Gadgetopia

RFID Privacy Workshop @ MIT: There was a conference at MIT a week ago on how to handle the RFID privacy issue. With workshops like "Enhancing RFID Privacy through Antenna Energy Analysis," how can you lose? The goal of the RFID Privacy Workshop is to bring together RFID technologists, boosters, ...

RFID For Dummies: Does the existence of a "For Dummies" book mean your technology just went mainstream? Half-tempted to buy this so I can RFID my kids.

:: Mikey Sklar :: Electric Clothing ::: This guy RFIDed himself, meaning he bought am RFID chip for $2.10, then stuck it in himself. Yeah, it's as bad as it sounds -- there's a movie. DIY RFID human implants are on the rise. I have found over sixteen instances of ...

Does Big Brother Want to Watch?: Security Guru Bruce Schneier writes about a supposed plan to embed password details in RFID chips under the skin. They could be read by a holding some device within a few centimeters of the skin. Unfortunately, RFID chips can be read by any reader, ...

RFID: Taking Away Your Privacy One Product at a Time: RFID are little radio transmitters that can be embedded in products. These comments are worth thinking about. "Earlier this year, Wal-Mart issued a mandate that required its top 100 suppliers to include RFIDs on their merchandise by 2005, bringing new ...

World Cup 2006 'abused for mega-surveillance project': The 2006 World Cup is going to put RFIDs in all the tickets. [...] you receive a fully personalized ticket containing an RFID chip; this enables authorities to check the ticket against your passport. Very little information resides on the chip: the identity ...

Depending on who you ask, RFID is either the best thing to ever happen to retailers, the worst thing to ever happen to privacy, or both. Wired's Josh McHugh has written a great article that takes an in-depth look at the ramifications of RFID, beginning with a visit to the ...

Wal-Mart looks to expand radio tagging: Wal-Mart continues the march to the alter of RFID. Discount retailer Wal-Mart Stores today said it hopes to expand use of its electronic product tracking system to its top 300 suppliers by January 2006. [...] Currently about 140 suppliers are working to implement the ...

Defense Department drafts RFID policy: First Wal-Mart requires their adoption, and now the Department of Defense. Love 'em or hate 'em, they're coming faster than you think. "The U.S. Department of Defense will give radio frequency identification technology a massive boost with a new policy requiring its suppliers to use ...

SF library wants to track books with computer chips: RFIDs are slowly creeping into society. Complain all you want about privacy, but these things are coming. "Library officials approved a plan Thursday to install tiny radio frequency identification chips, known as RFIDs, into the roughly 2 million books, CDs and ...

According to a New York Times article,The Spring (TX) Independent School District is trying a new program to help keep track of the 28,000 kids in the system, and hopefully track them down in case they get kidnapped. The system uses ID badges with RFID chips; readers on the buses ...

The Wal-Mart You Don't Know: While not terrifically geekish, this is a good story about Wal-Mart, a company that is affects us geeks more and more everyday. From Linux desktop computers to iTunes competition to RFID adoption, Wal-Mart is a retail force that will push its way into any market ...

I heard a radio news spot about Daktronics (of Brookings, South Dakota) and how they are making it easier for high schools and small colleges to put up glitzy online live stats a la ESPN for their sports programs using DakStats. South Dakota Public Broadcasting used DakStats during ...

Wal-Mart Plan Could Cost Suppliers Millions: More information on the RFID plan that Wal-Mart is forging ahead with. "Wal-Mart said in June that it expected its top 100 suppliers to adopt the technology by the end of 2004 and the rest of its suppliers to do so in 2005. In ...

Has anyone else tried the self-checkout systems at Wal-Mart? These are systems where you scan items yourself, then put them in the bag. The system compares the weight of the item in the bag with what the system has on record. If the correct weight doesn't go in the bag ...