Near Field Communication (NFC) standard number one tag type, Topaz, has announced the winners of its NFC Innovation Awards, It was a UK based competition to find the most innovative applications of NFC tags for the everyday mobile handset user.

The top innovations are :

Health Buddy - Health Buddy tracks the activity and progress of a user on a set exercise course, triggered each time the user scans an NFC tag at specific locations with an NFC-enabled phone. The location information provided by the NFC tags is linked to pre-calculated calorie-burning, timing and effort data for various physical activities, which could include walking, running and cycling. As well as providing an instant motivator during exercise, Health Buddy provides a historical view of activity, including distances covered and energy consumed
Vehicle identification - This enables traffic officers to use an NFC handset to scan a Topaz tag affixed to the inside of a car windscreen, either as a complement to or replacement of the current tax disc. When scanned, the tag provides a unique reference which the phone uses to retrieve information from a central database. This would enable officers to confirm the vehicle’s tax, insurance and MoT, for example, in a matter of seconds rather than the 20 minutes or so it takes today
Healthcare application - This uses an NFC-enabled phone as a way of automating the process of collecting prescriptions from a pharmacy and reminding patients when it is time to take their drugs

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