BACK PAGE Rants and ramblings


NFC (nearfield communications, as we’re sure you know) is a very clever short-range contactless technology, with applications that include marketing and mobile payments. Companies such as Proxama, which spoke at PSCo’s The Art of Digital event recently (see News, p4) have built successful campaigns for major brands around the technology. We do wonder, though, how soon


it will be before the use of NFC becomes widespread in Europe as an alternative to cash for small transactions. Amazingly, that rather annoying TV advert for Barclaycard’s contactless payment cards, which involved a man leaving the office and travelling home via a giant waterslide, is nearly five years old now. In London at least, most people’s


experience of contactless payment has been with London Transport’s Oyster cards, which are certainly convenient, but involve a tedious bureaucratic process to get repaid if one gets overcharged when failing


Here, though, is a use for NFC that we can wholeheartedly get behind. Part of the post-tradeshow ritual is to go through all the business cards we have picked up and add their details to our contact lists. A few years ago these might have gone into a card index box, or a Rolodex if one was feeling particularly flashy and American – but electronic is the only way to go these days. So one is torn between some kind of scanner method (fast but not sufficiently free of errors to be trusted) or inputting details manually (reliable but tedious).


Anybody got any E’s? Here are some promotional sweets given out by Sennheiser at Prolight + Sound to mark the 15th anniversary of the Evolution microphone series. Is it just us, or do they put anyone else in mind of something a little more stimulating than chocolate?


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58 May 2013


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to ‘tap out’ at the end of a journey. And then there were press


reports last month that the data from NFC-enabled credit cards could be skimmed using a Samsung Galaxy and an app downloaded from the Google Play store. The thief wouldn’t even have to touch the card – it could be in someone’s wallet or in their pocket the whole time. The banks deny that there have been any thefts carried out in this way but this could just mean that they haven’t believed anyone who has reported this kind of loss. As one newspaper put it, does this mean that NFC stands for Nice For Criminals?


So we were interested to hear about ANSACARD, a business card that can transfer its details into a phone or tablet with a tap, swipe or text. It includes an embedded NFC chip, a dynamic QR code and an interactive SMS. It launched last month – you can find out more at www.ansacard.com.


Bits and pieces from the editorial cutting-room floor


ADVERTISERS INDEX Various musings from the Twitterati


Allen & Heath...................16 Amina.................................32 ASL Intercom ......................3 Ateis ...................................56 Audio-Technica...................8 Audipack............................25 AV Stumpfl........................51 Blackmagic Design ............7 Bosch..................................36 Cadac .................................55 coolux ................................41 Datapath.....................30-31 Dynascan...........................44 Emcore...............................54 eyevis .................................17 Hetec..................................42 IBC.......................................52 InOut...................................19 Invision UK.........................33 Kling & Freitag..................27 Kramer ...............................45 Lightware..Inside front cover LiveDots.............................13 Midwich..............................25 Mipro...................................43 Mitsubishi..........................11 Mode-AL...............................5 Opticis................................29 Peavey................................22 Peerless-AV.......................39 Powersoft..........................21 Pro Sound Awards...........47 QSC.....................................48 RGB Spectrum..................15 Riedel.................Front cover Smart-e..............................37 Smart Metals....................33 Sommer Cable..................35 Stewart Filmscreen...........9 TAG........................................4 Taiden.....Inside back cover Tannoy ...............................41 TOA.....................................14 TV One...............................49 Vision AV............................37 Vivitek................................20


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