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Near Field Communication (NFC) has been a hot topic lately with Apple talking about including it in its iPhone this year. You’ll be surprised to know though that NFC is not new. The technology to support communication and transfer of data over very close distance (from a touch to a few centimeters) has been around since 2003, when it was approved as an ISO/IEC standard.

Image via Wikipedia

NFC technology has been part of various trials in Sony, Philips and Nokia labs since years but took off only last year in the US with the support of banks and network carriers. NFC chips are now part of mobile devices – Android (from Samsung), BlackBerry (RIM), and Microsoft from 2012. Carriers and vendors are also investing in NFC to streamline customer services.

How NFC works

NFC is a standards-based (ISO, ECMA, and ETSI) connectivity technology that uses electromagnetic radio fields to communicate with electronic devices, mobile devices, and PCs. It is compatible with Bluetooth and WiFi and interoperates with existing contactless card technologies. All you do is wave or touch your NFC-enabled device to a compatible scanner for payments, data transfer, or information exchange.

Applications of NFC

NFC brings convenience into a number of everyday tasks. It also helps vendors reduce administrative, reporting, tracking and operational overheads. Some of the known and not so known applications of NFC technology are:

• Mobile payment – The search giant’s Google Wallet app is an excellent example of how your mobile device works as a wallet for cash, reward cards, gift cards, loyalty points and coupons. Tap to pay for travel tickets, hotel bills, restaurant checks, and more.
• Access control – NFC devices can be your authentication ticket to enter your office.
• Transport – Your NFC-enabled mobile device not only lets you pay for tickets but also allows bus drivers to verify passengers have paid their fare.
• Information sharing – At the Museum of London, you can learn more about displayed objects via your NFC-enabled device; purchase tickets and vouchers too.
• Parking meters – Tap your NFC device on a parking meter and pay for your time. PayByPhone app even sends a reminder before the parking period expires.
• Medical devices – The SleepTrak NFC-enabled device attaches to your arm when you sleep and monitors sleep state for disorders. The recorded data can be read via NFC and suitable action taken.
• Product shipping – The ATI Log-IC NFC Logger and an Android app monitor thermometer readings for shipping of temperature-sensitive goods.
• Healthcare – At hospitals, patients can tap their NFC phones to transfer accurate info including patient identification, insurance coverage, and payment information without having to fill out time-consuming and tedious forms.
• PayPal – PayPal is enabling NFC on its app to support fund transfer between accounts with a touch.

Potential Security Hazards of NFC

Though NFC is secure as it requires devices to be very “near” each other, its very convenience can work against in case of loss or theft on an NFC-enabled device or if there’s third party interception of data. However, these security issues can be mitigated with the enforcement of data encryption, communication security with PINs and access codes, vendor signatures, and more comprehensive authentication measures.

Every convenience comes with its set of risks. It matures over time and enhanced consumer awareness.

Related articles

• How to use Near Field Communication (NFC) for Business (bizblog.blackberry.com)
• Hot Topic at the BlackBerry Innovation Forums in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa: Near Field Communication technology (NFC) and BlackBerry Smartphones (bizblog.blackberry.com)
• With an Android App Upgrade, PayPal Launches Its First NFC Product, A P2P Widget (nfcdata.com)

If you are an Apple aficionado, the latest Mac OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion is going to make a loyal devotee out of you. The Mac OS is inspired by iPad and includes a number of features that support seamless synchronization across iOS devices including iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch; deeper Twitter integration (alas! Facebook is still out in the cold) within apps; enhanced security; and an even better user experience.

Apple’s Mac OS X 10.7 Lion, the current version, brought some major enhancements when it launched last year. For one, it was the first completely downloadable release from the Mac App Store, and for another, it included multi-touch gestures that added a whole new dimension to the Mac experience. You could swipe, tap, access full-screen apps via LaunchPad, and of course, sync across iOS devices wirelessly via iCloud.

With Mountain Lion, Apple takes it further with ideas ported over from iPad. As Apple CEO Tim Cook puts it, “We see that people are in love with a lot of apps and functionality here. Anywhere where that makes sense, we are going to move that over to Mac.” (from Cook’s interview with The Wall Street Journal).

So, what’s new and what’s improved in Mountain Lion?

Improved iCloud synchronization: Sign once into iCloud on Mac with your Apple ID and iCloud automatically syncs your mail, calendars, contacts, documents, etc., across devices. Works vice versa too.

Messages: Send unlimited videos, photos, documents and contacts securely via iMessage on Mac to iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch running iOS 5. Resume conversations across devices, seamlessly. Messages Beta supports AIM, Yahoo!, Google Talk, and Jabber accounts and brings them all to one window.

Reminders: Sync reminders across Mac, iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch.  Get alerts as deadlines approach, check completed tasks; you have no excuse for forgetting stuff.

Notes: Whatever is on your mind, jot it down to get back to later on Mac, iPhone, iPad or your iPod Touch. Embellish notes with photos, videos, etc. Share notes with mail or Messages and pin them to your desktop for quick access.

