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Tapping devices together to share data isn’t a new concept — we’ve seen it before (in numerous variations) on iPhone and Android devices. But Microsoft might have some very ambitious plans for what it’s calling “beaming” in future versions of Windows, Windows Phone, and even the Xbox.
According to @MS_nerd, Microsoft is dusting off the Zune’s “squirting” feature — their term, not mine. On the Zune, squirting allowed users to send songs from one device to another via Wi-Fi. Beaming has a much nicer ring to it, and it’s also going to be a tad more useful.
Beaming will allow users to wirelessly transfer data among all three Microsoft-powered screens. The feature will reportedly utilize NFC, Bluetooth, and Wi-Fi Direct pairing, and will enable experiences very similar to what Microsoft, Infusion Direct, and BNP Paribas showed off in their Future of Retail Banking concept video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYPtBhkn_HU#ws (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYPtBhkn_HU#ws)
Potential uses go way beyond blowing up a Powerpoint presentation on a nearby HDTV. With SkyDrive providing a cloud back-end for future Microsoft consumer efforts, your Windows Phone could act like a portable profile access device. Get it close to your friend’s Xbox 360 console, and you could have instant access to your Live account and achievements. The same could be true for a Windows 8 computer, especially since we already know the new OS is going to support Windows Live logins and an implementation of roaming profiles.
With the Windows 8 beta on track for February 2012, and NFC-equipped tablets already floating around the retail space, there’s a good chance we could see at least a small demonstration of beaming’s potential early next year.