#NFC Reader

[harshmishra8726]

NFC vs. QR Code Business Cards: Which One is Right for You?

In a world where networking is vital, digital business cards have become a game-changer. NFC (Near Field Communication) business Cards and QR Code business cards are two popular options for quickly sharing contact information and other digital content. Each has its strengths, but how do you choose the one that best suits your needs? Here’s a straightforward comparison of NFC vs. QR Code business cards, highlighting their key differences, ease of use, and features to help you make an informed decision.

Understanding NFC Business Cards

NFC (Near Field Communication) is a wireless technology that enables devices to communicate when they are nearby, usually within a few centimeters. NFC business cards have embedded chips that store data, which can be read by tapping a smartphone against the card.

Key Features of NFC Business Cards:

Ease of Use: NFC cards are incredibly easy to use. With a simple tap, users can instantly share contact information, social media profiles, websites, or other digital content without the need to open any apps.

Technology Integration: NFC business cards leverage advanced technology, offering a seamless experience for users with modern smartphones.

Customization: Data on NFC chips can be updated or customized to meet various needs, such as sharing a portfolio or sending users to a specific website.

Speed: NFC technology allows for almost instantaneous data transfer, making it faster than scanning a QR code.

Professional Appeal: NFC cards feel modern and tech-savvy, making them ideal for industries where innovation is key.

However, NFC business cards do have some limitations. Not all smartphones are equipped with NFC readers, especially older models. Additionally, these cards can be more expensive to produce compared to traditional QR code cards.

Understanding QR Code Business Cards

QR (Quick Response) codes are 2D barcodes scannable by smartphones. When scanned, the code directs users to a website, social media page, or other digital content.

Key Features of QR Code Business Cards:

Wide Compatibility: Almost all smartphones come with built-in QR code scanners, either within the camera or through a downloadable app, making it highly accessible.

Cost-Effective: QR code business cards are generally cheaper to produce than NFC cards. You only need to print the QR code on the card, and it can be scanned multiple times.

No Additional Tech Required: Since scanning QR codes requires no special hardware, it can be used by a broader audience, including those without NFC-enabled phones.

Customizable: Just like NFC cards, QR codes can be linked to various forms of content, such as websites, portfolios, or social media profiles.

Printable: QR codes can be added to any material, whether it’s a business card, a flyer, or even a product package.

However, QR codes have some downsides. They require users to open their phone’s camera or an app, which might take slightly longer than NFC’s tap-and-go functionality. Additionally, scanning QR codes in low light or from a damaged surface can be tricky.

A Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature NFC Business Cards QR Code Business Cards

Ease of Use - Tap to transfer information instantly - Requires opening camera to scan code

Cost - Higher due to NFC chip production - Lower, simply print the QR code

Speed - Instantaneous data transfer - Slight delay due to the scanning process

Customization - Easily programmable and updatable - Customizable but fixed once printed

Compatibility - Limited to NFC-enabled devices - Works with nearly all smartphones

Durability - Chip could wear over time - QR codes can be damaged or faded

Which is Best for Your Business?

Choosing between NFC and QR code business cards depends on your business needs, audience, and budget.

NFC Cards: These are ideal if you want to present yourself as cutting-edge and tech-savvy. If your audience is likely to have modern smartphones and you’re looking for an easy, fast, and seamless way to share data, NFC cards are a great option. Industries like tech, marketing, and startups may benefit from the professional appeal of NFC business cards.

QR Code Cards: If you’re looking for a cost-effective solution that can reach a broader audience, QR code business cards are a solid choice. They work with nearly any smartphone and don’t require special hardware, making them more accessible to people who may not have the latest technology. They are also perfect for mass distribution, especially in industries like retail, events, or hospitality.

Final Thoughts

Both NFC and QR code business cards have their unique benefits and challenges. NFC cards provide a sleek, modern approach to networking but come with higher costs and limited compatibility. QR code cards are highly accessible and affordable but may not offer the same speed or ease of use as NFC cards. By considering your target audience, business goals, and budget, you can decide which type of digital business card will best suit your needs.

[acelandturf]

NFC Reader

NFC Reader

RFID HF Reader für IoT & Industrie mit integrierter RFID-Antenne ✓ Individuelle Beratung ✓ Exzellente Qualität. Jetzt mehr erfahren!

[idtronicrfidde]

NFC Reader

NFC Reader

RFID HF Reader und NFC Reader für Industrie 4.0 und IoT Anwendungen. Unsere RFID Lesegeräte sind mit vielen Schnittstellen-Optionen verfügbar: RS232/RS485, Ethernet, USB, CANbus oder CANopen. Valide RFID Reader mit integrierter RFID-Antenne und Lesereichweiten von bis zu 8 cm. RFID Panel Reader für Zugriffskontrollen an Maschinen in der Produktion.

