Develop Bugs

Advertising for foreign developers

Hello,
i could not find any up to date information about this topic around on the search, so i hope you can guide me in the right direction.
Is there a possibility for foreing developers, in my case from germany, to use proper advertising in xna-based games or in apps at all? The FAQ on msdn still states:
Can any developer participate?
Currently, only U.S.-based developers or international developers with a legal US
business entity with a US tax identification number is supported. Additional
international support coming soon.
So, i dont know what would be the best way for me to get into advertising? Waiting untill MS opens up the regulations? Using a third party advertising company? Getting a US tax identification number (i dont own a business) ?
What are youre experiences with this issue?
Greetings, Florian

chillta said:
Hello,
i could not find any up to date information about this topic around on the search, so i hope you can guide me in the right direction.
Is there a possibility for foreing developers, in my case from germany, to use proper advertising in xna-based games or in apps at all? The FAQ on msdn still states:
Can any developer participate?
Currently, only U.S.-based developers or international developers with a legal US
business entity with a US tax identification number is supported. Additional
international support coming soon.
So, i dont know what would be the best way for me to get into advertising? Waiting untill MS opens up the regulations? Using a third party advertising company? Getting a US tax identification number (i dont own a business) ?
What are youre experiences with this issue?
Greetings, Florian
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Im using admob now... the payment per view is terribly low. I heard mobfox pays better but they only serve adds to europeans... so you have to do the backup with admob who serve the whole world with low payment adds. You could also set a minimum payment for the adds if they dont have any ads matching your requirements they wont get served and can be filled up with admob. But ads wont really pay however I think its too much of a hassle to send ms my tax papers and stuff so I wont charge for apps either.
Plus I dont really like how non US customers have less features and buggy phones so I dont feel like paying MS if they dont better the situation for us.

[Q] Is it possible to clone an RFID card w/ GNEX's NFC?

Has anyone heard of using an NFC enabled device to imitate a RFID gate pass? My complex won't give me another one for my fiance. I thought I could copy it, and swipe my Gnex at the gate while my fiance use the proxicard HID.
I'm ignorant of the details of the two technologies, so this is probably impossible. Worth asking. Thanks

I would sure hope not. Sounds like that would be a pretty big security risk for companies that use such cards for sensitive locations.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

It is possible I believe. I know for Bamboozle that the NFC wristbands had no security and I was able to get into VIP area with no problems.
I would imagine that it is likely since I doubt that their NFC security is high.

With Regards to cloning an NFC tag and an RFID card. No it won't be possible. You have mentioned two technologies that are similar but not the same. NFC and RFID work the same in theory, but at different radio bands. Think of it like ATT phones vs. T-Mo phones. Some PC adaptors can read/write both, but the GNex can't.
Second flaw is that you probably wouldn't be able to use the GNex itself to open the door. The much more likely solution would be to use the GNex to capture the info on the old tag and write it to a different tag of the same type.
Third, and this ties into what Self Righteos Banana said about the NFC wrist bands at Bamboozle, most places don't have high security on their NFC or RFID solutions, but the software isn't quite there for GNex to fully exploit this. We were able to read the wristbands and determine that all of them, VIP, 1 day, 3 day etc. etc. had the same info stored on the tag. They were relying on the site staff to visually identify the various wristbands as well as scan to see if they were genuine. With this, a little social engineering got us into restricted access. We weren't able to rewrite the wristbands completely without altering other bits yet though. One of us wrote Hello to an unused portion of the memory, but it wrote header info in adjacent bits, not zeroes. I assume this is based on protocols that the phone (or other NFC devices use). So we were able to read and write to the tags, but could not clone them. For that I think you would still need a PC until software catches up.
EDIT: Also since this is a question, I feel I should remind you to post it in the Q&A section and not general. Also there is an NFC Hacking subforum.

Thanks a lot for the valuable info. I'll hunt around in the NFC hacking section. Sorry about posting in the wrong forum. I won't make mistake again.

