NFC

If you use Estimote's location beacons, then you're about to get a major new feature with the addition of low-energy mesh networking. Mesh networking is being added today by way of software update, and once that update has been applied, your beacons will be able to pass data between one another. Among other things, this means that you can now have beacons in more remote locations, as they no longer need to rely on a strong WiFi signal to work.

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Apple Pay officially launched in Spain this week, making it the latest European nation to accept Apple's contactless mobile payments service. It also comes shortly after similar debuts in Japan, New Zealand, and Russia. Using compatible iPhone models or an Apple Watch, Apple Pay will allow users to make fast and easy payments at 27 Spanish retailers simply by holding their device over an NFC terminal.

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The Estimote Mirror is a new product in a line of Bluetooth beacons that react to smartphones around them. This device uses similar technology to that of the rest of the Estimote Beacon line, but here makes a display - a TV screen, poster-sized billboard display, anything with am HDMI-input - show content based on a user being within proximity. This device may well bring about the age of Minority Report shopping at last.

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Google has announced new Android Pay support for a multitude of banks and services, adding one of the largest in the US to its roster today. Android Pay now supports credit and debit cards from Chase, with Google pointing out that Chase customers can still enjoy the benefits they get with those cards while using them with Android Pay.

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Last month, Android Pay broke into Asia by launching in Singapore, and today the service is turning its sights south and launching in Australia. Android Pay will be launching with support from 28 banks across the country, but of the largest four banks in the region, only the Australian and New Zealand Banking Group is supporting the roll out from the beginning.

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Today Estimote has announced a rather significant update to its wireless Proximity Beacons. The Google Eddystone-compatible beacons, which aim to give users contextual experiences on smartphones and bridge the gap between the real world and mobile devices, have been updated to include programmable NFC chips. NFC seems to be a huge addition that will help Estimote's beacons stand out from the crowd.

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There might be some hope for Windows 10 Mobile after all. Well, at least as far as catching up to the big players in the mobile payment race. An internal build of the OS revealed a new feature in the Wallet app that adds not just the ability to pay for purchases via NFC but also to include loyalty and membership cards. Perhaps even better, Microsoft's mobile payment system might be immediately compatible with most, if not all, existing NFC terminals in the market.

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We've seen several tech-enabled rings in the last few years, from failed attempts at turning them into gesture motion controllers, to new ones that prevent a partner from streaming a new TV show episode without you. But now Visa is taking a stab at it by turning the ring into a contactless payments device. Just like you'd swipe your smartphone over a terminal to make a payment, Visa's ring puts your credit card directly on your finger.

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In the past, commitment meant that you fell in love with someone, exchanged rings and vows, and lived happily ever after. These days, people apparently can't even commit to watching a TV show together without one party cheating on the other. Sure, it seems harmless. You'll just jump ahead and watch the next couple episodes of House of Cards, even though you promised never to do that. It's okay though, you can just act surprised when you re-watch it with them. Well, one company wants to prevent this from happening, by once again using rings as a means of commitment.

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Android users in the UK will have another contactless payment service to try out with Barclays launching its own in June. The Barclays contactless payment service for Android devices is said to be the UK's first such service and it will let users pay in stores via their mobile device. The service comes about a year after Apple Pay launched in the UK.

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While Google's Android Pay and its rival Apple Pay have had a fairly comparative start in the US, Apple's mobile payments system has had a big head start in the UK. It seems Google has been aware of this fact as well, as the company has announced that Android Pay will finally be coming to the UK, with a timeframe promise of within "the next few months."

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It may have started off a bit slow, with only a few select retailers offering support, but Apple's mobile payments system Apple Pay has reached acceptance at 2 million worldwide locations. That is a lot of places for users to make payments on the go with their iPhone 6, 6s, and Apple Watch, and it's well beyond the company's own goal of reaching 1.5 million retail outlets before the end of 2015.

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