Laurie Sullivan, Senior Writer & Analyst, MediaPost
The guys behind the Silicon Valley startup Naratte have been creating buzz with an inaudible signal that gives application developers the benefits of Near Field Communication (NFC) using the simple speaker and microphone found in mobile devices. Pitched at a frequency commonly used by dolphins, frogs, and other animals, the signal is inaudible to humans. Naratte co-founder and CEO Brett Paulson calls the ultrasonic technology “Zoosh.”
Paulson says developers can embed the software into applications from payment processing to coupon distribution. The inaudible signal, emitted through the audio system in a smartphone or comparable device, creates a wireless connection to process a near-field transaction. No chips or silicon are required. The co-founders, who have backgrounds in wireless and audio technologies, have devised a means to encode 1s and 0s in the audio stream. The microphone on the other end receives and processes the sound waves through the software.
Not many people think about sending a wireless transaction through audio, but this software enables digital signal processing on the phone. Until recently that hasn’t been possible. Three technology advances had to occur: ability for signals to transmit above the audible range, smartphones turned into media players pushing higher-quality sound, and better microphones to accommodate speech recognition.
Continues at: EBN – Laurie Sullivan – Zoosh: An Alternative to Google Wallet & NFC.
Related articles
- Naratte’s Zoosh enables NFC with just a speaker and microphone (venturebeat.com)
- Ultrasonic payment service Zoosh bridges NFC gaps (digitaltrends.com)
- No NFC? No Problem: New Startup Zoosh Provides Workaround Technology (readwriteweb.com)
- Naratte’s Zoosh Does NFC Without the NFC Part (technologizer.com)
- Zoosh does mobile payments using ultrasound, no NFC chip required (engadget.com)
- Naratte launches alternative to NFC based on sound waves (mobile-ent.biz)
- New Zoosh technology provides NFC capabilities without the chip (physorg.com)
- Naratte: Mobile payments using sound waves (news.cnet.com)
- Zoosh: Acoutstic coupling makes a comeback, plans to compete with NFC (intomobile.com)
- Naratte launches ultrasonic contactless payments (go.theregister.com)