[aiizaph]

(Sigh…) My evil will have to wait one more day…

[fionayao2008]

Tripod Turnstile Overview Tripod Turnstile, Swing Turnstile, as well as Flap Turnstile( RS Security Co., Ltd: www.szrssecurity.com) are modern-day control devices for pedestrian flows. They are made use of in position where the entrance and also departure of individuals need to be controlled, such as smart neighborhoods, canteens, resorts, galleries, gyms, clubs, subways, terminals, docks, and so on location. Making use of Tripod Turnstile, Swing Turnstile, as well as Flap Turnstile can make the flow of individuals orderly. Tripod Turnstile, Swing Turnstile, Flap Turnstile are made use of in combination with smart cards, finger prints, barcodes and also other identification system equipment to create an intelligent gain access to control channel control system; they are used in mix with computer systems, access control, participation, billing monitoring, ticket systems as well as other software program to develop a The smart Turnstile Gate thorough monitoring system can realize functions such as access control, attendance, consumption, ticketing, and current limiting. This Turnstile Gate administration system belongs to the "all-in-one card" as well as is mounted at flows such as neighborhoods, factories, wise buildings, canteens, etc. It can complete different management functions such as worker card traveling control, attendance at get off job as well as meals, and dining. Tripod Turnstile system attributes Fast and also practical: review the card in and out with one swipe. Utilize the authorized IC card and wave it before the wise Tripod Turnstile visitor to complete the Tripod Turnstile gate opening and also charge recording job. The card analysis is non-directional and the analysis as well as composing time is 0.1 seconds, which is quick and also practical. Protection and also confidentiality: Use history or local confirmation, authorized issuance, as well as unique identification, that is, the card can just be used in this system, and also it is confidential and also risk-free. Reliability: Card radio frequency induction, trustworthy and also steady, with the capacity to judge and also assume. Flexibility: The system can flexibly set entry as well as departure control workers consents, amount of time control, cardholder credibility as well as blacklist loss coverage, including cards as well as various other features. Versatility: Through authorization, the individual card can be utilized for "one-card" management such as parking, participation, access control, patrol, intake, and so on, making it very easy to understand numerous uses of one card. Simpleness: Easy to set up, basic to attach, the software application has a Chinese user interface as well as is very easy to operate. Tripod Turnstile, Swing Turnstile, and also Flap Turnstile( RS Security Co., Ltd: www.szrssecurity.com) are modern-day control tools for pedestrian passages. The usage of Tripod Turnstile, Swing Turnstile, and Flap Turnstile can make the flow of people orderly. Use the accredited IC card and also wave it in front of the clever Tripod Turnstile visitor to complete the Tripod Turnstile gate opening as well as fee recording work.

[forlinx]

Elevate your public transport solutions with the Allwinner T113-i SoM! Power up your bus payment machines with NFC compatibility, facial recognition, and advanced processing capabilities. Upgrade to seamless and efficient payments today!

[sb-components]

UHF Reader Based On Pico W / ESP32 At Best Price

Introducing the UHF Reader, the rapid multi-tag reading device that is revolutionizing how you manage your inventory. With a range of up to 1.5 meters and the ability to read 50 tags in just 50 seconds, the UHF Reader is the ultimate solution for efficient and effective inventory management.

Designed with cutting-edge UHF technology, this reader is capable of capturing and processing vast amounts of data from RFID tags, allowing you to accurately and quickly identify your inventory items, streamline your operations, and boost your productivity.

Whether managing a large warehouse, retail store, or any other business with high-volume inventory, the UHF Reader will simplify your work, save you time and money, and improve your overall performance.

The UHF Reader is ideal for a wide range of industries and applications, including Warehousing and logistics, Retail, Manufacturing, etc.

The device is compact, portable, and easy to use, with a user-friendly interface that requires minimal training. Its rugged construction and reliable performance make it a durable and dependable choice for any business, and its compatibility with most existing RFID tags means you can start using it immediately.

Don't waste any more time manually tracking your inventory. Invest in the UHF Reader today and take your business to the next level.

[research-reports-blogs]

The global market for NFC reader ICs is predicted to exceed US$ 18 billion in 2021 and reach US$ 50 billion by 2032. Furthermore, the global market for NFC reader ICs is expected to grow at a 14.5% CAGR from 2022 to 2032, owing to rising demand from a variety of industries such as BFSI, healthcare, and media.

[disaster2life]

Maybe I am too offline for that? I prefer my locks not digital even if they are off grid, and I currently own zero smart home devices or even a bluetooth device other than my phone, and my other phone, and my laptop, and my other laptop, and my esp 8366 … yeah okay maybe, but yeah idk if no smart home because of poor college student or offline person

Look. I would never get a cerebral implant for obvious reasons (cybersecurity) But the idea is really enticing, also for obvious reasons (intimacy)

[panerasbox]

—GO BLUE TEAM?; 19 Days To Go

Pairing: melissa schemmenti x fem!reader .

Genre: fluff.

Word count: 936.

summary: please note i know nothing about football.

A/N: we’re under 20 days now, i’m gonna throw up 😃

quick thank you to @schemmentisimpasours @babytakeittothehead @milfjuulpod for their support on my work. you always make my day!!

but seriously, thank you to everyone that’s been reading my fics. it means a lot to me.

Anyway, happy easter to those that celebrate! 🐣

30 DAYS OF MELISSA SCHEMMENTI MASTERLIST

Melissa wasn’t sure what had possessed her to agree to a post-school hangout with her colleagues. Group hangs were decidedly not her thing. Especially not with the same people she’d be grading papers alongside at 7 a.m. the next morning. But when you – her girlfriend – had looked at her with that hopeful, slightly pleading expression, adding a soft, “I know it’s not really your scene, but…” well, Melissa had caved faster than the Cowboys in the playoffs.

“It’s just a chill watch party,” you’d promised. “Eagles game. Thought of you.” Against that, she stood no chance.

