» RFID SmartStores

Samsung develops RFID chip for mobile handsets

August 13, 2009 — admin

Samsung Electronics has developed an RFID (radio frequency identification) chip it hopes will turn mobile phones into more useful tools to tell people about the products and services they want.

Samsung’s principal innovation in this area has been to design an RFID reader chip that can read different types of RFID tags. Normally, it takes more than one chip to read different kinds of RFID tags. The new chip will one day find its way into handheld devices, such as mobile phones, although the company did not say when that would happen.

When it does, people will be able to read RFID tags on products and other items meant to make the world an easier place to navigate. For example, some RFID tags on food or medicine products might give information on ingredients or dosages, while RFID tags at bus stops can offer schedules or tell when the next bus will arrive.<

The usefulness of RFID chips will grow as more companies put information on RFID tags and other devices meant for the technology. In Taiwan, for example, one local mobile network operator plans to work with movie theaters to put movie times on RFID tags in movie posters, so people can check on times while riding the subway or in popular shopping areas.

RFID technology is still in the early stages of use, a spokeswoman for Samsung in Seoul said, and Samsung currently has no timeline for when the RFID reader chips might enter mass production. The company plans to wait until RFID technology is more mature, she said.

Source: ARN

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RFID & Consumer Electronics

August 6, 2009 — admin

Item-level tagging of Nokia mobile phones and accessories results in cost savings of 25%
UPM Raflatac is supplying UHF EPC Gen2 tags to Future Communications Company (FCC) based in the State of Kuwait. FCC is the main distributor of Nokia phones and accessories in Kuwait and runs more than 30 retail stores. The company is implementing RFID technology at item-level in its retail showroom in Kuwait City to improve customer service and maximize the efficiency of inventory management.

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Are RFID tags leading to a surveillance culture?

July 30, 2009 — admin

Radio frequency identification chips are already widely used in supermarkets and shops for the purpose of stock control, but some people fear their use could be widened to monitor the habits and behaviour of ordinary citizens. At the moment, these tags, which are little bigger than a grain of sand, are embedded into pints of milk and library books. When paired with an RFID reader, the tags can help to provide detailed information about items, such as their location, or how many there are.

Although most people are happy for RFID tags to be used in stores to monitor stock levels, they’re less happy about the idea of the chips still sending out a signal once they leave the shop. On a benign level, such tracking capabilities would mean a store would know that people in Hertfordshire prefer blue cashmere jumpers, while those in Aberdeen favour the brown versions. But on a more sinister level, it could also enable them to glean an unprecedented insight into our personal lives, and target their brands to us accordingly.

To those people who fear a “surveillance culture”, the ability to tag and track everything from our food to our clothes would be the next step on an already slippery slope.

Source: Big Brother is Watching You

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Checkpoint Systems Supports METRO Group’s ”Tag It Easy!”

July 23, 2009 — admin

Checkpoint Systems, Inc, a global leader in shrink management, merchandise visibility, and apparel labeling solutions, today announced the expansion of METRO Group’s RFID “Tag It Easy!” program.

This third phase of the program will involve more than 75 Chinese and Indian consumer goods suppliers, in addition to the 100 manufacturers already in the program from Hong Kong, China and Vietnam. “Tag It Easy!” participants apply RFID labels on shipments bound for METRO Group’s facilities in Germany.

The “Tag It Easy!” program is part of METRO Group’s Advanced Logistics Asia (ALA) initiative to improve logistics processes with its Asian suppliers, using RFID to track merchandise throughout the supply chain. METRO Group developed the “Tag It Easy!” program with Checkpoint, a strategic partner of METRO Group’s Future Store Initiative, to assist suppliers in using RFID within their operations. As an exclusive third-party solutions provider Checkpoint continues to supply pre-printed RFID labels and services to suppliers in the region.

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Murata’s ultra-thin RFID modules

June 4, 2009 — admin

Murata has increased the applicability of its tiny RFID modules by significantly reducing the thickness, making the Magicstrap range suitable for paper label inlays for mainstream retail applications.
The Japanese group has managed to embed all the necessary RF circuitry, including antenna filters, matching circuitry and ESD protection within the LTCC substrate using its multi-layer ceramic technology expertise.

The size of the second generation modules is thus 1.6 x 1.0 x 0.25 mm, and the module’s thickness has been reduced by more than half and its volume by 89 percent.

The modules can be mounted using ordinary adhesive, with only millimetre accuracy, on to almost any conductive surface to act as the antenna.

Source: EE Times

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Navy Smart Store animation

May 14, 2009 — admin

Animation/simulation of automated shipboard distribution and storage for the US Navy.

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Smart label company acquired

May 7, 2009 — admin

Nashua, whose Label Products Division is a leading converter and supplier of RFID smart labels, was acquired by Cenveo in a $44 million deal that was announced this morning. Cenveo is a $2 billion graphics communications company headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut.
Source: marketwire.com

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You are being watched

April 30, 2009 — admin

With hidden cameras seemingly everywhere and RFID tags increasing, what are the implications for our lives?

David Lyon is studying the ceiling in an Ottawa coffee shop, searching for hidden cameras. A leading figure in the fast-growing field of surveillance studies, the Queen’s University sociologist is only too aware of the many ways we’re all being watched.

Closed-circuit TV cameras, like the ones likely concealed in the coffee shop ceiling, are among the most common. Since 9/11, their use has exploded worldwide. Britain now has an estimated 4.2 million CCTV cameras — one for every 14 citizens. People in central London are now caught on camera about 300 times a day.

CCTV cameras is just one surveillance tool. Others include radio frequency identification (RFID) chips, GPS location trackers, website cookies, facial recognition software and store loyalty cards. Computer programs used by security services can monitor and analyse billions of phone calls and e-mails in real time. We even make it easier for our trackers by willingly disclosing pieces of our lives on social networking sites like Facebook or in online contests and questionnaires.

“We are inadvertently handing over to centralized authorities an infrastructure of visibility the likes of which no society has ever seen before”. Surveillance technology can provide a safer and more productive world, but is this type of society really beneficial?