MetroCards, Square Reader & Non-NFC Phones

I am aware that this is a Non-NFC query in the NFC Hacking forum. If I've inappropriately placed it here, please forgive me.
I am far from a developer, but am getting more and more into development as of late. I feel like there must be a way to read MetroCards with an Android device to find out its balance. When I first delved into this, I found out about Farebot [and this is why I've posted in the NFC forum].
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1458068
Using an NFC enabled phone, one can read subway cards from certain cities. However, my current phone is a Captivate [aka non-NFC].
Then, I thought that if a Square reader can read credit card information as well as manipulate this info in the form of taking payment, there must be a way to simply be able to read info on the MetroCard.
Each MetroCard stored value card is assigned a unique, permanent ten-digit serial number when it is manufactured. The value is stored magnetically on the card itself, while the card's transaction history is held centrally in the Automated Fare Collection (AFC) Database. When a card is purchased and fares are loaded onto it, the MetroCard Vending Machine or station agent's computer stores the amount of the purchase onto the card and updates the database, identifying the card by its serial number. Whenever the card is swiped at a turnstile, the value of the card is read, the new value is written, the customer is let through, and then the central database is updated with the new transaction as soon as possible.
I'm wondering, given the aforementioned info, if its simply a matter of getting the serial number and accessing the AFC Database. If so, wouldn't a developer, using an external reader such as Square, be able to create a series of commands that could do this?
Curiouser and curiouser...

23rdstreet said:
I am aware that this is a Non-NFC query in the NFC Hacking forum. If I've inappropriately placed it here, please forgive me.
I am far from a developer, but am getting more and more into development as of late. I feel like there must be a way to read MetroCards with an Android device to find out its balance. When I first delved into this, I found out about Farebot [and this is why I've posted in the NFC forum].
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1458068
Using an NFC enabled phone, one can read subway cards from certain cities. However, my current phone is a Captivate [aka non-NFC].
Then, I thought that if a Square reader can read credit card information as well as manipulate this info in the form of taking payment, there must be a way to simply be able to read info on the MetroCard.
Each MetroCard stored value card is assigned a unique, permanent ten-digit serial number when it is manufactured. The value is stored magnetically on the card itself, while the card's transaction history is held centrally in the Automated Fare Collection (AFC) Database. When a card is purchased and fares are loaded onto it, the MetroCard Vending Machine or station agent's computer stores the amount of the purchase onto the card and updates the database, identifying the card by its serial number. Whenever the card is swiped at a turnstile, the value of the card is read, the new value is written, the customer is let through, and then the central database is updated with the new transaction as soon as possible.
I'm wondering, given the aforementioned info, if its simply a matter of getting the serial number and accessing the AFC Database. If so, wouldn't a developer, using an external reader such as Square, be able to create a series of commands that could do this?
Curiouser and curiouser...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1. Metrocards are non-NFC. I assume the cards listed in the Play Store page are only compatible because you can tap them instead of swiping them (NFC chip).
2. If you want this thread to remain open, ONLYtalk about reading. Writing to a MetroCard constitutes [possible] fraud. You'd also get caught since there's a transaction database that keeps track of all swiping history and values.
EDIT: I thought you were talking about NYC Metrocards because that's what they're called. Here's an interesting read (scroll down to how they built the reader):
http://blog.metrochange.org/

Product F(RED) said:
1. Metrocards are non-NFC. I assume the cards listed in the Play Store page are only compatible because you can tap them instead of swiping them (NFC chip).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You're correct. I should have had my facts straight. I guess I jumped with the whole Farebot set up.
Product F(RED) said:
2. If you want this thread to remain open, ONLYtalk about reading. Writing to a MetroCard constitutes [possible] fraud. You'd also get caught since there's a transaction database that keeps track of all swiping history and values.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Absolutely. This entire inquiry comes from having a bunch of MetroCards lying around at any given time [with no idea what is on any of them ] I am only looking for a way to read what is left on a MetroCard.
Product F(RED) said:
EDIT: I thought you were talking about NYC Metrocards because that's what they're called. Here's an interesting read (scroll down to how they built the reader):
http://blog.metrochange.org/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am, in fact, talking about NY MetroCards. The link is great! I'm going to have to amp my development knowledge.
Thanks for the response!

