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April 22, 2006
French road-test cashless technology
The tourist city of Caen in France's Normandy region is hosting a major trial of so-called near field communication--a mobile technology that can be used for anything from paying for groceries to finding out about one's hometown.
Near field communication (NFC) is already being used extensively across London, although people may not know it: The Oyster card carried by millions of commuters every day is based on the contactless technology.
By placing an NFC chip near a card reader, up to a distance of a centimeter or two away, data can be transmitted to and from the chip. In the case of the Oyster card, permission to go through a barrier can be granted and a fee for traveling on the underground deducted.
But the Caen project has a more far-reaching use in mind for NFC, with residents now packing NFC-enabled mobile phones to see if using the technology could catch on beyond public transportation.
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Posted by paba7 at April 22, 2006 08:54 PM