NFC

Anyone who uses a smartphone will be familiar with NFC technology, which is used for such things as contactless payments. To demonstrate the versatility of the technology when combined with printed circuitry, Prelonic has created the Paper Piano.

Researchers at the University of California, Irvine (UCI) have developed a novel, high-tech form of fabric that foreshadows a future where items of clothing can"talk" to one another, and purchases might be made with a high-five or wave of the arm.

Checking your bike's tire pressure can be a fiddly process, which is why there are now valve stem attachments that let you check it with your smartphone. The just-announced PSIcle sensor makes things even easier, as it doesn't require a battery.

Austrian manufacturer Tubolito is already known for its tough, lightweight plastic bicycle inner tubes. Now, the company has added a chip to one model, which allows users to check their tire pressure using an app.

When it comes to tracking an athlete's performance, a single wearable sensor doesn't always provide much information, yet multiple hard-wired sensors restrict movement. That's a where a new sensor suit comes in – and it's powered by a smartphone.

​Most of us are guilty of hitting the snooze bar on our alarm clocks and going back to sleep, which is why we've seen devices that won't stop ringing until they're taken to a remotely-located docking station. EzLarm takes a cheaper and simpler approach, utilizing a free app and an inexpensive tag.

Although the best-before dates on our foods may stop us from eating spoiled items, they can also cause us to toss out food that's really still good. New phone-powered labels could help, by notifying users when the food is actually starting to go "off."

In the UK, folks making contactless (NFC) card payments at stores and supermarkets are limited on how much they can ring up at the checkouts. But for a few NatWest customers that limit is set to disappear, as the bank launches a trial for using biometric authentication when making card payments.

You know the scenario: a group of friends and family come to visit, and they all want to get on your Wi-Fi network, which means several tedious minutes of reading out the lengthy passcode for your network. That's a problem that the new Wi-Fi Porter could solve.

Although you may sniff meat to see if it's OK to eat, doing so is a subjective method of detecting spoilage, as it's dependent on the sensitivity of your sense of smell. Scientists have now developed a more objective alternative, in the form of a gas sensor that communicates with your smartphone.

The Token smart ring packs NFC and Bluetooth connectivity and is designed to take the place of your credit card, house and car keys, workplace access card and even laptop password.

A few years ago, Sony released a business-focused e-paper tablet, and now the company has updated the device with higher resolution, bigger memory, NFC and Bluetooth connectivity, a new pen-friendly screen and a few bonus workflow features.