NFC technology as a mobile pay technology never lived up to high expectations. Never mind, say analysts, because NFC, which stands for near field communications, as a wireless technology that can transfer data at short distances, may be the starter for innovative applications to come. A Kickstarter NFC-enabled, NFC Ring project now under way is a case in point. This is a ring made to be worn on the finger at all times, like a wedding band. The promotional video says that the ring allows the user to unlock a door lock that is NFC-enabled, unlock a smartphone just by touching it with the ring, or, for those so inclined, can hold your bitcoin address. The team behind the Android-based ring points out that it does not work easily with all NFC-enabled phones, the Samsung Galaxy S4 and Blackberry Z10 to be exact. For those devices the team warns that "you will need an alpha size ring," which is "really only for chaps with big fingers". Pledges are for £25 and above. There is a normal size ring and an alpha man size ring.

The "normal size ring" is ~7mm wide. The ring does not need battery power. The ring itself is a titanium band. Built into the ring are two inlays with NFC-ready chips in them. One of the transmitters is for public information and a smaller one on the inside is for private information. The two-inlay design was created for user security, and the wearer would be using different types of hand gestures to share different kinds of information. The ring's components are listed as a clear RFID passive coating, inlay cover, NFC inlay with NTAG 203 chip, RFID reflective material, and Titanium/steel ring. While the price per ring is about £25 the creators offer a CAD design that users can hack, writing actions to the ring, customizing, and applying 3-D printing, The ring creators developed software in Apache Cordova, which is a platform for building native mobile applications using HTML, CSS and JavaScript. They also posted links to documentation and other reference points on their Github organization site.

"Creating an open source platform will enable third parties to adopt the NFC Ring and consider making their devices NFC-ready." They look forward to more NFC ring applications taking off in the future. They have exceeded their funding goal of £30,000 with a total of £40,535 at the time of this writing. The project will be funded as of August 19. NFC Ring is from British designer John McLear. According to the site, "We have been working on developing the NFC ring for over a year, our product was invented by John McLear to automatically unlock his mobile phone and to make jewellery [sic] practical. Ultimately, John knew at some point in his life he was going to have to wear a ring, and he wanted the ring to be practical, but personal." Galaxy's Ring of Fire With the “Near Field Communication Bit (NFC-Bit)” you can add “keys” to your creations. Its everyday use can be found in door systems, security systems, home-automation, data-transfer, payments and many more…

Every NFC-tag is unique! See NFC as a unique electronic key for your littleBits creations. Actions only take place when the right NFC-tag is presented.Click HERE to see the NFC-Bit in action!Please show me your support and VOTE HERE: http://littlebits.cc/bitlab/bits/near-field-communication-nfc-bitYou can control the Bit with the 2 included NFC-tags, but also your own NFC-tags (e.g. the pass from the sport school etc.)windows and doors pasco countyWith the mode button you can toggle through the 4 modes:(NOTE: Eventually more modes will be available and more tags can be added when the project reaches 1000 votes!)antique door knobs charlotte nc1 Program mode: Program up to 4 different NFC-tags into the NFC-Bit. garage door parts supply passaic nj

The built-in memory will save the tag-IDs when the Bit is unpowered.2 Read mode: When a programmed NFC-tag is detected, the NFC-Bit output goes HIGH for 1 second. Non-programmed NFC-tags won’t work obviously.3 Read mode extended: When a programmed NFC-tag is detected, the NFC-Bit output is different for every tag.garage door springs madison wiNon-programmed NFC-tags won’t work obviously. In this way, when connected to the arduino bit, you can read the different outputs and control different things with the different NFC-tags.4 Read mode all: Any NFC-tag on the planet can trigger the NFC-Bit output HIGH for 1 second.Suggestions, ideas or what you would like to see in the Bit, you can put it in a comment below.I hope you like it.You have to be fucking kidding me. Even if he was too polite to say it, that's what John Frankel was thinking five months ago when one of his limited partners called him to suggest he try to invest in UniKey -- a company he'd just seen on the popular TV show.

Frankel is a real VC after all. Someone given millions to invest on behalf of major pension funds and endowments because of his proprietary deal flow and investment savvy, right? Not exactly the kind of guy who needs to get his investment tips from ABC's prime time line up. Even if the company was interesting, surely it had all the capital it needed after pitching to five investors -- on national television. Indeed, Mark Cuban had agreed on the show to make an investment already. Frankel could think of better ways to spend his time. But Frankel didn't say any of that, because he's polite, and this was one of his limited partners talking. Instead, he rolled his eyes and sent a note to UniKey. Fast-forward to today, and UniKey is announcing a major deal with Kwikset, the largest residential lock maker in the US. It'll be on sale later this summer. It's great news for UniKey and its largest investor... How the two got to this point is anything but the typical Silicon Valley story.