You’d been reasonably certain the borrowed jersey looked acceptable. It was blue, boasted a name on the back of a person you’d never heard of, and carried a faint but distinct scent of your friend’s boyfriend’s cologne. Crucially, it wasn’t green – and it was, undeniably, a football jersey, which felt like a decent enough effort.

So now, here she was, standing on your porch, a six-pack of Yuengling clutched in her hand, a familiar blend of suspicion and affection swirling within her. The door swung open, revealing your beaming face – and immediately, Melissa’s eyes narrowed into slits.

“What… what in the actual hell is that on your body?” she asked, her voice dangerously level, a finger already accusingly pointed at your chest.

You glanced down at the offending garment. “Oh, this? I didn’t have any Eagles gear, so I borrowed one from my friend—”

She didn’t let you finish. “That’s a Giants jersey.”

You blinked, a slow dawning of understanding on your face. “Is that… bad?”

Melissa tilted her head back dramatically, as if appealing to a higher power for strength. “Bad? Baby, that’s practically a mortal sin! You live in Philly, and you invited me to your house to watch the Eagles – while wearing a Giants jersey?” She stepped inside, brushing past you with an air of grave disappointment. “I should probably call a priest. Or maybe the cops.”

You laughed nervously, but she was already halfway to your couch, calling out to the room, “Hey, anybody got a taser? My girlfriend appears to have a death wish – or at least a severe lack of judgment.”

Inside, Janine was engaged in a polite conversation with Gregory, Jacob was arranging a snack tray that seemed alarmingly heavy on quinoa, and Barbara was calmly sipping tea, radiating an aura of serene detachment from the unfolding drama. Melissa, however, was making her disapproval abundantly clear.

Every time you tried to sit next to her on the couch, she’d gently, almost unnoticeably, move an inch further away.

When you offered her a drink, she accepted it with a pointed, “Thanks. Traitor.”

The real trouble started during the game. You were happily crunching through a bag of chips when a player on the screen took a particularly brutal hit. A collective groan rippled through the room – except for you.

“Ooh, good tackle!” you exclaimed.

Every head in the room swiveled in your direction.

Melissa turned to you with glacial slowness. “Babe… that was… not our team.”

Your eyes widened in dawning horror. “Wait. Are we not the blue ones?”

“The blue ones?” she repeated, her voice laced with utter disbelief. “You mean the Giants? The literal embodiment of all that is wrong in the NFC East?”

You visibly shrank in your seat. “Okay. Noted. Deeply noted.”

She rolled her eyes heavenward and muttered, just loud enough for you to hear, “You’re lucky you’re pretty,” for what felt like the tenth time in the last fifteen minutes.

Finally, feeling the need to defend your choices, you blurted out, “Okay, it’s just a shirt, Mel!”

She leveled you with a look of exaggerated seriousness, her brow furrowed in mock offense. “Just a shirt? That’s like saying it’s just one little rat when it’s scurrying across your cannoli. It matters, sweetheart. Deeply.”

But you caught the almost imperceptible twitch of a smile playing on her lips every time you flinched under her teasing. Oh yeah, she was absolutely enjoying this.

By halftime, the initial chill had thawed slightly. She’d tugged you into her side, her arm draped comfortably around your shoulders, her hand idly tracing the numbers on the back of the offensive jersey.

“You’re lucky you’re cute,” she murmured into your hair, then added, projecting her voice just enough for Janine to stifle a giggle, “Or I’d be outta here faster than Jacob at a gun range… after someone mentions mandatory overtime.”

You grinned, leaning into her warmth. “So… you’ll eventually forgive my fashion faux pas?”

She leaned in close, her breath warm against your ear. “I’ll forgive you the day you ceremonially burn this… thing… and swear a blood oath of allegiance to the holy name of Jason Kelce.”

You nodded solemnly, trying to recall any football knowledge you might possess. “Taylor Swift’s boyfriend, right?”

“That’s Travis Kelce,” she corrected, a hint of exasperation creeping into her voice.

“…Oh. Right.”

She threw a look of utter despair at Janine, who was now openly struggling to contain her laughter. “I can’t do this. She doesn’t know who Jason Kelce is. She thinks Travis is just the guy from the Eras Tour.”

“I—am—trying!” you protested, playfully shoving her shoulder.

And then she kissed you – a soft, lingering press of her lips against yours, right there in your very cursed jersey – because deep down, beneath the layers of football obsessiveness and playful irritation, Melissa Schemmenti loved three things with unwavering intensity: the Philadelphia Eagles, her chaotic and wonderful city, and you.

(And, let’s be honest, the unparalleled opportunity to razz you mercilessly in front of all your friends.)

[mysunshinetemptress]

Tesoro mio, La mia vita

Alessia Russo x Bosa!reader

Warnings: none just Fluff,it’s really short just a little thing, some really bad Italian cause it was taken from Google, but Surprise here’s a short one for Valentine’s Day

You were walking into London Colony when you were suddenly stopped by Mark, Arsenals media director “Hey Y/n, how have you been.” You smiled at the camera “all good Mark how are you.” Mark smiled zooming in on your face slightly before speaking “I’m good thanks, just wondering what’s your phone screen.” You laughed lightly pulling your hands phone out of your back pocket before looking down at the photo and smiling. It was no secret you and Alessia Russo were dating, she’s the reason you played for Arsenal but what fans didn’t know was how long your relationship had actually been going on for. Turning your phone you should the photo “it’s a picture of my two brothers Nick and Joey, Tesoro Mio Alessia and both her brothers Luca and Gio.” You paused allowing Mark to zoom in before continuing on “it was taken at the NFC Championship game in 2019, which was Nicks first season in the NFL and all my family where there as well as Alessia’s as we all brought our partners and their family so it was a big day but I love my brothers, and when I’m here Gio and Luca are like my brothers and of course I love Alessia so yeah that’s my screensaver hasn’t changed since 2019 and it probably won’t anytime soon.” Mark laughed thanking you as you walked away with a red face.

