[Sjaak] is back at it again with the cool PCB business cards, this time alleviating the burden to physically type his contact information into your phone. But NFC isn’t the only cool thing on this PCB – as always, his aesthetics don’t disappoint.
When we see [Sjaak’s] card, the future seems to be the now – not only do we have business cards that can take our pulse, we have business cards that actively help facilitate the exchange of contact information. I know what you’re thinking. “Business cards made of paper do that already.” That’s true if you read them. You have to physically remember you have the card (aka not put it through the wash), and, if you’re like most folks, you’ll ultimately enter the information into your cell phone’s contact list. Why not skip the whole reading thing? You know, just zap your contact information into the contact list of people automatically?
Maybe this is exactly what [Sjaak] thought when he built his NFC enabled business card. Maybe not. Regardless, [Sjaak’s] card is beautiful – both in implementation and aesthetics. Powered by “a nice little NFC EEPROM from NXP”, (the NT3H1101) the business card even has an energy harvesting mode. Moreover, one can interact with the card via four buttons and an LED. The LED informs the user what mode the card is currently in, and the buttons choose which URL is sent to users via NFC. To add icing to the cake, the back of the PCB is decked out via [Sjaak’s] custom full-color decal process we covered back in August.
As great as it looks, the card still needs some improvement. “I still need to tackle the sharp and protruding components on the front, which will ruin your wallet.” But, in our eyes, the card is surely on its way to greatness, and we look forward to seeing its final form. However, if you’re anything like us, you might want to see some other rad PCB business cards while you wait. If that’s the case, we recommend this logic based finite machine and this card made by a hackaday author.
Nice!
He can drill a hole on the PCB and place the IC upside-down in the hole, only the leads will protrude (routing must be mirrored)! Passives can be hidden completely if the hole is plated!
Of course BGA can’t be done that way…
>>creates business card
>>Blurs telephone number
Hah, I thought it was just a bad print ;D
This though…
https://hackaday.com/2017/10/04/literally-flashy-business-cards/#comment-4094361
How much I do like the Hackaday crowd, I’m also fond of my privacy ;)
smdprutser, nice name. means something like ‘smd bungler’.
I don’t really get how the four buttons should work, as ist seems that they are all wired to the same trace.
it looks like that is the ground trace the signal must be under a mask
Actually… for the security conscious, OpenPGP public key storage would be the feature to add to this.
Just how common are NFC phones?
Pretty much so and getting even more common. Especially since someone thought of paying for stuff with your phone (e.g. ApplePay).
I remember that time i wondered why on earth my phone was ringing in a weird tone constantly without anything popping up on the screen. As soon as i picked it up, it stopped. When i placed it back on my wallet which was on the table, it started again. Went through the wallet and found that one card that was some sort of NFC/RFID and the phone constantly tried to read it.
They’re an illusory distraction to keep from us the truth, the future has been cancelled! They grounded Concorde and the Space Shuttle, there’s that whole Hoverboard thing and…
http://www.zdnet.com/article/why-i-want-my-palm-business-card-beaming-back/
I’m not sure why no-one remembers “Bump”, it’s basically exactly what this person is looking for (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bump_(application)). Of course, it’s been shut down now, but it’s way more recent than palm, and more compatible too (since it’s just an app).
I love palm business card stuff! I have a handspring visor in my pocket right now! It has one of the best and most functional calculators I have ever used. Palm was awesome!
Good luck actually exchanging a palm business card with anyone
I kinda miss my Handspring Visor Neo. I use to call it my “Portable Brain”.
I just use a QR code, let the person scan it with their phone.
Name, email, phone all contained in the QR code.
not as interactive though..
It is about as useful as the plug-in call-me business card that Burke gave Ripley in Aliens, cool but a one note flute, there is no reason it should be mainstream and looses it’s power if it ever did. Especially since QR works pretty good.
But what it really is a memorable calling card which leaves an impression way out of proportion to the actual useful value of the card. Like K Mitnick’s lock pick business card, they were crappy picks BTW, but for most people it is the first time they had ever seen or held functional lockpicks. Both leave a massive impression, they make the receiver feel like they owe something of value back, especially if they are spending company money.
Smart minimalist design(no battery!), questionable widespread usefulness vs QR, absolutely brilliant social hack; this geek will attract clients with this, the only problem is weeding out the ones who will actually pay on time.
Isn’t this same capability in an iPhone?
Xender or Qikshare can enable sharing contact information.
Yeah I know Bluetooth and WiFi aren’t the same as NFC, but how many people have an NFC reader other than in their credit card terminal…
Never mind.
Nfc is now available in most androids and now can be used to read tags on the latest iphones. There is something remotely similar available in a form of a sticker for androids called dimple.io
“I still need to tackle the sharp and protruding components on the front, which will ruin your wallet.”
Try this: http://www.americansemi.com/flex-ics.html
cost per unit?
not much utility for 10 dollar per business card, unless you have ridiculously exclusive clients and very HIGH rates.
About 4 USD in parts, but that is what most HaD featured businesscard costs here..
For cheap clients I got a paper one, but this one is recycle-able and a nice showoff of my skills..