Comments on: Samsung TecTiles hands-on with Galaxy S III

By: jhdale

jhdale — Wed, 13 Jun 2012 15:40:00 +0000

That’s incorrect. They really do the same thing on every phone.

For example in the FAQ on the Samsung site at http://www.samsung.com/us/microsite/tectile/#multiple-uses it gives the example “Make a tag that checks the reader into the
Foursquare venue that you
choose. Put this tag on your reception desk or next to your
register. Lock the tag to ensure everyone checks in to your business.” There is a similar example for checking people into Facebook Places. Neither example works if the tiles need to be defined per phone.

Other coverage also reads this way. E.g. http://www.informationweek.com/news/development/mobility/240001946 gives the example “A cinema could post a TecTile on a wall to offer
customers the chance to mute their NFC-enabled Android phones as they
enter the theater.”

As an example of pure nuisance, suppose you set up a TecTile to run a timer and then set off an alarm after one hour. Then replace the TecTile in that cinema.

But really the exploits are about malware. Go to a URL could easily result in installing malware/viruses. And don’t these phones also have Google Wallet?

I think you are safe if you don’t install the TecTile app. But that seems a shame, since there are some places where it could be useful. I just don’t think they’ve thought through the security ramifications here.

By: CelticBrewer

CelticBrewer — Wed, 13 Jun 2012 12:55:00 +0000

I found it:

“Naturally, there’s a limit to this initial rollout’s NFC-love and that’s where things could get pricey, given that each TecTile can currently carry only one function at a time. Plans are underway, however, to expand beyond this limitation by enabling multi-functions in future iterations of the tacky tech — whenever version 2.0 touches down.”

By: Joemonroe

Joemonroe — Wed, 13 Jun 2012 12:48:00 +0000

Like the Sony Xperia Smarttags but cheaper and more versatile, nice.

By: Joemonroe

Joemonroe — Wed, 13 Jun 2012 12:47:00 +0000

a set of actions (macro) as I understand it.

By: Joemonroe

Joemonroe — Wed, 13 Jun 2012 12:46:00 +0000

No, it’s just a command that you can use to tell your phone what to do. If you phone isn’t told to do anything in the tag’s presence it won’t do anything. If I put one in my car (the back side of a cubby door perhaps) and tell my S3 to switch to driver mode and play my driving playlist then that is what it will do. My wife on the other hand could set her S3 to pull up navigation and play her “Relax” playlist from the same tag. It’s just a quick way to get your phone to immediately do what you want it to in very specific situations.

By: Joemonroe

Joemonroe — Wed, 13 Jun 2012 12:46:00 +0000

There is no intermingling of devices here.

By: CelticBrewer

CelticBrewer — Wed, 13 Jun 2012 12:46:00 +0000

“…to do an action”. What’s the definition of action? Rather, my question is whether it’ll perform one task, or if I can do a whole macro. Say: “turn on bluetooth, play playlist ‘rock’ through stereo xyz, read text messages out loud, and never dim the display.”

Either way, these are pretty cool.

By: orca_1

orca_1 — Wed, 13 Jun 2012 08:19:00 +0000

Try the app NFC ReTag … it´s free .. a lot more functions … and
works with nearly ALL NFC tags … even nfc enabled public traffic
tickets ;-)

By: Liaw Kim Poh

Liaw Kim Poh — Wed, 13 Jun 2012 08:01:00 +0000

While I am not sure about this, it will probably avoid that by matching your device id?

By: jhdale

jhdale — Wed, 13 Jun 2012 04:13:00 +0000

“Once a TecTile is programmed, any Samsung Galaxy S
III will understand what it’s been programmed to do and will
immediately do the action once it’s tapped up against it.”

Wait, I can program one of these and any of these phones, not just mine, will do what I say as soon as I get the TecTile close enough to them? Change system settings, send updates, go to a specific URL? That seems like it has great potential for mischief. I just put it somewhere people will tend to place their phones, like next to those cell phone chargers in airports or on a table at Starbucks.

If I actually had one of these phones I would worry about this….