X

Tikitag connects offline devices to online data

Company shows off RFID-based technology that enables people to add data to business cards and products that will offer more information to people online.

Elinor Mills Former Staff Writer
Elinor Mills covers Internet security and privacy. She joined CNET News in 2005 after working as a foreign correspondent for Reuters in Portugal and writing for The Industry Standard, the IDG News Service and the Associated Press.
Elinor Mills

SAN DIEGO--Tikitag, an Alcatel-Lucent venture, demonstrated a new product at DemoFall that enables people to use RFID wireless technology to link any type of offline device or paper with information online.

Companies can put tikitags, small tags that stick onto things like Post-Its, which contain data, onto products or business cards. Tikitag readers can read the data off the items and provide additional information and services online.

For instance, someone can put all their social network and identity information onto a tikitag and affix that to their business card that can display that information on the Internet when swiped over a tikitag reader. Tikitags can be applied to toys and other products so people can get more information about the products online. And cell phones can be used to grab data off a tikitag affixed to a poster to get more information and buy tickets for events.

The service will go into public beta October 1 and it will be available on Amazon for $49.95.