NFC contact sharing: promising, but

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I’ve done all I could to make contact-sharing withan NFC tag as seamless an experience as possible: I’ve implanted a nice, long-range tag, and the data on it is compatible with as many cellphones as possible without requiring the recipient’s cellphone to be on the internet.

So in theory, when I meet someone with a smartphone, they should have a 56% chance of being able to read my tag (75% market share for Android, and 75% of cellphones equiped with NFC). And even if I made my contact shareable with newer iPhones, it wouldn’t raise the probability all that much, since iOS is only 24% market share and only newer iPhones would work. Hmm, not exactly a great likelihood of completing a successful NFC transaction.

And then, it seems most people leave NFC off in their phones: NFC penetration isn’t high enough for most people have any real, everyday-life use for it yet. Those who do don’t seem to find the convenience of leaving NFC on all the time worth the battery life hit. Even here in Finland where people use their phones for anything and everything, I hardly meet anyone who has NFC enabled.

So, when someone wants my contact information, the promise is to be able to say “Yes, put your phone here”. But the reality is more like:

“Sure. Do you have NFC in your phone?”
Puzzled look… “I don’t know. Why?”
“Bear with me. Go into Settings there, go into Connected devices there, then go into Connection Preferences there.”
“Hmm okay. Then what?”
“See that little icon there? Press on it.”
“Oh, that thing. Never found out what it was for. Okay so what now?”
“Put your phone on my arm here…” Finally, the magic line :slight_smile:
“Okay” BING "There’s a popup now. What d’I do?
“Tap on Use Contacts”
“Okay.” At last, the damn contacts are in the person’s contact list. “Oh cool! Can I turn that thing off now?”
“Yeah. But you might want to leave it on, to scan other tags or do contactless payments.”
“I never do that, and I don’t know how to do it. What’s that? Is it like the credit card at the supermarket?”
“Nevermind, just turn it off…”

That’s when it works at all…

Nice party trick, but not exactly seamless. I’ve shared my contacts with NFC with quite a few people since I got my doNExT implanted, and 9 times out of 10, it went that way.

In truth, it would have been almost as fast to just spell out my name, phone number and email addy. People are used to going for the contact list and speed-thumbing things in it. But they’re just not used to NFC at all.

I have a feeling that I’m betting on something that’s still in the future here. It’s not quite there yet to make the party trick seriously useful. And with my luck, NFC might not pick up as much as analysts think, and it’ll remain a party trick.

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Right there with you as I’m doing the same

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Being an early adopter is never easy. I still have to plan carefully and go out of my way to charge my EV, but it’s getting better.

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derailment

What kind do you have if you don’t mind me asking? My family needs a second vehicle, and I am doing my best to find one that works for my family. I see VW just announced kinda what I am looking for, as the model X is stupid expensive.

But even that VW one will cost as much as the Cybertruck.

I am kinda iffy about getting a kia or Hyundai electric vehicle, as I am unsure of the charging networks and stuff.

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Haha, you are on the money with your “people and phone settings”

For this bit

Sometimes, it might be worth a “swipe down from the top”

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In fairness its not always on the top bar or even the first page

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It’s usually readily available in the pull-down if it’s been configured as a shortcut there. If it isn’t (which is the case when the phone’s owner never uses it or doesn’t know what it is) then it needs to be fished out of the bowels of the settings menu. Usually… It kind of depends on the version of Android.

The hypothetical verbal exchange I posted above is representative of what I have to say to technically inept people - a group which a surprising number of CEOs, marketdroids and other “decision makers” belong to.

If I know I’m dealing with someone who isn’t a tool, it can go a lot faster: I can usually shorten it to “Here, do this: turn on NFC and stick you phone on my arm here. You’ll get all my details immediately.” Perhaps I’ll add “NFC is in the setting, in the same category as Bluetooth” if I see the person isn’t too sure how to enable it. But the person still has to fumble in their phone’s menu - something I’d rather they didn’t have to do at the end of a meeting, when everybody is shaking hands goodbye.

Sadly, I seem to need sharing my contact information with more tools than competent folks…

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image

Don’t share your info with tools :wink:

Maybe you should get a QR Code tattoo

Screenshot_20200927-105653_Barcode Generator
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Hihihi Rosco is very much against tattoos :slight_smile:

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I wish…

One of the reasons why I wanted to share information electronically is to quit giving out business cards, because I keep forgetting them and I never have any on me when I need them. Not to mention, there are better uses for trees.