It was a quite night both you and Alessia where cuddled up on your couch in St Albans when you both got a notification from the media team saying their latest video was out, you both normally ignored them but you wanted to see Alessia’s reaction to you telling the world how long you had been together so you turned it on. “Oh I love these, it’s such a cute trend.” You laughed as Alessia buried her head further into your chest as you ran your fingers through her blond hair. You smiled as you watched yourself come up on the screen and felt Alessia tense slightly “oh my god, Sole.” You blushed as she looked up at you “I can’t believe you still have that as your Lock Screen.” You mumbled kissing her head “of course I do it’s my favourite photo.” Alessia stretched up to kiss you before turning back to the Tv listening to you explain the meaning behind it before it cut to her walking into the training ground.

“Morning Alessia, how are you.” Alessia beamed happily at the older man “hi Mark all good thanks and you.” Mark smiled at the blonde “I’m good, just wondering what’s your screen saver.” Alessia looked at her phone “it’s a photo of Ella and El mio sole Y/n at the Euros in 2022, Ella pulled her over the barrier with the help of my brothers and then proceeded to jump on Y/ns back and then this photo is of me and Y/n after winning the NCAA I asked her to be my girlfriend shortly after and the rest is history.” Mark smiled “so the photos mean a lot to you.” Alessia smiled nodding “definitely both her and Ella mean a lot to me and that moment is something I just love looking back on.” You turned looking down at the blonde “you’re going to make me cry.” Alessia sat up grabbing your face laughing “naw don’t cry, I love you and I love those moments and memories with you.” You leaned your head against hers “I love every moment with you.” Alessia pecked your lips “Te amo, el mio sole.” You pulled her forward locking your lips together as you kissed her passionately “Ti amo, La Mia vita.”

[tramon81]

The mechanics of Play pretend.

You know, I think that one of the reasons stuff like bakugan, beyblade, hell even skylanders and arguably ben 10 were so popular in their era is thanks of the focus of depicting it's main gimmick as mysterous artifact merges of these supernatural powers within a mechanical doohickey that has a physical way to be operated.

If you look at a bakugan in your hand and you can see how it works where it opens, the first step is a physical understanding on how it works in real life, and the next part is left to your imagination. It introduces a device that correlates those two things, and to put it simply, there's a reason why one can consider it "Rad as hell" both first hand as a kid, and retroactively as an adult.

image taken from this video

These all kinda introduce a ritual to "activate" that supernatural power these pieces of plastic are asking you to imagine them having.

Throw the bakugan, the bakugan handles the mechanics they need to Open up you handle imagining it as a cool ass dragon emerging from it.

Let the bayblade "rip" through its mechanism, and as they clash you can imagine a winged horse emerging and fighting it out.

Push the button, the dial pops up, select one of these misterious alien siluettes by spinning the dial, Slam it, and you bet the kid who bought that toy omnitrix is gonna pretend to be Fourams or whoever ther favorite is.

Skylanders is weird in this sense, since it has the mechanism, but instead of leaving it to the imagination it outright shows on screen how the toy ahem "came to life". While it does make really cool the whole process of placing the skylander on the portal and them arriving in the game, it all feels very magical. Altough their medium can make them feel pretty robotic at times.

What you can see here is a physical, real and mechanical interaction with the toy, being used to justify an imaginative, supernatural and fictional effect that is given to them. Just how a kid will need to take a stick before they can imagine having a magic wand in their hands, these toys focus on that aspect as a way to bring to life their own ideas into the playground.

I feel this is partly a reason why this type of toy had a bigger sucess in general. Give a kid a toy that has tons of very specific features like "the toy talks" or "the toy walks on its own" and probably they will get tired of it sooner rather than later. Give a kid a toy that has some specific actions wich let them imagine the effect and how they use that effect and little by little the kid has imagined their whole game by themselves.

Even in the case of skylanders where the toys do talk, walk and have their own powers the kid can have the console represent for them. That activation process, specially with how well the portal cutscenes are represented with its sound design, goes a long way to inmerse that kid within that game world. The portal of power is a completely different beast than the NFC reader for amiibos for example, cause skylanders while products at their core, have had effort put into selling the idea through a "play pretend" approach.

All in all, parts of my infancy were pretty defined by this style of toys, specially ben 10 and to a lesser extent bakugan. As somewhat of a digital artist nowadays a lot of the motivations that i have for drawing were developed in that stage. I see drawing in a sense of a sort of evolution to that play pretend, what once we imagined as children, be it your own custom ben 10 alien, or bakugan or the like, now i have the power to bring those ideas to life and more importantly, share them with others they way i imagined them.

[just-shower-thoughts]

Walmart made about $600B last year, yet can't install NFC readers on their credit card machines.

