Second sight

If you're not interested in radio frequency identification (RFID), you should be.

[...]

More interestingly, Sony, Nokia and Philips have formed the NFC Forum to develop and promote the technology. Why Nokia? One of the most interesting category of devices that could operate in passive or active (ie, requiring power) mode is mobile phones, and these will undoubtedly be one of the most widespread category of consumer NFC device.

To put this in context, imagine your mobile phone has an NFC interface. Then, even when your phone is switched off, it can do useful things: pay for items, for example. Wave your phone at the till in Starbucks and you have paid much quicker, and easier, than you could with cash.

WURFL

The WURFL is an XML configuration file which contains information about capabilities and features of several wireless devices.

The main scope of the file is to collect as much information as we can about all the existing wireless devices that access WAP pages so that developers will be able to build better applications and better services for the users.

In terms of adoption, WURFL is today more of a standard than UAProf is.

Thank you Jérôme (ifeedyou) for the link.

FLUIDTIME

Increasingly, people live and work with a new set of habits regarding time-using the mobile phone to quickly schedule or change appointments, for example. However, aside from the phone, few tools or services exist that support this new way of life, especially interactions with public or private services. Fluidtime supports flexible planning by providing people with personalised, accurate time-based information directly from the real-time databases of the services they are seeking.

I am not sure if I like this evolution in the long run... Do you?

Via Protein

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See also just for fun:
mobile sling

Vodafone's Content Control went live in the UK, but it isn't fool proof yet. The story here shows some of the problems you can have with the system:

Vodafone Content Control

Attempting to read the news on the bus via GPRS yesterday was full of suprises. I found the BBC news site blocked by something calling itself "Vodafone Content Control"; telling me that the site was unsuitable and giving no hint why. A bit of experimentation found that about 50% of my bookmarked pages were also blocked.

This would be perfectly reasonable apart from the fact that my bookmarks are for nothing more salacious than news, weather forecasts and train times.

A long phone call to Vodafone followed. In truth, this was a long wait in a queuing system followed by a short chat with a harassed and weary help desk bloke. He told me that Vodafone had put the censorship system in place overnight, without any warning to staff let alone customers. I think he was even more hacked off than me.

Vodafone's Content Control could also be a way to offer adult content more easily, as has been mentioned elsewhere*.
And last but not least, it could also be a way to block out any content which doesn't come directly from Vodafone.

As Mobile Media tells me today in their newsletter:

Vodafone is close to unveiling major changes to its business models for mobile content. Simplified pricing, changes to revenue share deals and even wholesale rates for suppliers are on the cards as the operator tries to clear away any barriers to data service take-up. Crucially, Vodafone is eliminating per-megabyte traffic charges for its live! service, including both browsing and content downloads...."

Whereas on first sight this sounds great, it renforces my worries that this could mean that only Vodafone Live content gets this treatment and worse... only Vodafone Live content will be available in the future. Am I too parano?

Update (20.7.04, 19:11)
Here as an echo:)

GILLMOR: Potentially the most dangerous is the emerging duopoly of cable and phone "broadband" carriers. They'll have every incentive to turn today's open-access lines into walled gardens, or to allow some content to get to people before other content. This duopoly could make the already problematic corporate consolidation of media seem tame.

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* Vodafone becomes first UK operator to control mobile content
Some commentators believe however that the move is to allow the mobile phone operator to start offering adult content with the peace of mind that it is offering a safety net for the unsure.

Visual tags are something already common in Japan. It isn't here, as this link to an Intel Research Paper shows:
New Uses for Camera Phones

There are many scenarios where the combination of visual tags and camera phones can be employed. Maybe you're walking down a city street and see a poster for a movie or a play. On the poster is a visual tag. By using a camera phone, you could click on the visual tag to get more information on the film. Additionally, there may be an option to buy your tickets right then and there.

[...]

Visual tags encode information in two parts: a service identifier and a data block. The service identifier encodes the name of the Bluetooth service to which a tag relates. The data block contains a few bits of application-specific information that are used to identify a particular tag.

PS: SpotCode reader is available for download at the High Energy Magic Web site

See also:
Linking the Web to Real Space via your Camera Phone

Camera Phones:

Mobile phones with inbuilt cameras are officially banned in the Kingdom and continue to sell like hot cakes.

Are there other countries which have banned camera phones? And how will the situation evolve when more and more citizens of Saudi Arabia buy a camera phone on the black market?

Via Reiter's Camera Phone Report

I saw that in a short message in NZZ from June 18 for the first time:

Nach der kürzlich angekündigten Einführung des Prepaid-Zahlungsmittels Easyp@y hat die Swisscom diese Woche mitgeteilt, über ihre Tochter Bluewin und mit der Firma Webpay AG das Internet-Bezahlungssystem «click & buy» in der Schweiz einzuführen.

For more information in german see:
Firstgate Click&Buy and Bluewin Press Release

Related:
Urs' Weblog post: Easypay by Swisscom for micro content