So I’m trying hard, even with people who just don’t much about cellphones. But for those who are really obtuse, I revert to the damn paper business cards.

Believe it or not, I actually looked into that. But there are a couple of drawbacks: they’re really too permanent for my taste, and my piercer-cum-tattoo artist tells me the ink in tattoos tend to spread around and fade over time. Also, he told me you need a really good artist to pull it off successfully, with any kind of meaningful information density.

Not really. It’s just not for me. Other than the commitment to having something you (almost) can’t remove on you, I like my body unadorned. I could spring much more easily for a glow-in-the-dark tattoo that’s invisible in the daytime though…

But I have nothing against tattoos; if you like them, more power to you :slight_smile:

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I agree with you on all your points about tattoos - I haven’t got any. I have seen some quite functinal QR tattoos tho…

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Weren’t you the one that told me about the mildly interesting, and moderately horrific piercing I should do thru my gsw in my wrist, because you wanted it but you were jealous it fixed my tendons to the scar?

Nothing against it, but that doesn’t sound like unadorned lol

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Ha? We’re seriously off topic here :slight_smile:

2015 Nissan LEAF. Limited range (~70 miles per charge) and therefore dirt cheap ($13K). Works well for my daily commute with the EVSE I installed in my garage. I will probably end up with a Tesla if I can bring myself to sell some of my Tesla.

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Sorry I meant for aesthetic purposes.

The muscle or tendon externalization I would have someone perform on me would be for functional purposes: it would be for the purpose of interfacing with a machine - which is the aspect of biohacking that interests me - potentially 24/7 if whatever is attached to it can be worn comfortably all the time.

A QR code tattoo would be functional several seconds per day when I scan it, but would be essentially nonfunctional body decoration the rest of the time. That’s also why I said I might go for a UV ink tattoo that can’t be normally seen.

Same reason I don’t wear a watch: it’s a functional piece when I look at it, but it’s a piece of jewelery the rest of the time.

And it’s also why I deplore the large bump my doNExT is creating on my wrist: sure it shines like a red light in a brothel when I scan it, and I even have plans to create a smart wearable to make it shine all day long. But when I’m not “connected” to it, it looks like I have an exceptionally uninteresting decorative subdermal implant inside my arm.

I hope that makes sense :slight_smile:

Indeed… Sorry y’all.

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You knew I had to jump in there, didn’t you?
I thought about that too, for quite some time, but both UV- and GitD-ink are incredibly toxic… I think no serious tattoo artist would inject that stuff. It exists, but it’s more of a “fashion gag”, in a way. The stuff is not healthy, and there are no real long-time-tests on how this ink behaves inside your skin (considering fading and all that).

This might be more important for a QR-code, I get that, but you can keep tattoos looking young and fresh - choose a really good artist, take good care of your tat and avoid sunlight. Like I said, I know someone whose tattoos are more than 20 years old and still look like they were done a month ago or so. I think if you make the QR-code big enough, that should really be no problem - blurring lines are more a problem with tattoos that are too small, like tiny text-pieces.
I know you won’t get one at all, so this is more of an advice for those who actually think about tattooing a QR-code on their skin :wink:

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I was aware of that. I said I might go for a tattoo that’s invisible in normal light if I decided to go for a tattoo at all. In which case I’d do a lot more research before committing to it. Since I’m not, the thought is hypothetical.

Too much work for lazy ole me :slight_smile:

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Yeah, I was aware of that… still, you might invoke ideas in others who read this thread, so I had to comment for safety’s sake :stuck_out_tongue:

Hehe, I’m planning on staying pale as f* and prevent skin aging, so I’m throwing sunscreen on myself as soon as the sun comes out^^ Helping my tattoos that way is quite secondary^^

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Or maybe shoot your arm with a gene gun and transfect GFP genes into your epidermis…
Would only last for a couple of days though, and wouldn’t make for a nice tattoo (also could give you skin cancer) :stuck_out_tongue:

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I’m afraid I’ll be totally willing to do crazy stuff once I have visible signs of aging, but that might be a little risky :stuck_out_tongue:

But genetic engineering sounds fun, at least if I want to believe several cyberpunk-y books, series, films and games - could you please develop a way for me to stay young, pale, get jet black hair (without having to re-dye it every few weeks) and maybe change my eyecolour at will? I’m afraid I’m asking to much, but you seem competent on that matter :smiley:

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