TouchBase wants to reinvent the business card with smartphones

Is it really the year 2014 and we are still handing each other rectangular scraps of paper when we want to exchange contact information? Sadly, it is. Remember the PalmPilot, which let you beam your digits over an infrared link? The Bump app? QR codes printed on the back of cards?

People complain about having to use antiquated business cards to pass along contact details, but they’re not going away anytime soon. So instead of complaining, the folks at TouchBase simply found a way to make business cards smarter. To access someone’s contact info, all you need to do is tap these business cards on your smartphone’s display. And you’re probably assuming that NFC or wireless RFID technology is making this a reality, so you’re limited to what phone you can use—but it’s not. In fact, you’ll notice that’s an NFC-lacking iPhone used in that demo. Instead, the TouchBase cards—which feel exactly like any other business card—are embedded with a distinct pattern of conductive ink that mimics a multi-touch gesture on a smartphone’s display.