Just like its predecessor, the Loc8tor, the Loc8tor light does the same thing, but in a much smaller, specifically thinner package. It has a 122 meter radius and can guide you to whatever you’ve lost within an inch of it.
It all works off of RFID and each Loc8tor comes with a few miniature RFID homing tags that you put on or in whatever you don’t want to lose. Some recommendations would be your wallet, cell phone, or other high end electronics that you take with you on the go.
Keeping our data and information secure and safe is something most of us worry about. The STSEN E08 RFID Security 2.4 Inch HDD Enclosure is more than just a ridiculously long name; it’s an alternative to fingerprint scans and passwords.
In a trial with O2, London Underground, and Nokia, they are offering up a few phones with built in RFID tags to be used with payment systems. Its not a new idea, it was just decided a while ago that it was a rather bad one.
So what makes Nokia think they can do something different enough to make it work better? Personally I don’t think they can, I am all about making the contents of my pocket fewer and fewer and simplifying the payment process, but I am also totally against RFID except for the tracking of cargo, items in a business, applications where tracking people, and attaching the tech to money are not combined because I’ve read about the extreme lack of security regarding RFID.
This RFID works with any active RFID tags that are running on the 433MHz band. It is mobile, as in you can carry it with you, and it can transmit data to your mobile device (BlackBerry, Windows Mobile, Etc.) via Bluetooth.
That means you can buy some of RF Codes active RFID tags, affix them to all your high priced gear in your company, and then use this thing to track/find it, all from your smartphone. Its easy as pie to track your stuff now, and will probably decrease the chances of your gear walking out on you.
I just signed up for CES 2008 today and noticed something rather interesting. It looks like the registration badges will have an embedded RFID tag. According to the website the tag won’t contain any personal information, rather it will only have your ID number.
If you’re paranoid about Big Brother tracking your every move at the event (that is if you’re planning on attending) you do have the option of checking a box to not have one in your badge. I’m going to have one in mine, I doubt that we’ll actually even notice that anything is going on with it, as it’s just going to track overall info for the show management.
We’ve featured a Jacob Palmborg design pretty recently here on SlashGear, but the young designer seems to have a knack for developing tactile, jewel-like concepts that make you ache to hold them. His OLED cellphone was a slick, kinked shard of monochromatic plastic and metal, obviously expensive, and now he’s come up with the ideal way to pay for it. Only this being the 21st century, you’re likely to get a jugful of guilt along with the purchase.
Somebody tell ThinkGeek to get their sweet gadgety asses over to the UK and set up a store here; honestly, I could spend all of my milk money on playthings from their catalogue, if international shipping didn’t put me off. Latest to tempt my VISA card is this DIY RFID kit, intended to take short-range radio identification tagging out of the hands of Big Brother and put it into those of Big Geek.
Among the many mundane but complicated tasks of our everyday lives such as pressing buttons on TV remotes and turning volume knobs, is the opening of a door lock with a metal key that must be inserted and turned. What a hassle, not to mention having to carry around that heavy key and keychain in addition to our wallet, Treo, and iPod. And heaven forbid if that key should scratch any of the latter when jumbled around in our pockets. The solution is to upgrade your door locks to the RFID Digital Door Lock.
Gamers of a certain age will remember Epoch’s Barcode Battler, a compact games system that relied on barcoded characters and power-ups to fight against each other. The key to its (failed) longevity was the fact that further barcodes could be used to create new characters, enemies and add-ons. In the end its tiny LCD screen couldn’t compete with the growing range of TV consoles, and it paled into bargain bins.
Now imagine an interactive system that connects to your TV but also uses a broad and expandable range of characters and power-ups that you can collect just like Top Trump cards. Since we’ve been dragged squealing into the 21st century, barcodes just won’t cut it anymore – instead picture RFID-enabled cards that register with mere proximity across a swipe sensor. You’re getting close to the incredible gaming concept of Mattel’s HyperScan.
SlashGear Japan
