NFC

A video showing an NFC-clad sticker on a battery in a smartphone has gone viral today. This video suggests that this smartphone was using an NFC sticker to "record every photo of yours on your battery." What we're going to need to do right now is get very serious and very clear about this situation. Your battery - and the NFC antenna that may or may not be attached to it - is not stealing your photos and sending them to our estranged government overlords. It's just not.

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While Apple's keynote at WWDC 2015 included an expansion to the UK for Apple Pay, one omission was a bit more glaring than most: Barclays. Not long after the keynote was complete, Barclays UK took to Twitter to rectify the situation. Not with confirmation that they'd be coming forward with Apple Pay, but with word that they were, indeed, in talks with Apple. Of particular interest is the fact that while Barclays does support a mobile payment service on smartphones with phone numbers, they do not yet support NFC-based connections as of yet.

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According to sources, Samsung's next smartwatch, which may debut in September, will be equipped with an NFC chip. But it won't be for easy pairing with other NFC-bearing devices, at least not just for that. Instead, the NFC will be employed for making mobile payments through Samsung's yet to be launched Samsung Pay. This would put that still to be seen smartwatch closer and, once again, at odds with Apple and its Apple Watch, which uses the very same technology also for making mobile payments via Apple Pay.

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Lycos, one of the many search engines that didn't make it past the early boom years of the Internet is coming out with some wearable tech devices. The company's current embodiment isn't the same as when it rivaled other mid-1990's search engines like Alta Vista. It was bought by Ybrant Digital in 2010. Lycos' new, wearable Lycos Life devices The Band and The Ring want to be your "personal security manager," storing passwords and personal data in lackluster packaging.

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Android Pay is coming, and it's impressively streamlined compared to the overly-complicated and feature-bulging Google Wallet. Officially revealed alongside Android M at Google I/O today, the mobile payments system supports both NFC for dropping virtual cash out in the wild, and in-app integration for retailers wanting to enable easy payments. I grabbed a Nexus 6 and a Nexus 5, both equipped with pre-release versions of Android Pay, to go shopping on Google's dime.

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As Apple Pay continues to become accepted at more and more retailers across the U.S., popular grocery store chain Trader Joe's is one of the latest, with Apple's payment method beginning to appear at a number of locations. With over 400 locations, Trader Joe's is starting to add touchscreen payment terminals from VeriFone at its checkout registers. Trader Joe's is not yet listed as an official Apple Pay partner on Apple's website, yet it seems they are in the process of becoming one, as a number of locations have said that while they don't yet support the payment method, they will sometime soon.

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Apple Pay has more bank partners, but may have lost a major retail presence. The mobile payment solution from Apple now has 24 additional banks and credit unions whose cards will work with your iPhone 6, bringing the total number of banking institutions well over 200. Earlier today, reports claimed Apple Pay had lost Home Depot as a partner. The DIY project supply chain was apparently just updating their system to accept Apple Pay, as a separate report notes Apple Pay is incoming.

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Now that the Apple Watch is out of the way, the tech world's attention is now being turned to what could be Apple's most contentious product, if the iPhone 6's larger screen wasn't contentious enough. Currently nicknamed the iPad Pro, Apple's expected gigantic 12.9-inch tablet is expected to sport some hardware never before seen in any iPad, including something that could probably make the late Jobs turn in his grave. A source familiar with the matter claims that the big iPad will include not just a Force Touch screen and NFC but also a Bluetooth stylus.

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Merchant Customer Exchange (MCX) announced that it plans to launch CurrentC, its very own mobile payment app, sometime in the middle of this year. The new mobile payment platform is an attempt by a band of merchants to find a new way around the dreaded "swipe fees" associated with credit cards. Even retailers accepting Apple Pay have to succumb to swipe fees when the payment is tied to a credit of debit card. MCX will create a private pilot program to test the app in a mid-sized market. Later this year, the group plans to rollout CurrentC nationwide.

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Buffalo has unveiled a new portable hard drive that has storage space and a couple important security features built in. The goal of the new portable hard drive is to protect any personal or business data you put on the drive from being stolen by hackers in the event that the drive it lost or stolen. The new drive is the Buffalo MiniStation Extreme NFC portable hard drive.

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Jawbone is taking on mobile payments, with the fitness wearable firm partnering up with American Express to show Apple Pay and others how the cashless society should go. Based around a new flagship wristband, the Jawbone UP4, the payments system embeds NFC into the strap for frictionless transactions across any wireless-capable cash register where a regular American Express card could be used. I caught up with Jawbone and AMEX to find out why UP4 is special.

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Paying for things without getting your wallet out is uniquely satisfying. Doing so with a wearable is even more intriguing. Those who aren’t interested in a smartwatch may still be able to pay for goods digitally, as a new report suggests Jawbone and American Express will partner for a mobile payment solution. Though the talk only suggests your American Express card will work with a Jawbone band, they don’t say which one. The latest Jawbone product, UP3, has NFC built in, but won’t be part of this mobile payment method.

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