Notification Center: Get calendar, email, message, friend request alerts on your Mac with the Notification Center. The banner comes up and disappears to not detract you from your current activity. Swipe left to get to notifications at any time.

Share Sheets: Sharing is deeply integrated into every Mountain Lion app. Share photos, videos, links via Mail or Messages or to third party apps such as Flickr, Vimeo, etc.

Twitter: Apple takes its relationship with Twitter further with Mac OS X 10.8. Sign in once to Twitter and you can send tweets from anywhere and everywhere on the Mac. Add locations and get Tweet notifications too.

Game Center: Mac too gets onto social gaming with Game Center.

AirPlay Mirroring: Stream screen content from your Mac to your HDTV via Apple TV – presentations, web pages, videos, photos, chat, anything.

Gatekeeper: Mac just got safer with Gatekeeper. It prevents you from downloading or installing malicious software. You can choose security settings – download and run apps from anywhere, only from the Mac App Store, or only those apps from the Mac App Store with a Developer ID.

The developers’ preview of Mac OS X Mountain Lion is out for Mac app developers to start churning out innovative applications. Watch Mountain Lion in action here.

Related articles

• OS X Mountain Lion: Coming this Summer…Already? (nickbatson.wordpress.com)
• Hands on with Apple’s new OS X: Mountain Lion (iskysoft.com)
• iCloud for Mac OS X Mountain Lion brings auto setup and syncing (pocket-lint.com)

With the mobile internet came better mobile browsers, faster processors, larger screens and innumerable mobile apps. The mobile era today is ruled by mobile apps but in truth, they don’t conform to the openness that is the “web.” One app cannot work across multiple mobile operating systems or form factors; it has to be modified or rebuilt for each natively. Device manufacturers, too, monopolize the playing field with restrictive app development and distribution policies.

What’s needed is a unifying technology. That’s HTML5 – a language long purported by Steve Jobs as the “future of mobile web” and the eventual driver of mobile internet innovation. Business rivals Google and Apple are adopting HTML5 with initiatives such as Mobile Google (Gmail written completely in HTML5), iAd, and YouTube using HTML5 video. Apple’s rigid stand on not supporting Adobe Flash on iOS devices has also catalyzed the move towards cross-platform HTML5.

The potential of HTML5

HTML5 enables developers to embed video and audio content into rich internet apps. Video and audio components can be controlled to a granular level that’s great for app developers wanting to use geo locations, camera images, or videos to personalize their apps. However, while some mobile browsers don’t support the HTML5 <video> element, others support it but in their own way. In audio too, though HTML5 is highly capable, developers have to recode media to formats supported by mobile devices.

The HTML5 Canvas element is great for pixel manipulation and rendering stunning effects. HTML5 APIs and HTML5 elements together open up new opportunities and ideas for mobile apps. The plan is to have APIs for diverse mobile devices to maximize on HTML5 capabilities. HTML5 also supports local storage for application data, drag and drop elements, new form elements  such as date; time; and email, Web Workers for background or asynchronous processing, HTML5 and CSS3 structure and styling for layout, and more.

Check out popular HTML5 apps on OpenAppMkt such as YouTube, Google Voice, CheckList, The New York Times for iPad, Myousic.Me, Facebook, Twitter, etc. to grasp the potential of HTML5.

The reality of HTML5

HTML5 development involves the use of HTML5, CSS3, and JavaScript to develop interactive and rich media. However, the combination cannot be compared with Flash capabilities as of now. Though web developers have launched impressive demos on HTML5 websites, the development process is slowed down by the lack of appropriate tools and the inability of existing tools to support complex multimedia. However, the gap between HTML 5 capabilities, browser support, and development tools is getting smaller as HTML5 adoption progresses.

Some HTML5 frameworks in the market include Sencha Touch, M-Project, Titanium, jQTouch, jQuery Mobile, NimbleKit, and Wink. Adobe has recently released a preview of Adobe Edge – a new web motion and interaction design tool, with a UI similar to that used for Flash development. In its current state, the tool is light on features. Though it does take some of the pain out of JavaScript animations, it doesn’t quite compare as a professional development tool. But it’s early days yet.

The future of HTML5

Currently, HTML5 is supported by most mobile browsers on Blackberry 6, Symbian 3, MeeGo, WebOS, Bada, Android, Myriad ex-Openwave, BOLT, and iOS; and web browsers including Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome, Safari, and Opera. However, they support different things so HTML5 doesn’t look or run the same across. HTML5 support is also getting better with new releases of smartphones.

Going forward, browsers will offer uniform support for HTML5 elements. This move will be driven by the rise in HTML5 application development – an inevitable consequence of the interoperability and low development costs of the platform.

Related articles

• Time for Flash to end….. (redsundevelopment.wordpress.com)
• 9 Sites for diving head-first into HTML5 (thenextweb.com)
• Should I use HTML5 now? (stackoverflow.com)