[bynux]

Be Careful Putting Your Phone Down At Panera Bread Locations

I noticed my phone buzzing repeatedly when I'd have it open on the table at Panera, and on further review I realized that my phone was repeatedly scanning an NFC tag on the underside of the table. I'm assuming the servers use these as a shorthand way of confirming that food has been delivered to the correct table.

This is all well and good; this is a prime use case for NFC tags, and using an NFC reader app I was able to see that they're just basic numeric codes. As long as the tags aren't rewritable by anyone, they're not a security risk.

The NFC tags at Panera Bread are rewritable. Like, easily. Using a simple app you can get from the Google Play Store.

What this means is that someone can rewrite the NFC tags to redirect to a download link for malware, or a phishing website, or any number of other attack vectors.

I have more information about this issue on my personal website, as well as a video demonstrating the effect. My recommendation is to keep NFC turned off on your phone unless and until you're actively using it (for touchless payments, bus tickets, etc.).

[sb-components]

RFID Tags: Revolutionizing Identification and Tracking

In today's fast-paced world, efficiency and accuracy are paramount. Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags have emerged as a game-changing technology, offering a streamlined and reliable solution for identification and tracking across a wide range of industries. These tiny tags, embedded with microchips and antennas, can store and transmit data wirelessly, enabling seamless tracking of assets, inventory, and personnel.

The Significance of RFID Tags

RFID tags have revolutionized various sectors due to their unique advantages:

Enhanced Efficiency: RFID tags eliminate the need for manual scanning or barcode reading, significantly reducing time and labor costs.

Improved Accuracy: RFID tags provide error-free identification, eliminating the potential for human error often associated with manual data entry.

Real-time Tracking: RFID tags allow for real-time tracking of assets, enabling businesses to monitor their inventory and optimize their supply chain.

Versatility: RFID tags can be attached to a wide range of objects, from clothing and electronics to livestock and vehicles, making them a versatile solution for various applications.

A World of Applications

RFID tags have permeated various industries, transforming operations and enhancing efficiency. Here are some notable examples:

Supply Chain Management: RFID tags streamline inventory management, enabling real-time tracking of goods throughout the supply chain, from manufacturing to distribution.

Access Control: RFID tags enable secure access control systems, granting authorized personnel access to restricted areas or buildings.

Asset Tracking: RFID tags are widely used to track valuable assets, such as medical equipment, library books, and industrial tools, preventing theft and loss.

Animal Tracking: RFID tags are employed for animal identification and tracking, providing valuable insights into livestock management, wildlife conservation, and research.

Retail: RFID tags enhance retail operations, enabling efficient inventory management, loss prevention, and personalized customer experiences.

SB Components: Your One-Stop Shop for RFID Tags

SB Components is a leading provider of high-quality RFID tags, catering to the diverse needs of businesses and individuals. Our extensive range of RFID tags includes a variety of frequencies, sizes, and functionalities to suit specific applications.

Whether you're looking to track inventory, manage access control, or enhance customer experiences, SB Components has the RFID tags that meet your requirements. Our expert team is always ready to assist you in selecting the right RFID tags for your unique needs.

Embrace the Future with RFID Technology

RFID tags have revolutionized identification and tracking, offering a powerful and versatile solution for businesses and individuals alike. As technology continues to advance, RFID tags are poised to play an even more significant role in streamlining operations, enhancing efficiency, and improving decision-making across industries.

To explore the vast potential of RFID tags, visit SB Components today and discover the innovative solutions that await you.

[mariacallous]

Scan the online brochures of companies who sell workplace monitoring tech and you’d think the average American worker was a renegade poised to take their employer down at the next opportunity. “Nearly half of US employees admit to time theft!” “Biometric readers for enhanced accuracy!” “Offer staff benefits in a controlled way with Vending Machine Access!”

A new wave of return-to-office mandates has arrived since the New Year, including at JP Morgan Chase, leading advertising agency WPP, and Amazon—not to mention President Trump’s late January directive to the heads of federal agencies to “terminate remote work arrangements and require employees to return to work in-person … on a full-time basis.” Five years on from the pandemic, when the world showed how effectively many roles could be performed remotely or flexibly, what’s caused the sudden change of heart?

“There’s two things happening,” says global industry analyst Josh Bersin, who is based in California. “The economy is actually slowing down, so companies are hiring less. So there is a trend toward productivity in general, and then AI has forced virtually every company to reallocate resources toward AI projects.

“The expectation amongst CEOs is that’s going to eliminate a lot of jobs. A lot of these back-to-work mandates are due to frustration that both of those initiatives are hard to measure or hard to do when we don’t know what people are doing at home.”

The question is, what exactly are we returning to?

Take any consumer tech buzzword of the 21st century and chances are it’s already being widely used across the US to monitor time, attendance and, in some cases, the productivity of workers, in sectors such as manufacturing, retail, and fast food chains: RFID badges, GPS time clock apps, NFC apps, QR code clocking-in, Apple Watch badges, and palm, face, eye, voice, and finger scanners. Biometric scanners have long been sold to companies as a way to avoid hourly workers “buddy punching” for each other at the start and end of shifts—so-called “time theft.” A return-to-office mandate and its enforcement opens the door for similar scenarios for salaried staff.