High 5 to a fellow New Yorker. Bay Ridge resident
I've never built a piece of hardware extensively like they did, but that looks really interesting. So to summarize, you CAN in fact read a Metrocard balance with a Square card reader (which I have 3 or 4 handy), but the audio signal isn't amplified enough to be decode-able or consistent. So they used a cassette tape player head to try and it worked. They used an open source piece of software to decode the audio signal into binary. Then they converted it into Dec and divided by two. That gives you the value in cents.

All i know is their network is updated every 7 minutes or so with metrocard swipe info.

NFC tag giveaway - Still active 11-19-2012

I stumbled across this recently and Thought I'd share since they claim its a free NFC tag. Who doesn't like free anyways? Free is good! I'm not sure when they are shipping out.
Current requirements: valid email address, shipping address, and a facebook account to like their page for special code token.
http://www.movaluate.com/free-nfc-tag-giveaway
Hit thanks if you want.. This is a re-post from my members deals page.

it looks like its a tag we just scan to appraise our phones for free....
i mean the nfc tag will not make our phones nfc enabled

Tha_Dynasty2049 said:
it looks like its a tag we just scan to appraise our phones for free....
i mean the nfc tag will not make our phones nfc enabled
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah no support for our current model. Rumor has it the new titanium version is NFC enabled but who really knows, like rwilco said, they are known to lie. I just thought I'd share. Also the tag can be reprogramed/used for anything else you want if I'm correct.

One Tap NFC Business Card

Hey One Tap sent me one of their Plastic business cards with an NFC chip embedded, I like the approach they are taking of using a URI rather than trying to fit an entire vcard into 36bytes. What do you think, vid below:

I think that having only one business card isn't enough, not everyone has an NFC enabled device. In order to share your contact information, you'll still need to hand out your business cards from time to time.
I cant imagine that the feel of an plastic business card is a good one. It's like a drivers license or credit card.
And the price!!! 15$ for one card? Thats a lot. Believe me, they use the cheaper NFC chips, since they don't have enough memory to handle a whole vCard. All they do is to link to an URL, and there will be a online profile.
The idea to share contact details with a TAP is an illusion here. Who wants to search in an online profile eacht time in order to call someone? The idea should be to save them in your genuine contact list in your phones memory.
Same is right for Moo, they link to an online profile only.
If you want to see the cheapest NFC business cards on the market, but still these with the highest quality, check out the videos below!
www.tapmy.biz sells you thin paper NFC business cards, have a good feel (a real business card feel), store an entire vCard. it's 2$ a card and with quantity the price goes down. You can upload your own design or create your own design on the website by choosing from many templates :good:

My only complaint about TapMy is that they use Mifare Classic which isn't supported by the Nexus 4/10 as far as I know. Mifare Classic is the cheapest tags that support up to 1K data. The cheapest thing I can find for N4 is the NTAG203 which costs a little more than Mifare but only holds 144B.

OneTap Promotions
Hi Batou069, thank you for your comments, we always try to promote feedback from people as it helps us to recognise things that our customers think we can improve.
We completely agree that that there is still a huge market for paper business cards and will still be around for at least the next few years. This is an area of the company that we are currently working on and are looking forward to making these available in the near future. The decision to originally launch with a PVCA card is to be able to offer something different and original for people. There are many benefits for this, durability being a big one, but it also helps you to stand out in a crowded market, which we feel is the most important thing ever when networking.
We are sorry that we have not made it clear on our website that you can download an entire vCard with one tap once the profile has loaded. This is the primary button that your are presented with at the top of your page, but having a profile opens up the opportunity to share so much more. Clearly we have failed in bringing this across.
We are currently working on a brand new website and this is something that we will definately keep in mind whilst designing it, we also plan to include a short video that will show all our new and interesting features that you won’t get elsewhere. Once again thank you for your comments. You can keep updated with our progress via twitter @OneTapPromo and please keep an eye out for our new site coming soon.