rfid

Behind the scenes, Wal-Mart and Target use radio-frequency identification tracking systems to help them keep their shelves stocked, but that method could face new complications if an ongoing patent lawsuit doesn't go their way.

The suit, filed back in August 2006, accuses the megaretailers and Gillette of infringing on a U.S. patent covering an "inventory control system" that employs radio-frequency identification (RFID) technology to track the presence or absence of items and keep them from colliding. The patent belongs to a Houston man named Ronald Bormaster, who assigned it to Houston-based RFID World, which does not … Read more

Update on February 22, 2008, at 3:20 p.m PST: This blog has been updated to include a response from American Express.

WASHINGTON D.C.--Adam Laurie, an RFID security expert, used the Black Hat DC 2008 conference here, to demonstrate a new Python script he's working on to read the contents of smart-chip-enabled credit cards.

As part of his presentation Wednesday, Laurie asked for someone from the audience to volunteer a smart card. Without taking the card out of the volunteer's wallet, Laurie both read and displayed its contents on the presentation screen--the person's name, … Read more

Australian Jonathan Oxer is a techie by trade, but he doesn't leave that side of himself at the office. In fact, he's turned his entire domestic life into a proof of concept of software-controllable electronic gadgetry, from his home's Ethernet-enabled, Second Life-compatible mailbox to the RFID chip in his arm.

Read the story, and the accompanying Q&A with Oxer, in Computerworld Australia: "Ohm Sweet Ohm: Outgoing Linux Australia president's hot-wired home"

MORGAN HILL, Calif.--What do you do if your company has raised $291 million in venture funds and you're still waiting for your market to take off?

You buy replica robots that starred in movies from the 1950s.

At least that's what Alien Technology, based here, did. The company's previous CEO bought these two gems, which sit in the headquarters lobby. (The company is currently headed up by Fujitsu and Apple alum George Everhart.)

The roundish one, that looks like Bib the Michelin Man wearing a hat that pipes beer from two cans into your mouth, is … Read more

Remember a few years ago how Wal-Mart and other companies slapped mandates on their suppliers and told them that they'd have to begin to put standardized RFID (radio frequency identification) tags on stuff coming into the warehouse or else?

The idea was that the tags would let retailers and distributors track all of the products coming from various suppliers through a single, large database. Warehouse managers loved the idea because it simplified their jobs, but privacy advocates warned of Minority Report scenarios where corporations tracked your spending habits. Tagging would start with pallets, they noted, but move to individual … Read more

WASHINGTON--We already know that some aging politicians and bureaucrats are prone to less-than-coherent ramblings about the technological topics that fall within their job descriptions (See: Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens, former chairman of the panel overseeing Internet regulation, "The Internet is a series of tubes," July 2006).

You can imagine what goes through their minds: I really need to show the public that I get it. The only problem is that it doesn't always work.

Take an event held Wednesday at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, a storied pro-business lobbying group. It was called "RFID Solutions: … Read more

WASHINGTON--Embedding electronic tags in containers of food and supplies--and even in workers' identification documents--will "revolutionize" the way the United Nations doles out relief in the aftermath of the next tsunami, civil war or disease outbreak, a senior organization official said Wednesday.

When U.N. workers descend on distressed locales, they often encounter logjams at airport tarmacs and confusion over what exactly is in this or that box, said David Nabarro, who's chiefly in charge of coordinating responses to bird and human influenza for the U.N. Development Group.

Nabarro said he envisions his organization one day going … Read more

From my vantage point in the peanut gallery, it's oh so tempting to hold our elected officials up to ridicule. But truth be told, it's sometimes impossible to resist. And when it comes to that increasingly busy intersection between the worlds of politics and technology, it seems the hits just keep on coming.

So it is that California State Senator Joe Simitian (D-Palo Alto) introduced a bill that would "prohibit any person from forcing any other person to undergo an implant in their body of a radio frequency identification device."

I kid thee not.

His fellow … Read more

Here's the latest indication that RFID passports--and concerns about the security of the scannable information embedded in them--are going mainstream.

Until recently, passport pouches and wallets designed to block RFID signals from hackers have ranged from industrial-strength versions that resemble burlap sacks to Italian leather goods that go for $50 to $180. But now there's a reasonable compromise from Magellan's Travel Supplies, whose "RFID Blocking Passport Wallet" lists for $19.85. It may not be hand-crafted by European artisans, but it does claim to be top-quality leather.

Now if we can just find a … Read more