Track and Trace

The latest, deluxe end point of these time and attendance tchotchkes and apps is something like Austin-headquartered HID’s OmniKey platform. Designed for factories, hospitals, universities and offices, this is essentially an all-encompassing RFID log-in and security system for employees, via smart cards, smartphone wallets, and wearables. These will not only monitor turnstile entrances, exits, and floor access by way of elevators but also parking, the use of meeting rooms, the cafeteria, printers, lockers, and yes, vending machine access.

These technologies, and more sophisticated worker location- and behavior-tracking systems, are expanding from blue-collar jobs to pink-collar industries and even white-collar office settings. Depending on the survey, approximately 70 to 80 percent of large US employers now use some form of employee monitoring, and the likes of PwC have explicitly told workers that managers will be tracking their location to enforce a three-day office week policy.

“Several of these earlier technologies, like RFID sensors and low-tech barcode scanners, have been used in manufacturing, in warehouses, or in other settings for some time,” says Wolfie Christl, a researcher of workplace surveillance for Cracked Labs, a nonprofit based in Vienna, Austria. “We’re moving toward the use of all kinds of sensor data, and this kind of technology is certainly now moving into the offices. However, I think for many of these, it’s questionable whether they really make sense there.”

What’s new, at least to the recent pandemic age of hybrid working, is the extent to which workers can now be tracked inside office buildings. Cracked Labs published a frankly terrifying 25-page case study report in November 2024 showing how systems of wireless networking, motion sensors, and Bluetooth beacons, whether intentionally or as a byproduct of their capabilities, can provide “behavioral monitoring and profiling” in office settings.

The project breaks the tech down into two categories: The first is technology that tracks desk presence and room occupancy, and the second monitors the indoor location, movement, and behavior of the people working inside the building.

To start with desk and room occupancy, Spacewell offers a mix of motion sensors installed under desks, in ceilings, and at doorways in “office spaces” and heat sensors and low-resolution visual sensors to show which desks and rooms are being used. Both real-time and trend data are available to managers via its “live data floorplan,” and the sensors also capture temperature, environmental, light intensity, and humidity data.

The Swiss-headquartered Locatee, meanwhile, uses existing badge and device data via Wi-Fi and LAN to continuously monitor clocking in and clocking out, time spent by workers at desks and on specific floors, and the number of hours and days spent by employees at the office per week. While the software displays aggregate rather than individual personal employee data to company executives, the Cracked Labs report points out that Locatee offers a segmented team analytics report which “reveals data on small groups.”

As more companies return to the office, the interest in this idea of “optimized” working spaces is growing fast. According to S&S Insider’s early 2025 analysis, the connected office was worth $43 billion in 2023 and will grow to $122.5 billion by 2032. Alongside this, IndustryARC predicts there will be a $4.5 billion employee-monitoring-technology market, mostly in North America, by 2026—the only issue being that the crossover between the two is blurry at best.

At the end of January, Logitech showed off its millimeter-wave radar Spot sensors, which are designed to allow employers to monitor whether rooms are being used and which rooms in the building are used the most. A Logitech rep told The Verge that the peel-and-stick devices, which also monitor VOCs, temperature, and humidity, could theoretically estimate the general placement of people in a meeting room.

As Christl explains, because of the functionality that these types of sensor-based systems offer, there is the very real possibility of a creep from legitimate applications, such as managing energy use, worker health and safety, and ensuring sufficient office resources into more intrusive purposes.

“For me, the main issue is that if companies use highly sensitive data like tracking the location of employees’ devices and smartphones indoors or even use motion detectors indoors,” he says, “then there must be totally reliable safeguards that this data is not being used for any other purposes.”

Big Brother Is Watching

This warning becomes even more pressing where workers’ indoor location, movement, and behavior are concerned. Cisco’s Spaces cloud platform has digitized 11 billion square feet of enterprise locations, producing 24.7 trillion location data points. The Spaces system is used by more than 8,800 businesses worldwide and is deployed by the likes of InterContinental Hotels Group, WeWork, the NHS Foundation, and San Jose State University, according to Cisco’s website.

While it has applications for retailers, restaurants, hotels, and event venues, many of its features are designed to function in office environments, including meeting room management and occupancy monitoring. Spaces is designed as a comprehensive, all-seeing eye into how employees (and customers and visitors, depending on the setting) and their connected devices, equipment, or “assets” move through physical spaces.

Cisco has achieved this by using its existing wireless infrastructure and combining data from Wi-Fi access points with Bluetooth tracking. Spaces offers employers both real-time views and historical data dashboards. The use cases? Everything from meeting-room scheduling and optimizing cleaning schedules to more invasive dashboards on employees’ entry and exit times, the duration of staff workdays, visit durations by floor, and other “behavior metrics.” This includes those related to performance, a feature pitched at manufacturing sites.

Some of these analytics use aggregate data, but Cracked Labs details how Spaces goes beyond this into personal data, with device usernames and identifiers that make it possible to single out individuals. While the ability to protect privacy by using MAC randomization is there, Cisco emphasizes that this makes indoor movement analytics “unreliable” and other applications impossible—leaving companies to make that decision themselves.

Management even has the ability to send employees nudge-style alerts based on their location in the building. An IBM application, based on Cisco’s underlying technology, offers to spot anomalies in occupancy patterns and send notifications to workers or their managers based on what it finds. Cisco’s Spaces can also incorporate video footage from Cisco security cameras and WebEx video conferencing hardware into the overall system of indoor movement monitoring; another example of function creep from security to employee tracking in the workplace.

