Touch is a research project that investigates Near Field Communication (NFC), a technology that enables connections between mobile phones and physical things. The folks behind this exciting project have come up with a prototype of an iPhone media player that uses physical objects to control media playback. The RFID-based app triggers various iPhone interactions when in the range of a wireless tag embedded inside a physical object, according to its makers. The result is... well, check out the video – it speaks for itself.

 

The research project that investigates Near Field Communication (NFC) known as Touch is currently developing applications and services that enable people to interact with everyday objects and situations through their mobile devices.

 

According to the folks at Touch, RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) is becoming more common in mobile phones, also referred to as Near Field Communication, or NFC. With iPhone OS 3.0, Apple is now allowing developers to use the new External Accessory framework, to make their apps communicate with hardware accessories attached to the iPhone or iPod touch through either the 30-pin dock connector or wirelessly, using the Bluetooth.

 

"By looking at Apple’s patents we know that the technology is being considered for the iPhone,” a post over at the Touch website reads. “With the iPhone SDK 3.0 external hardware accessories can be accessed by iPhone software, so third party RFID or NFC readers are also possible,” one of the project's members explains.

 

"So, what kinds of applications would emerge if an iPhone had an NFC reader?” the author continues, pointing out to the video demonstration. The footage shows a simple media player, which triggers the playback of content on the touch of a tag. The Touch team has created a set of augmented objects that have relationships with different kinds of audiovisual content. “Some of the objects felt particularly satisfying. The Make Podcast object for instance—where touching the ‘geek’ plays the latest ‘Weekend project’— shows how an object can be used for exploring a dynamic stream of content,” the author emphasizes.

 

In what other ways do you see this technology used (restricted to iPhone and iPod touch, of course). Check out the video below and share your impressions in the comments.

iPhone RFID: object-based media from timo on Vimeo