And it's a textbook case of how software is snaking out well beyond social media to disrupt and reinvent even the most tangible real world of objects -- the key to get in your home. That means software deals are no longer just found in the usual places either. First, let's talk about how UniKey got to "Shark Tank." It was started in the not-so-techy hotbed of central Florida by Phil Dumas -- a guy obsessed with digitizing locks. Back in college his senior design project for his engineering degree was something called OnCar -- a system that could unlock your call by calling it. He had one in his own car and was always tinkering with it. That lead to a job at a startup where he developed a product called SmartScan that could open a door lock using biometrics. It was there that he first worked with the Kwikset team. Big problem: It didn't always work on the first try. Digital keys are one of those things that have to work every time, or you'll stick with the convenience and habit of just carrying around a physical key. 

There's a reason keys have been the dominant "technology" to get us into houses for more than 1,000 years. They are small, portable, require no learning curve and they don't require batteries or crash. To compete, something has to outdo keys on convenience and reliability, not simply be cool and futuristic. Dumas wound up leaving that company for a stint in private equity. But the product's shortcomings haunted him until 2010, when he decided to try solving the lock problem through a different angle: Your smartphone. The phone -- not your fingerprint -- is the biometric identifier for UniKey. The lock detects it in your pocket, but you don't actually have to interact with the phone to open the door, you just have to have the phone on you and touch the lock. It comes with a key fob as a back up. Dumas didn't have a lot of VCs to chose from in Central Florida, so he applied for "Shark Tank." On the show, all of the Sharks made offers with Cuban and Kevin O'Leary made a commitment to invest, and TechCrunch even reported the Cuban investment later on.

Only problem: They were misreading an SEC filing. That deal never actually happened. In subsequent negotiations after the show, Dumas couldn't come to terms with the Sharks. That made Frankel's out of the blue call pretty welcome, although Dumas says he could hear the skepticism in Frankel's voice from the first call and it took a good deal of due diligence for the two to get comfortable with one another. He says Frankel was far more aligned to the way he thought about building the company than the Sharks were. "He's more understanding of the early stage process and the decisions we have to make," Dumas says. The whole thing was bizarrely serendipitous. "I guess you never know where a deal will come from," Frankel says. Indeed, some of the Sharks speak a different language than most Valley investors, with one seemingly balking at a $1 million pre-money valuation for a product already in talks with the largest distributor of locks in the country. Says another Shark on the episode, "$500,000 is a lot of money!"

In VC circles, neither are exactly an outrageous ask for a tech company with a big market opportunity. Today, the company has raised about $2.3 million with an option for another $1 million on the table. Dumas still raves about his experience on the show, but I have no doubt he got more reasonable terms from Frankel. The best thing about being on "Shark Tank"? A lot of potential customers see your product. A lot of potential competitors see your product. Part of what attracted Frankel to the company was Dumas' industry knowledge on locks. Plenty of kids could throw together a mobile app, but building a credible product requires understanding the nuances of locks and the market dynamics in an industry that even electricity hasn't changed much. Little things, like the phone needs to know what side of the door you are on. The last thing you want is to go to the door to see who it is and accidentally unlock it. There's a lot of promise here beyond the simple act of digitizing a key.

You can give out temporary keys or conditional keys to people -- letting a neighbor into your home only when they are watering your plants or a housekeeper in between 2 pm and 5 pm on Fridays, for instance. There are clear advantages for users of a site like Airbnb or anyone running a company out of his home, like I am. And you can imagine other verticals that would be interested in the technology, like car dealers or hotel chains. While digitizing locks may seem outside of the domain expertise for a venture firm like Frankel's ff Venture Capital, the business model isn't. It's essentially intelligent hardware backed up by a software as a service recurring revenue model, that varies based on what features customers want. The actual digital lock is just the way of getting a user base. The real value is what the software running in that lock can do, which includes a lot of premium services like notifications, remote entry, or unlimited keys, Dumas says. Because the value of UniKey is really software, Dumas was happy for Kwikset to do the heavy lifting of manufacturing and distributing the locks.