The beginning of the end for credit cards?
Radio-frequency identification
Nokia last week unveiled a phone that makes wireless payments using data stored on its SIM card. It's a method I mentioned in a recent column about the MIT NFC prototype, Eclectyk.
The Nokia 6216 Classic has a NFC (or Near Field Communication) modem and antenna. That means you can use the phone to make the same short-range wireless payments (at less than two inches between the payment device and the reader) that you make with your MasterCard PayPass card.
Once banks decide to support NFC phones, that is, and mobile service providers start issuing NFC SIM cards.
For the moment, the 6216 stands as something of a loss leader, meant to spur the adoption of NFC, according to Nokia.
The neat thing about the 6216 is that all of the data for your contactless payments - credit or debit - can be stored on that NFC-compatible SIM card.
NFC also has its scary side: RFID security experts say they can wirelessly peer into the contents of an NFC chip.
More about the 6216: First, it probably looks a heck of a lot like your first mobile phone. (I guess that's why they call the phone a Classic.) It has a plain, alphanumeric keypad and buttons in all the same places as my ancient, but reliable, Nokia 3595.
The 6216 also has a 2.0-megapixel camera and a built-in FM radio and music player.
The phone's microSD slot can accommodate up to 8GB of storage.
iPhone Apps
Just what this doctor ordered: a restful sleep
Last week, I heard from a Boston University medical student, David Preiss, who will soon become an MD.He started developing iPhone apps between his shifts as an intern at Mass. General, and what he's created should improve any attending physician's bedside manner.
His app, Siesta, can help troubled sleepers awaken feeling a bit more refreshed than usual. About $2 at the App Store, it uses the iPhone's accelerometer to sense when you are stirring - a period when it is believed you can wake up more naturally.
Here's how Siesta works: If you normally whale on the snooze button at 6:30 a.m. sharp, you can instead program a time period (say 6:15 a.m. to 6:45 a.m.) during which Siesta will monitor your tosses and turns. Your iPhone then begins vibrating once you are out of the deep end of your sleep cycle.
If you guessed that Siesta came out of an intern's desperate search for maximum return on his sleep investment, you are spot on.
Interns not only get less sleep than the rest of us, they typically find themselves hovering over patients at the most ungodly hours.
