MediaTek launches NFC controller

Taiwan-based semiconductor supplier MediaTek has launched an NFC controller for mobile devices that can support up to three secure elements at the same time.

The MT6605 "supports simultaneously three secure elements, both embedded and SIM-based," says MediaTek. "A possible usage scenario could be a dual SIM plus one microSD card configuration in one device. It's a great way to empower ecosystem players to launch their NFC services right away by enabling more flexible business models."

The device offers seamless integration with MediaTek's existing Android mobile platforms, and the MT6605 software stack complies with the NFC Forum Controller Interface (NCI) specification and works with multiple operating systems.

The chip also incorporates a technology that MediaTek calls "Beam Plus" which optimizes the NFC to WiFi handover procedure and "can reduce device pairing time significantly at very low power operations."

The MT6605 NFC controller is already being designed into smartphones by major customers, says MediaTek, with the first smartphones incorporating the new chips expected to ship in Q2 2013.

In a separate move, MediaTek is also integrating Miracast WiFi display technology with NFC to seamlessly interlink smart TVs with the company's latest quad-core smartphone platform. "With a simple tap of the device," says the company, "it is possible to wirelessly stream HD quality video and other multimedia content such as video and games from mobile and other devices onto big screen HDTVs without connecting through an access point."

The school district was tempted with the lure of an additional $2 million in state funding if it improved school attendance records, and selected John Jay High School and Anson Jones Middle School to test the pilot program for their Radio Frequency Identification System or RFID.

Students were required to carry identifications implanted with a micro chip as part of the school’s “Student Locator Program.”  The identifications sent out a signal which enabled school officials to track students whereabouts during school hours. The identifications turned off at the end of the school day.

United States District Judge Orlando Garcia tossed a request for a preliminary injunction that a sophomore student Andrea Hernandez and her father filed, claiming religious objections.  Steven Hernandez said as an evangelical Christian, he felt the chips equated to a biblical mark of the beast.

In a 25-page ruling, the judge ultimately decided the family’s objection that wearing the modified badge would be tantamount to supporting the program was a secular objection not worthy of religious rights protection.

The concern for privacy, the possibility of nefarious uses if the badge stolen, and impinging on civil liberties is valid.

However, those concerns are countered by the nation’s recent violent history of school shootings, numerous examples of illicit activities, including sexual activity and drug use on school campuses, which give administrators the right to to track students whereabouts during school hours.

 Parents entrust teachers, faculty and administrators to harbor their children and teens in safe environments when in their custody.

And the overwhelming majority of the 4,200 students that were part of the pilot program agreed and supported the program.

"You never know when a disaster is going to happen and to know where your child is at least you have that card to know where your kid's at all times," parent Michelle Esquivel told a local Fox news affiliate.  FOX 29.

The “smart” ID cards in the pilot program, which cost about $260,000, also enabled students to obtain lunch and breakfast in the cafeteria and check out library books, a school official said.

Kids will be kids and in some of the most troubled schools, getting and keeping kids in classrooms is the first step to making sure they are at least marginally educated before they go out into the working world.

Equity Bank and MasterCard on Tuesday announced the launch of Equity Debit and Credit cards featuring MasterCard's PayPass technology. This makes Kenya and Equity Bank the first in Africa to feature MasterCard's PayPass which uses Near Field Technology. The announcement was made on Tuesday afternoon at an event at the bank's headquarters -Equity Centre. The launch was attended by Professor Njuguna Ndung'u, Central Bank Governor, Ajay Banga, President and CEO MasterCard Worldwide, James Mwangi, Equity Group CEO and other senior members of staff at both Equity and MasterCard.

Mwangi says the bank will issue 5 million PayPass enabled cards and also overhaul all POS it has issued to support PayPass. As a safety feature, the cards also feature EMV chip technology rather than the traditional magnetic stripe. In addition, kiosks and other small retailers who are not in a position to afford traditional PoS points will be issued with PayPass enabled mobile phones. With the mobile phones, the kiosks and small retailers will be in a position to accept and process payments from cards issued by Equity Bank.

The same platform will the be extended to Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda and South Sudan. The CEO hopes the move will help cement Equity Bank as the leading bank in the region. The bank has 7 million account holders in Kenya.

In a bid to promote uptake of the product, Mwangi said that payments made at kiosks will attract no transaction fee.

Cards in the country grew at 15 percent last year to stand at 10.6 million. Visa holds a majority of share of merchant cards issued in Kenya. Virtually, all merchant cards issued in the country were Visa until Equity Bank's announcement of the MasterCard partnership. The bank holds about half of all bank accounts in Kenya.

Equity Bank runs on a platform supplied by Infosys, HP, Oracle and Microsoft and a Way4 online card management system. It can handle 35 million accounts and process multiple currencies from multiple firms and in multiple countries at 180,000 transactions per minute and support 60 million cards.