“Cisco is simply everywhere. As soon as employers start to repurpose data that is being collected from networking or IT infrastructure, this quickly becomes very dangerous, from my perspective.” says Christl. “With this kind of indoor location tracking technology based on its Wi-Fi networks, I think that a vendor as major as Cisco has a responsibility to ensure it doesn’t suggest or market solutions that are really irresponsible to employers.

“I would consider any productivity and performance tracking very problematic when based on this kind of intrusive behavioral data.” WIRED approached Cisco for comment but didn’t receive a response before publication.

Cisco isn't alone in this, though. Similar to Spaces, Juniper’s Mist offers an indoor tracking system that uses both Wi-Fi networks and Bluetooth beacons to locate people, connected devices, and Bluetooth tagged badges on a real-time map, with the option of up to 13 months of historical data on worker behavior.

Juniper’s offering, for workplaces including offices, hospitals, manufacturing sites, and retailers, is so precise that it is able to provide records of employees’ device names, together with the exact enter and exit times and duration of visits between “zones” in offices—including one labeled “break area/kitchen” in a demo. Yikes.

For each of these systems, a range of different applications is functionally possible, and some which raise labor-law concerns. “A worst-case scenario would be that management wants to fire someone and then starts looking into historical records trying to find some misconduct,” says Christl. "If it’s necessary to investigate employees, then there should be a procedure where, for example, a worker representative is looking into the fine-grained behavioral data together with management. This would be another safeguard to prevent misuse.”

Above and Beyond?

If warehouse-style tracking has the potential for management overkill in office settings, it makes even less sense in service and health care jobs, and American unions are now pushing for more access to data and quotas used in disciplinary action. Elizabeth Anderson, professor of public philosophy at the University of Michigan and the author of Private Government: How Employers Rule Our Lives, describes how black-box algorithm-driven management and monitoring affects not just the day-to-day of nursing staff but also their sense of work and value.

“Surveillance and this idea of time theft, it’s all connected to this idea of wasting time,” she explains. “Essentially all relational work is considered inefficient. In a memory care unit, for example, the system will say how long to give a patient breakfast, how many minutes to get them dressed, and so forth.

“Maybe an Alzheimer’s patient is frightened, so a nurse has to spend some time calming them down, or perhaps they have lost some ability overnight. That’s not one of the discrete physical tasks that can be measured. Most of the job is helping that person cope with declining faculties; it takes time for that, for people to read your emotions and respond appropriately. What you get is massive moral injury with this notion of efficiency.”

This kind of monitoring extends to service workers, including servers in restaurants and cleaning staff, according to a 2023 Cracked Labs’ report into retail and hospitality. Software developed by Oracle is used to, among other applications, rate and rank servers based on speed, sales, timekeeping around breaks, and how many tips they receive. Similar Oracle software that monitors mobile workers such as housekeepers and cleaners in hotels uses a timer for app-based micromanagement—for instance, “you have two minutes for this room, and there are four tasks.”

As Christl explains, this simply doesn’t work in practice. “People have to struggle to combine what they really do with this kind of rigid, digital system. And it’s not easy to standardize work like talking to patients and other kinds of affective work, like how friendly you are as a waiter. This is a major problem. These systems cannot represent the work that is being done accurately.”

But can knowledge work done in offices ever be effectively measured and assessed either? In an episode of his podcast in January, host Ezra Klein battled his own feelings about having many of his best creative ideas at a café down the street from where he lives rather than in The New York Times’ Manhattan offices. Anderson agrees that creativity often has to find its own path.

“Say there’s a webcam tracking your eyes to make sure you’re looking at the screen,” she says. “We know that daydreaming a little can actually help people come up with creative ideas. Just letting your mind wander is incredibly useful for productivity overall, but that requires some time looking around or out the window. The software connected to your camera is saying you’re off-duty—that you’re wasting time. Nobody’s mind can keep concentrated for the whole work day, but you don’t even want that from a productivity point of view.”

Even for roles where it might make more methodological sense to track discrete physical tasks, there can be negative consequences of nonstop monitoring. Anderson points to a scene in Erik Gandini’s 2023 documentary After Work that shows an Amazon delivery driver who is monitored, via camera, for their driving, delivery quotas, and even getting dinged for using Spotify in the van.

“It’s very tightly regulated and super, super intrusive, and it’s all based on distrust as the starting point,” she says. “What these tech bros don’t understand is that if you install surveillance technology, which is all about distrusting the workers, there is a deep feature of human psychology that is reciprocity. If you don’t trust me, I’m not going to trust you. You think an employee who doesn’t trust the boss is going to be working with the same enthusiasm? I don’t think so.”

Trust Issues

The fixes, then, might be in the leadership itself, not more data dashboards. “Our research shows that excessive monitoring in the workplace can damage trust, have a negative impact on morale, and cause stress and anxiety,” says Hayfa Mohdzaini, senior policy and practice adviser for technology at the CIPD, the UK’s professional body for HR, learning, and development. “Employers might achieve better productivity by investing in line manager training and ensuring employees feel supported with reasonable expectations around office attendance and manageable workloads.”

A 2023 Pew Research study found that 56 percent of US workers were opposed to the use of AI to keep track of when employees were at their desks, and 61 percent were against tracking employees’ movements while they work.

This dropped to just 51 percent of workers who were opposed to recording work done on company computers, through the use of a kind of corporate “spyware” often accepted by staff in the private sector. As Josh Bersin puts it, “Yes, the company can read your emails” with platforms such as Teramind, even including “sentiment analysis” of employee messages.

