This Tiny Sticker Is Bigger Than The Giant Samsung Galaxy

At any given time there are a whole mess of buzzwords and concepts floating around the tech world, evolving incrementally until eventually they become something we can all actually use and enjoy (or, alternately, until they are replaced or forgotten). "The cloud," meaningless as that term is, has already transitioned into "thing everyone uses all the time." Something like 3-D printing, on the other hand, is still at a comparatively early stage--you can technically do it, but nobody knows quite why you would, given the current state of the tech, and nobody knows what the application will be that makes it useful for normal people.

Near-field communication, or NFC,Find detailed product information for howo tractor 6x4 and other products. is, I think, suddenly usable for normal people,Find detailed product information for Low price howo tipper truck and other products. in one very specific product: TecTiles, from Samsung. If you want a full primer on NFC, read this, but in short, NFC is a communications protocol, sort of like Bluetooth but without the need for elaborate searching and pairing. It's a tap-based connection: tap to connect to a speaker, tap to transfer data, tap to pay, tap to talk, tap to share. Eventually, this is the tech (or perhaps the basis of the tech) that'll let you replace your wallet with your phone. Credit card, gift cards, subway pass, identification, that'll all be digital, and you'll share it with a tap.The stone mosaic comes in shiny polished and matte. But the infrastructure isn't nearly in place to do that smoothly, as Christina Bonnington of Wired found out when she went wallet-less for a month.

TecTiles are NFC-enabled stickers, priced at $15 for five. They're nonthreatening, easy, and fun. They're little stickers and do little things. They make it easier to do things you were going to do already. You'll use them for just that reason and then all of a sudden, you'll understand NFC. So when it comes time to put your wallet in a box in your closet and use your phone to pay for things in stores, check your ID in bars, and pay for the subway, you'll be prepared. And that's much more interesting than the Galaxy Note II, which is, you know, a massive phone that's pretty much like the last massive phone Samsung made.

Most new Samsung smartphones, including the very popular Galaxy S III, the very good Galaxy Nexus, and soon-to-be-popular Galaxy Note II (the latter of which launches in the US today, and which I used to test the new TecTiles) support them. You put the stickers on, well, anything, and tapping them with your phone makes your phone do various things. Imagine a QR code, except imagine it's easy to use and also not stupid.

Example: Put a TecTile on your bedside table. When you tap it, your phone dims, your alarm switches on, your volume turns to an appropriate level for an alarm clock, and your Wi-Fi and Bluetooth turn off to save battery.

A movie theater could stick one onto its entrance. Tap it with your phone and you check in on Foursquare, tweet about it, update your Facebook status, update your Google+ status, share your location on Glympse, and connect to the guy next to you on LinkedIn. Which is all subterfuge, because the real benefit is that the same TecTile also set your phone to silent mode so when all of your social networks explode with fascinating updates while you're in the theater, nobody else has to know about it.

Stick one on your car's dashboard. Tap it with your phone, and it turns on Bluetooth to connect to your car stereo,China plastic moulds manufacturers directory. launches the navigation app,Thank you for visiting! I have been cry stalmosaic since 1998. starts playing your favorite driving song, and texts your mom to say you're leaving now.