At the airport, my first experience with an electronic boarding pass was fun and liberating.

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Its Swatch Access contactless technology, launched way back in 1996, has since found several niche applications, including use as an electronic ski pass at hundreds of resorts.

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When a traveller enters an airport with one of these smart cards, sensors read the passenger's card and automatically send a gate number and electronic boarding pass to the passenger's smartphone.

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In Singapore, clients of the country's three largest banks use smart cards, while commuters pass the plastic through electronic readers to get on buses or commuter trains.

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The phone can also store loyalty programs, present offers, work as a boarding pass and eventually pay at electronic turnstyles, like the London underground, or as announced today, New Jersey Transit trains and buses.

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One program participant, Nicole Williams, a 21-year-old Kansas City mother of three, said she was hopeful she'd pass the GED test soon so she could avoid the electronic version.

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