Snooping on files, emails, and digital chats takes on new significance when it comes to government workers, though. New reporting from WIRED, based on conversations with employees at 13 federal agencies, reveals the extent to Elon Musk’s DOGE team’s surveillance: software including Google’s Gemini AI chatbot, a Dynatrace extension, and security tool Splunk have been added to government computers in recent weeks, and some people have felt they can’t speak freely on recorded and transcribed Microsoft Teams calls. Various agencies already use Everfox software and Dtex’s Intercept system, which generates individual risk scores for workers based on websites and files accessed.

Alongside mass layoffs and furloughs over the past four weeks, the so-called Department of Government Efficiency has also, according to CBS News and NPR reports, gone into multiple agencies in February with the theater and bombast of full X-ray security screenings replacing entry badges at Washington, DC, headquarters. That’s alongside managers telling staff that their logging in and out of devices, swiping in and out of workspaces, and all of their digital work chats will be “closely monitored” going forward.

“Maybe they’re trying to make a big deal out of it to scare people right now,” says Bersin. “The federal government is using back-to-work as an excuse to lay off a bunch of people.”

DOGE staff have reportedly even added keylogger software to government computers to track everything employees type, with staff concerned that anyone using keywords related to progressive thinking or "disloyalty” to Trump could be targeted—not to mention the security risks it introduces for those working on sensitive projects. As one worker told NPR, it feels “Soviet-style” and “Orwellian” with “nonstop monitoring.” Anderson describes the overall DOGE playbook as a series of “deeply intrusive invasions of privacy.”

Alternate Realities

But what protections are out there for employees? Certain states, such as New York and Illinois, do offer strong privacy protections against, for example, unnecessary biometric tracking in the private sector, and California’s Consumer Privacy Act covers workers as well as consumers. Overall, though, the lack of federal-level labor law in this area makes the US something of an alternate reality to what is legal in the UK and Europe.

The Electronic Communications Privacy Act in the US allows employee monitoring for legitimate business reasons and with the worker’s consent. In Europe, Algorithm Watch has made country analyses for workplace surveillance in the UK, Italy, Sweden, and Poland. To take one high-profile example of the stark difference: In early 2024, Serco was ordered by the UK's privacy watchdog, the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), to stop using face recognition and fingerprint scanning systems, designed by Shopworks, to track the time and attendance of 2,000 staff across 38 leisure centers around the country. This new guidance led to more companies reviewing or cutting the technology altogether, including Virgin Active, which pulled similar biometric employee monitoring systems from 30-plus sites.

Despite a lack of comprehensive privacy rights in the US, though, worker protest, union organizing, and media coverage can provide a firewall against some office surveillance schemes. Unions such as the Service Employees International Union are pushing for laws to protect workers from black-box algorithms dictating the pace of output.

In December, Boeing scrapped a pilot of employee monitoring at offices in Missouri and Washington, which was based on a system of infrared motion sensors and VuSensor cameras installed in ceilings, made by Ohio-based Avuity. The U-turn came after a Boeing employee leaked an internal PowerPoint presentation on the occupancy- and headcount-tracking technology to The Seattle Times. In a matter of weeks, Boeing confirmed that managers would remove all the sensors that had been installed to date.

Under-desk sensors, in particular, have received high-profile backlash, perhaps because they are such an obvious piece of surveillance hardware rather than simply software designed to record work done on company machines. In the fall of 2022, students at Northeastern University hacked and removed under-desk sensors produced by EnOcean, offering “presence detection” and “people counting,” that had been installed in the school’s Interdisciplinary Science & Engineering Complex. The university provost eventually informed students that the department had planned to use the sensors with the Spaceti platform to optimize desk usage.

OccupEye (now owned by FM: Systems), another type of under-desk heat and motion sensor, received a similar reaction from staff at Barclays Bank and The Telegraph newspaper in London, with employees protesting and, in some cases, physically removing the devices that tracked the time they spent away from their desks.

Despite the fallout, Barclays later faced a $1.1 billion fine from the ICO when it was found to have deployed Sapience’s employee monitoring software in its offices, with the ability to single out and track individual employees. Perhaps unsurprisingly in the current climate, that same software company now offers “lightweight device-level technology” to monitor return-to-office policy compliance, with a dashboard breaking employee location down by office versus remote for specific departments and teams.

According to Elizabeth Anderson’s latest book Hijacked, while workplace surveillance culture and the obsession with measuring employee efficiency might feel relatively new, it can actually be traced back to the invention of the “work ethic” by the Puritans in the 16th and 17th centuries.

“They thought you should be working super hard; you shouldn’t be idling around when you should be in work,” she says. “You can see some elements there that can be developed into a pretty hostile stance toward workers. The Puritans were obsessed with not wasting time. It was about gaining assurance of salvation through your behavior. With the Industrial Revolution, the ‘no wasting time’ became a profit-maximizing strategy. Now you’re at work 24/7 because they can get you on email.”

Some key components of the original work ethic, though, have been skewed or lost over time. The Puritans also had strict constraints on what duties employers had toward their workers: paying a living wage and providing safe and healthy working conditions.

“You couldn’t just rule them tyrannically, or so they said. You had to treat them as your fellow Christians, with dignity and respect. In many ways the original work ethic was an ethic which uplifted workers.”