rapidly build the technology into any device... More
Supenta seeks funding for NFC gaming smartphone case
Mobile gaming provider Supenta is raising funds on Kickstarter for an NFC-enabled smartphone case with a built-in game controller that fits on to a smartphone device and uses energy harvesting technology to power its components... More
Residence Inn trials augmented reality
Hotel chain Residence Inn by Marriott is to pilot image recognition and augmented reality technology that will allow guests to scan beverage coasters to access interactive experiences, including games and food and drink suggestions, on their smartphones... More
Shazam launches visual recognition marketing platform with global brands
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
Nintendo sells 5.7m NFC figurines
The US and Canada accounted for 63% of a total 5.7m NFC-enabled Nintendo Amiibo figurines sold at the end of 2014, followed by Europe in second place with 23%, Japan with 11% and Australia with 3%... More
Knit extends Google Cardboard with NFC objects
Creative technology agency Knit has developed a range of NFC-enabled Cardboard Objects that are designed to fit inside a modified version of Google’s Cardboard virtual reality (VR) headset to let users view “relevant app-based content” using real world objects... More
Nintendo sells 2.4m NFC figures
Nintendo sold about 2.4m NFC-enabled Amiibo figurines in 2014, the company has revealed... More
Glasgow to get NFC bus shelters
Glasgow City Council-owned bus shelters around the Scottish city will be fitted with NFC tags and QR codes to allow people to engage with advertisers by accessing interactive content such as vouchers, games and videos using their smartphones... More
Nintendo 3DS gets NFC
A Nintendo 3DS system update has enabled the NFC capabilities built into the latest Japan-only edition of the handheld games console, Nintendo Life reports... More
Cartamundi to develop flexible NFC tags
Global playing card producer Cartamundi is working with Holst Centre, an initiative set up by Belgian nanoelectronics research centre Imec and Dutch research institute TNO, to develop NFC tags that make use of metal-oxide (IGZO) thin-film transistor (TFT) technology on plastic film... More