Archive for December 2013

QR Code when you can't use NFC

A business card with URL or other information coded to NFC tag is a good idea, but what to do with those smart phones that do not have NFC capabilities. One older alternative to get information read by smart phone is to use QR code or similar two dimensional bar code that can be read

NFC tag success with TecTiles

After first failed NFC experiment I started to look for some more compatible NFC tags. After some quick search on shops (I wanted to get tags quickly and not wait for long time to receive them), I found Samsung TecTiles EAD-X11SWE as the most suitable choice. They are white 25mm x 25mm NFC Tag Stickers

The Raspberry Pi Becomes a Form Factor?

Despite the cries for updated hardware, the Raspberry Pi foundation has been playing it cool. The Raspberry Pi Becomes a Form Factor article tells that they’re committed to getting the most out of their engineering investment, and the current board design for the Raspi doesn’t support more than 512Mb of memory, anyway. It seems that

NFC reader success: HSL matkakortti

Public transportation in Helsinki and cities near it (Espoo, Vantaa etc..) use a card for payments. This card is called HSL matkakortti and it is based on RFID technology. I heard that it would be possible to read those cards with NFC enabled Android phone. I was recommended to try the following useful applications: Matkakortinluku

Most Powerful Computer Network Is Being Wasted

The World’s Most Powerful Computer Network Is Being Wasted on Bitcoin article tells that Bitcoin mining machines are insane powerhouses, and they’re only getting crazier. How much power is getting sunk into the digital cryptocurrency? More than the world’s top 500 supercomputers combined. The whole Bitcoin network hit a record-breaking high of 1 exaFLOPS this

Experimenting with NFC tag

My new smart phone has NFC capabilities so there is time to try them. What is NFC and how do I program NFC tags? Wikipedia defines NFC: Near field communication (NFC) is a set of standards for smartphones and similar devices to establish radio communication with each other by touching them together or bringing them