The book smart cards Catch the Sun is about hot-air ballooning. It is incorporated with NFC tags on the cover and some of its pages. Users can tap each tag with an NFC-enabled mobile phone or tablet and they will be directed to an Elektor-hosted website, so that they can learn more about a particular topic. Those who buy the book can even personalize it by using the phone or tablet to encode two of its tags, to add new data for others to view.
Han Nabben is the author of the book. He’s also the senior director of integrated global marketing and communications at NXP Semiconductors. Nabben approached Wisse Hettinga, Elektor’s editor-in-chief, with an idea for a book about one of his favorite hobbies — ballooning — while incorporating NFC technology. “He was looking at what he does for business and pleasure, and how he could combine them,” Hettinga says.
All together 8 NFC tags are used in the book. A tag affixed to the cover provides a link to a web page where users can download the book’s title song to their NFC-enabled phone or tablet. Five tags on the inside pages direct a user’s phone or tablet to a page on a website that provides additional information, pictures, or videos about ballooning; they also enables users to share the book with others via a social-media network, such as Facebook. And on the back cover are two tags that users can encode with their own information, such as a birthday greeting for a recipient of the book, information about their own ballooning experiences, or a link to another website of interest.
The book can be ordered at the Catch the Sun website, priced at €45 ($57.50). A minimal amount of that cost, Hettinga notes, is related to the NFC technology.combo cards
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