Near-field comms (was Re: need someone to develop this....)

[wolfgang_a_h at gmx.at]

I was wondering...

I did already suggest NFC in a post some days ago ("Hardware addition ideas for >(=) GTA03" on Sun Nov 25 19:36:23 CET 2007), but got absolutely no reaction (I suggested multi-SIM capability too), and now I am wondering what was so bad about *my* suggestion... ;-)

But I'm glad to see that there are at least two other people who seem to think that this could become an important hardware addition in the future. It's better to be on the forefront of new trends (Nokia already has NFC phones) than just being in the bulk of the followers...
Security issues regarding NFC will hopefully be resolved.

And, speaking of hardware additions and setting trends: I would *really* like to have a phone with the ability to keep more than one SIM active at the same time - see my previous post mentioned above for a link to an already available device with this ability.

greetings & cheers
Wolfgang

-------- Original-Nachricht --------
> Datum: Fri, 30 Nov 2007 17:59:10 -0700
> Von: "Shawn Rutledge" <shawn.t.rutledge at gmail.com>
> An: "List for OpenMoko community discussion" <community at lists.openmoko.org>
> Betreff: Near-field comms (was Re: need someone to develop this....)

> On Nov 30, 2007 1:34 PM, Michael Shiloh <michael at openmoko.org> wrote:
> > If Bob (or Alice) hands his (or her) phone to the other, then if both
> > phones are shaken in the same hand, the acceleration pattern might
> > provide an extremely unique yet similar signature, not unlike exchanging
> > an encryption key.
> >
> > So if you want to establish a trusted relationship with another Neo
> > user, the two phones are shaken together until the software indicates
> > that you have generated a complex enough pattern that has been
> > recognized on the other.
> 
> This is the sort of thing that NFC (near-field communication) was
> supposed to make possible, except without the shaking... you just
> bring the phones near enough, or touching, so that the range-limited
> RF conversation can occur, and you could have instant pairing.
> 
> And from what I've read, the radio is the same for NFC as for RFID.
> So a phone equipped with such a radio can be useful for other things
> too:
> 
> - the privacy nuts worried about having RFID tags in everything can
> scan products and detect them
> 
> - read RFID sensors (some day when such things exist)
> 
> - scan something in the store and look up the reviews and price
> comparisons (since they will replace barcodes soon)
> 
> - use an RFID token (such as a smart card) for security authorization
> (such as for a web site you are browsing on the phone, or an SSH
> session)
> 
> - the phone could emulate an RFID tag (e.g. the phone could act as a
> security token in lieu of some other smart card)
> 
> - small-value money transactions.  In Japan, I read that NFC phones
> can already be used to purchase a soda, or pay for subway fare right
> at the turnstile.  Just touch the phone to the active spot on the
> turnstile and walk through.  Maybe the SIM's hardware could be used to
> execute a secure challenge/response sequence to authenticate the user,
> and the rest of the transaction is a service to be provided somewhere
> else.
> 
> It would be awesome if FIC could include an NFC/RFID radio in some
> future generation of phone.
> 
> In the meantime the shake is cool to implement authentication with the
> existing Neo, but it depends on making the idea popular enough so that
> pairing with other devices becomes possible.  BT headsets probably
> don't have acceleration sensors so far...  but at least for
> phone-to-phone pairing it sounds like something Nokia might do.
> Somebody could present the idea at a conference or two and see who
> else adopts it.
> 
>