The Government of Madeira is to issue biometric cards containing an in-built fingerprint sensor to 3,400 of its citizens for the pilot test of Smart Island, a decentralized digital identity project encompassing 12 education, healthcare, port security, transport, payments, tourism and government services... More
PARTNER NEWS: A new NFC tag inlay, jointly developed by NXP and Identiv, is now available to order at an “unrivalled” price of US$0.05 per unit, “enabling a new generation of smart products across a wide range of end markets where NFC may have been previously considered price prohibitive.”... More
Beauty giant L’Oréal has launched an NFC-enabled sun safety sensor that measures the wearers exposure to UV light and comes with a companion app that iPhone users can use to tap their sensor to get advice tailored to their skin tone and skin type... More
Tokenization technology is an immediately available solution that can be used to address critical gaps in blockchain and cryptocurrency security and promote consumer and institutional confidence, Rambus explains in a new paper which is available to download from the NFC World Knowledge Centre... More
Four NFC Forum technical specifications speed and enable new NFC services — NFC Forum — “The Connection Handover Technical Specification 1.4 allows users to define additional specific services when two devices are paired together using other wireless communication technologies, such as Bluetooth or WLAN by a tap of an NFC-enabled device. The Personal Health Device Communication (PHDC) Technical Specification 1.2 defines the exchange of ISO/IEEE 11073 messages often used for personal healthcare devices such as heart, blood pressure and glucose monitors. Also, updates were made to the NFC Digital Protocol Technical Specification 2.1 and NFC Controller Interface (NCI) Technical Specification 2.1.”
Russia’s multi-bank remote customer identification facility, which has been in beta testing since early 2018, has launched with Know Your Customer (KYC) enrolment points now working at more than 400 banks in 140 cities... More
Japan airline ANA aims to build digital payments business — Financial Times — “The plan is part of a broader digital push by ANA, which hopes to build on data collected from the 31m users of its airline miles to provide a range of services including real estate, insurance and health to consumers across Japan… ‘We are aiming for ANA’s version of Alibaba’s Alipay,’ Shinya Katanozaka, ANA’s chief executive, said in an interview.”
Tokenization has the potential to increase the security of a wide range of applications beyond payments, from healthcare to social security, logical access control and blockchain applications, Rambus explains in a new ebook which is now available to download from the NFC World Knowledge Centre... More
Maldives introduces most innovative ID card — Dermalog — “Maldives Immigration has just introduced a new, very innovative type of ID card: It can be used for payments, but also serves as a national ID card, as a driver´s license as well as a health card and insurance card. Last but not least it is also used like a passport for easy travelling… The new card is certified by the Bank of Maldives as well as by MasterCard.”
Norwich hospital charity introduces cashless donations for visitors — UK Fundraising — “Visitors to Norfolk and Norwich University Hospitals are now able to make donations to the NHS Trust charity using a variety of tap-to-donate tools ranging from vinyl stickers and ‘smart’ posters… The Trust is also using the technology to turn (charity-funded) wheelchairs into instant donation points.”
Khushi Baby, a service that uses NFC necklaces to track the healthcare given to mothers and babies in India, has added biometric security to its platform to further protect the personal information of patients... More
Mastercard and Western Union explore digital model for refugee camps — Mastercard — “Mastercard and Western Union examined the needs, challenges and opportunities for refugees and their host communities at two settlement camps in northwestern Kenya. The findings have led to the development of Smart Communities: Using Digital Technology to Create Sustainable Refugee Economies, a blueprint that would combine digital access to remittances, banking, education, healthcare and other basic needs.”
Some 41% of all secure elements deployed globally between 2010 and 2016 were based on GlobalPlatform specifications, totalling 22.018bn, the standards body has revealed... More
PARTNER NEWS: NXP is “excited about the expanding number of users of NFC applications” following the announcement made by Apple earlier this week that it is to add support for NFC tag reading to its iPhone 7, 7 Plus and Apple Watch devices... More
Customers visiting US pharmacy and wellness center Chambers’ Apothecary in Chambersburg can now tap their NFC devices against NFC tags affixed to shelves throughout the store to interact with products and access a “wide variety of information” including user reviews, customer surveys and videos directly on their mobile phone... More
Some 560m NFC secure elements will be shipped worldwide in 2017, representing a 12% increase from 2016, smart security industry association Eurosmart reveals. A total of 495m NFC secure elements were shipped in 2015, which increased by 1% in 2016 to reach 500m units. More
Researchers create a T-shirt that monitors the wearer’s breathing rate in real time — Université Laval — “The key to the smart T-shirt is an antenna sewn in at chest level that’s made of a hollow optical fiber coated with a thin layer of silver on its inner surface. The fiber’s exterior surface is covered in a polymer that protects it against the environment… As the wearer breathes in, the smart fiber senses the increase in both thorax circumference and the volume of air in the lungs… These changes modify some of the resonant frequency of the antenna.”
The highest percentage of contactless payments across the UK are taking place in bakeries (62.5%) followed by pubs and bars (48.2%), caterers (47.8%), takeaway restaurants (45.5%), news dealers and newsstands (44.9%) and restaurants with 42.7%, research released by merchant services provider Paymentsense reveals. More
Nine in ten Chinese mobile internet users (92%) choose mobile payment apps such as WeChat Pay as their primary offline payment method today, research released by Tencent Online Media Group’s newly launched research project China Tech Insights reveals, while “smartphone built-in payment tools” such as Apple Pay are currently used by approximately 12%. More
PARTNER NEWS: NXP has unveiled two new NFC chips and a range of NFC offerings designed to “capitalise on the inherent security and interactive capabilities of NFC for advanced product authentication, integrity assurance and enhanced user engagement across consumer manufactured goods, healthcare, retail and other industries”. More
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