Eliana Willis

iOS 18 on iPhone 14 Pro Max. Maria Diaz/ZDNETApple is broadening the reach of NFC on the iPhone by opening the technology to third-party apps. Starting with iOS 18.1, developers will be able to offer contactless transactions from their own apps separate from Apple Pay and Apple Wallet, the company said today.Tapping into Apple’s new APIs for NFC and SE (Secure Element), developers will be able to create apps for a variety of tasks and transactions. Among those that Apple singled out are in-store payments, car keys, closed-loop transit fares, corporate badges, student IDs, home keys, hotel keys, merchant loyalty and rewards cards, and event tickets. Down the road, even government IDs will be supported.Also: How to use Apple Pay in stores and online (and why you should)With a nod toward privacy and security, the new NFC access will take advantage of the Secure Element, a certified on-device chip designed to store and protect sensitive data. The transactions themselves will use Face ID or Touch ID for authentication and communicate with Apple servers.On the user end, you’ll be able to initiate the process in a couple of different ways. You can open the NFC-supported app directly and follow the required steps. Or, you could set a specific app as your default contactless option and then simply double-click the side button to kick off the transaction as you do with Apple Pay. More

Supersmario/Getty Images Wireless internet connections are convenient, but they’re also notoriously unreliable. Nothing proves that point more emphatically than a glitchy video conference call, especially if it’s tied to a crucial business meeting. The solution, of course, is to run a wired network connection to your home office. Wi-Fi is great for mobility, but a […] More

Taylor Clemons/ZDNETI wasn’t expecting much when I set up the Hisense U8K More

Download a lifetime license to Microsoft Office at a deep discount with this deal. Stack Social If you need access to Microsoft Office but don’t want to pay the yearly fee to access Office 365, you’re in luck: Stack Social is offering a lifetime license for Microsoft Office Professional 2021 for Windows or Mac, starting […] More

Matthew Miller/ZDNETZDNET’s key takeawaysThe RingConn Smart Ring is available now in three colors for $259 (regularly $279).One week battery life, lovely matte finish, powerful smartphone app, and no subscription fee.No readiness score and does not sync with third-party fitness apps other than Apple HealthWhile I wear watches on both of my wrists, that type of wearable isn’t the best for tracking sleep without being disruptive. For more than two years I have also had an Oura Gen3 Ring on my finger and there’ve been some compelling updates to both the software and the hardware.Early last year, RingConn launched its Smart Ring on Indiegogo and it is now readily available for everyone to purchase. I’ve had the  RingConn Smart Ring More

Matthew Miller/ZDNETZDNET’s key takeawaysThe Suunto Wing More

Michael Starghill/Getty Images Have you ever struggled to find your digital ticket while walking up to an event or worried that your phone battery would die before you got your ticket scanned? One MLB park just became the latest venue to offer a system that eliminates those worries — by allowing you to enter the […] More