
NFC enabled business cards - EwanToo
http://www.moo.com/blog/2012/09/27/the-business-cards-of-the-future-nfc/
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bonzoesc
I should get some with my URL set to tel: _2767_ 3855# . I'm sure there's a
case to be made for NFC, but I'm not totally sold on the value of invisible
things that cause phones and other electronics to do things.

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Zikes
One of the primary features of NFC is the requirement that you be near (within
inches of) the NFC tag in order for it to work. One useful application I've
seen for this is a custom NFC tag someone placed in a homemade docking station
to activate their phone's dock mode. Another was used in a homemade
Gameklip[0]-type device to activate bluetooth and connect with the controller.

[0] <http://thegameklip.com/>

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bonzoesc
And what happens when they're hidden in a perfectly ordinary desk blotter in a
hotel room in Silicon Valley?

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MartinCron
You've got the first act to a corporate espionage story.

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metabrew
Apparently the NFC opens a link to a QR code.

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BryanB55
Ha very funny. My first thought was 'this sounds awfully a lot like a QR
code'.

Also, as an iPhone user I feel NFC is not used nearly enough. Maybe Android
users feel differently but until NFC is brought to the iphone I just dont see
this being that useful.

I think NFC is great for things like payment. I actually used it for the first
time in a new AMEX credit card that I got by just being able to tap the card
on the register. It would be even cooler if someone would make it widely
adopted on phones now. I'm sure it's just a matter of time.

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mcpherrinm
As an Android user, I've used NFC primarily to share apps with other users. I
just open the app, tap phones, and presto they've got the Play Store open with
the app.

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csmatt
No! Bad!

You would only ever need one paper NFC card (for yourself). The whole idea is
to store the info digitally. That's what NFC is for. In fact, even one paper
business card is too many if your phone supports NFC.

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cgranade
According to TFA, you get one NFC card with a pack of plain-paper cards, so
that you can give paper to someone without NFC and lend the NFC card to
someone with a supporting phone.

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mik4el
Hahaha. Figure this: "Do you have a card?", "Not only have I got a card, I've
got an NFC-enabled card. Put it against your phone and let magic happen."
Awkward but hey I want one.

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ChuckMcM
And the inevitable pickup line, "Got a card?" "Sure rub your phone on my pants
pocket"

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pixelcort
For read only data (such as business card data), what is the benefit of using
NFC over RFID? I was under the impression that NFC is backwards compatible;
can Android devices with NFC scan RFID tags?

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klinquist
NFC is a subset of RFID. There are many RFID frequency bands.

Android devices can read most 13.56mhz tags... but none of the other bands.

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evilduck
What's the benefit over just using a QR code on the back of your card? _Every_
modern smartphone can scan QR codes. Only a small fraction can use NFC, and it
surely increases the marginal cost of each card more than a double sided
print.

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estel
I think there's a lot more friction involved in interacting with a QR code:
tapping a phone to a surface is a lot easier than opening the appropriate app
and trying to focus (hard in low light) on the code.

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angry-hacker
But it's not like NFC based card would solve this problem, you should still
give a permission (I think) if you want the contact to be added to your
phonebook etc.

I understand you have to put the card very close, 3-4 cm or so to the phone
but otherwise it would be good way to troll or scam people... create a fake
card and the name would be Your Mom, actually call to a friend/extremely
expensive number... or things like that.

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estel
NFC could easily be implemented so that permission isn't necessary, but even
then tapping on one's screen (only the sender has to tap in the existing
implementation of Android Beam) is much lower friction than scanning a QR
code.

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001sky
swipe>unlock password> 123456 AppX>locate, open Permission?>Y/N

Its not frictionless either way. NFC cannot be trusted. You need to aknoweldge
Y/N prior to letting anything write data onto a phone. Too much risk
otherwise.

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estel
You don't need to location AppX, the Android Intent system (Android being the
only consumer mobile platform with an NFC implementation at the moment) can
respond to the data in the NFC tag and open the appropriate app.

I'm not claiming it's frictionless, but just that there's less friction than a
QR code.

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nchlswu
I love the concept of this product, especially in the context of contact
exchanges and "business card replacements."

If implemented and adopted by the masses, something like this embraces the
digital realm without forgetting the physical.

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change
When there are enough NFC enabled phones out there to make this useful, the
card owner will most likely have an NFC phone also. 2 NFC phones nearby will
make this card a bit unnecessary.

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Zenst
Great idea, though I hope there reading this and start selling NFC proof
wallet holders for them.

What with all these NFC pass's for this and that and now credit cards, you
would think somebody would sell proper protective wallets for them to prevent
the details being read by passers by and the like (there be kit that can read
them from across the street for a while now, its radio based after all).

Still, I'm impressed at the way there testing the market for them and
promoting them, genuis.

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hrktb
There is already plastic sleeves [1] with the same effect. The primary goal is
to prevent interferences between all the NFC cards you'll have in your wallet
(Yes, that's not a problem to have in the US for a few more years)

[1]<http://flux.bz/whatis.html>

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klinquist
I did this in Jan 2011: <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FjUoSO__Bno>

I also recently added an NFC tag to my iPhone 5:
<http://i.imgur.com/1pQxJ.jpg>

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jve
Could you please link to this NFC tag - where can you buy it?

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rolleiflex
I just bought a pack of those cards a few days ago. There is a high likelihood
that my cards have chips embedded. I will write a blog post testing them if
that turns up true.

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johnmurch
So now my iphone 5 needs a nfc reader - anyone build one yet?

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fourmii
Tether it to a Samsung S3...

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alexchamberlain
Or the better HTC One X... :oP

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rshlo
That's a nice idea and execution. But I really think about the role of paper
business cards today. Is it still a necessity?

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cambo01
A friend of mine was doing them for posters to give feedback on them. Don't
know how that's going to work.

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EGreg
Why not just have a phone with NFC instead of cards?

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bduerst
Because as soon as you meet someone who doesn't have NFC (iPhone) you're going
need that card.

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EGreg
Then the NFC of the card won't work. You may as well have a regular card then!

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bduerst
Why not both? :)

