HP Provides Alternate Technology to RFID

NerdForceMaster writes "HP has unveiled a new alternative to standard RFID technology, a chip the size of a tomato seed that has 500KB of memory and can communicate at 10mbps. Lets hope this one is commercially availible soon." We beg forgiveness; dupe etc etc.

TFA says rfid, "not built out" into industries

[adam]

FTFA: "The hard part is building the ecosystem. You have to get your readers and writers, and I don't know how long it will take me to convince the cell phone companies to do this. How long has RFID been around and it's still not completely built out?"

Understatement of the week, for sure. I'm struggling to think of more than half a dozen consumer-exposed implementations of RFID. There are a few gas-station speedpass[tm] gimmicks, some high end automobiles use them in their keys, and various department stores use them to keep inventory from walking out the front door. And a few casinos are now using RFID chips to prevent various gaming schemes and track user play. I think that "not completely" built out is more than an understatement. For instance, the uspto [uspto.gov] currently lists 2114 patents including the keyword "RFID" versus 519515 including the keyword "OPTICAL" (if you think optical technologies are not a fair comparison, do your own search with your own chosen technology.. my point is simply that RFID has barely been explored by many industries)

Not that I claim to be much of an expert on RFID, but at least it appears technologies such as this will be less vulernable to the encryption problems [computerworld.com] that RFID currently experience. (previous link is just some random example i googled for.. /. as well as Bruce Schneier have both covered the RFID encryption [and other inherent weakness] topics extensively in the past)

But how will it be any better than RFID?

[RandoX]

According to the article, the chips will be rewritable. So instead of just stealing your credit card/door key/passport information, someone will be able to erase it so that yours doesn't work anymore or worse. Imagine the 'splainin you'll have when your passport comes up with the name "O. Bin Ladin"?

Lost item locator

[maximthemagnificent]

I just want 15 foot range cheap RFID tags so I can tag everything I ever want to find again with a
unique ID. A detector with left and right LEDs would be enough. To never again go insane trying
to find my glasses, car keys, books, or remote (to say nothing of losing tools outside) would be huge.

Maxim

Re:TFA says rfid, "not built out" into industries

[kthejoker]

The problem is that porn has no use for this. If you could find out how to use this for porn, we'd be soaking in RF tech in a month.

Re:Not Really Better then RFID

[Anonymous Coward]

FTFA: Taub next waved the reader over the chip on a medicine bottle and the attached computer received the dosage, direction, and all other pertinent information from the prescription.

Doesn't sound like physical contact is necessary.