WHEN IS THE NFC NOT ABOUT FOOTBALL?

KAINOA

 8-Year-Old Quarterback Prodigy

(Photo courtesy of Richie A.)

My young grandson, Kainoa, has probably thrown more touchdown passes than I've seen birthdays. 

From the age of seven, Kainoa has excelled as a field general, leading his respective teams to first and second place in Oahu peewee football leagues.  As of this writing, he has just completed his baseball and flag football seasons and is currently training for his first year of tackle football.

His family members, other players' families, football fans, coaches, and officials have collectively recognized Kainoa's potential to mature into a gifted athlete.   My son, Richie--Kainoa's dad--and I have even mused about this young lad's chances of forging a successful path all the way to the professional ranks.

But for Kainoa and other aspiring football stars, the NFC challenge will not be played out on the gridiron.

Instead, their NFC playoffs will be played out in corporate boardrooms all across America.

What in the world is this guy talking about?  You might be silently asking yourself right now.

Sorry.  I've been toying with you.  

Everything I've shared about Kainoa is true.

But the NFC I'm referring to--something I just learned about yesterday when I read an informative document--stands for Near Field Connection.

Near Field Connection technology seeks to make life easier and more convenient for the global consumer to conduct transactions, share digital content,  and link high tech gadgetry with a touch.


Here, let me show you what I mean.  Watch this video.  It's a great example of what this technology can do...and mind you, this is just the tip of the iceberg.

NFC and Theater

(Video courtesy of NFC Forum)

For other cool videos demonstrating the application and efficiency of NFC technology, you can peruse the following web page:

http://www.youtube.com/user/NFCForum

Just as revolutionary as was the transition from cash to credit and debit cards will be this amazing quantum leap from cards to smartphone payments.  Indeed, the day will come when the object you're swiping or tapping at the grocery store, ATM machine, Redbox, or public transportation terminal won't be a plastic card but an appropriately named smartphone.


According to the NFC Forum, a consortium of prominent corporations, NFC is a connectivity technology that unifies and brings into harmonious working order the wide spectrum of contactless technologies, thus facilitating current and future solutions in areas such as:

• Access control
• Consumer electronics
• Healthcare
• Information collection and exchange
• Loyalty and coupons
• Transport
• Payments.

Let's take a look at just that last category alone--Payments.  A prominent research group, Forrester Research, has found that over 12% of Americans and 6% of Europeans have ALREADY

paid for products or services by utilizing mobile devices.  In addition, the Wall Street Journal reports that $32 billion worth of merchandise were made by using mobile gadgetry in just the last year alone. But that's not all.

The statistical analysts at Generator Research believe that current numbers will jump to an astounding $633 Billion in the next three years.  They also predict that  490 million people around the world will utilize this technology by 2014.

Can you imagine the serious money to be made?  

I am seriously considering investing a humble amount in NFC.  A small and affordable amount is all anyone needs to risk in order to get HUGE returns on investment.

And that is precisely why the behemoth corporations like Google, Apple, Microsoft, AT&T, Nokia, Sony, Samsung, Texas Instruments, Visa, MasterCard, American Express, PayPal, Motorola, Hitachi, Sprint, Panasonic, and Toshiba are jockeying for position and leverage in preparation for this dynamic wave--no, make that a TSUNAMI!--of transition from the old school methods of payment--credit cards, debit cards, checks, and even cash--to NFC integrated mobile devices.

Knowledge, inventions, and technology are rapidly increasing.  Man made the machines, and now the machines are helping man make even more sophisticated and intricate machines.  

Machines that communicate with each other more efficiently and peacefully than man communicates with his fellow men.  

It's a Brave New World, alright.

And for Kainoa and his generation, I can only pray that they will adjust well to the innovative and advanced technologies.

The possibilities are awesome!

MY PRIVATE RETREAT

Kahalani Beach on the island of Kauai
(Photo courtesy of Silas Kaumakahia Aqui)

I work the graveyard shift as a baker at a bagel production company in the Microsoft capital of the world--Redmond, Washington.  My co-worker is a 49-year-old black woman who loves--no, who lives!--to complain.  She has designated me (against my will, I might add) to be her go-to guy for all her rants. Wouldn't be so bad if she could just add a rave now and then...but like the incessant northwest drizzle, my co-worker (bless her heart!) is the proverbial contentious woman Solomon wrote about in Proverbs.


Hmm...I wonder if the wise king once moonlighted at a bagel production company himself?  They had bagels back then, didn't they?  Sure, they did.  Not to mention contentious women.  (Note to self:  Contemplate a future post comparing contentious women with bagels.)


Anyway, in spite of the full moon last night, I managed to get through the 10,000 bagels without burning a single one.


In fact, I went the whole week without toasting any bagels before their time.


That's a real plus for me.  Don't know if it's the ridiculous hours I work or if I have too many things going on in my brain all at once (truly, any rumors about me being bipolar were shattered years ago when I decided to fly off the disorder charts and land in my very own multiple-polar diagnosis).  But I digress...


I've been feeling fragmented lately.  And I know why.


Just returned three weeks ago from a splendid vacation on Kauai with my wife and two adult children.


Although it rained ten out of the twelve days we were in Hawaii, we had a great time visiting with my family of origin and taking in the breathtaking island sights.


It was a double whammy for me to say goodbye to my mother, siblings, and extended family members only to have to say goodbye to my wife and adult children two days after we arrived back in Washington.


The economy being what it is today, it's been necessary for me to work in Redmond while my wife and daughter live approximately 250 miles away in southeast Washington.  (My son attends graduate school in San Luis Obispo and is now officially--poor guy!--a California resident.)  My apologies to California residents--it's not your fault Arnold (Call me Terminator!) Schwarzenegger was a better actor than governor.  I'm just saying...


But I just love  the Eagles' "Hotel California."  I really dig that line:  "You can check out anytime you like, but you can never leave."  What the...?


Where was I going with this?  I do have a point to make.  I think.


I wanted to RAVE about the fact that when I am feeling fragmented, that when I am in the midst of this tremendous angst about how much my life sucks and how very, very much I miss my two families, that when I find myself withdrawing my head into the 10,000 bagels a night because the pain of listening to my female co-worker's rants is just too much to bear...


I have a private place to retreat to.


Better than a vacation.


Better than a million bucks.  (Okay, it's well documented that multiple-polar personalities kid themselves.  A lot.  A whole lot!)


Better than getting into a hot tub.


Better than...okay, enough of that!


My private retreat is...


This blog.