September 04, 2008 Las Vegas RFID Scavenger Hunt
By
Laurie
Sullivan
I'm preparing to leave for Las Vegas this weekend to attend RFID World 2008 and I came across an interesting press release that just crossed the wire. It seems that RFID is becoming widely accepted by casinos worldwide.
About 41%, $8.6 million, of the revenue generated worldwide by Gaming Partners International (GPI), a manufacturer and supplier of gaming chips, in the first half of 2008 came from chips with embedded RFID. The breakout of chip sales follows: 40% in North America, and 48% in Macau.
RFID chips accounted for 3.4% of GPI's sales in 2004, 12.7% in 2005, 35% in 2006, and 26.7% in 2007, according to the company.
Since January 2006 GPI and Progressive Gaming, supplier of integrated casino and jackpot management systems, have entered into various RFID technology agreements to leverage their intellectual property and experience with 13.56 MHz PJM RFID technology. Since then, GPI's RFID chips and Progressive Gaming's systems have been deployed by 25 casinos in 11 jurisdictions across North America, including Foxwoods Resort Casino in Connecticut, as well as at three leading Macau casinos, Wynn Macau, Crown Macau and Galaxy StarWorld Casino.
Since we are in Las Vegas next week, the first person to find and bring me a casino chip with an embedded RFID chip wins a prize (the prize to be determined at a later time).
Comment on this blog entry
August 27, 2008 Medical Cabinet Takes Inventory
By
Laurie
Sullivan
Madison, Wis.-based Terso Solutions introduced a UHF Gen 2 RFID medical cabinet Wednesday that manages inventory of high-value products like orthopedic supplies, cardiovascular products, reagents, Class II pharmaceuticals, specimens and bio-samples, as well as products that have environmental restrictions.
This storage system combines RFID, secure access control technologies and the Internet for item level inventory management. System hardware, software and services like technical support complete the package. Once the cabinet door is closed, the RFID system records the items that were removed and communicates the information back to the hosted database.
Comment on this blog entry
August 13, 2008 Apple iPhone 2-D Barcode App
By
Laurie
Sullivan
Scanbuy, a mobile marketing solutions company, made its ScanLife 2-D barcode application for Apple's iPhone available Wednesday at the iPhone App Store for free.
The technology doesn't rely on RFID or NFC, but rather uses the phone's camera to give consumers information without searching the Web by keyword or typing in a lengthy URL.
Consumers also can create and scan Personal EZcodes as links to blogs or networking sites by registering an account at Scanbuy.
ScanLife can launch any URL address. With Wi-Fi access, the application can also send a user directly to an iTunes page to preview and purchase a specific song or to watch a video on YouTube.
Many consumer package goods (CPGs) companies are looking at augmenting technology deployments with 2-D barcodes. The 2-D application also fits well with the pharmaceutical industry, because the barcodes can alert consumers of conflicting medications and provide other critical information.
Discover why CPGs are looking at 2-D barcodes and find out how you might integrate the technology with RFID or NFC.
Jonathan Bulkeley, Scanbuy CEO, plans to participate on a panel at RFID World 2008 in Las Vegas on Sept. 9, along with representatives from Kanematsu USA, AIM Global, GS1 (EPCglobal,) and a surprise brand.
August 06, 2008 News Around the Net
By
Laurie
Sullivan
Roulette Anyone?
RFID Revolution, an RFID education and market strategy consulting firm, has introduced RFID Roulette, an Internet-based game designed to help people learn about radio frequency identification technology. RFID Roulette challenges player to distinguish a fake RFID application — one that does not presently exist — from a real one. There is no charge to play.
ThingMagic Opens Online Store
You can buy shoes, shirts and music online. Why not RFID reader development kits? ThingMagic says its M5e-Compact, Mercury5e and Mercury4 module Development Kits are available for purchase online through a new store launched Tuesday.
Each kit provides RFID reader software and hardware for testing, prototyping and developing embedded, mobile, portable and handheld RFID applications. The Development Kits address the demand from businesses for low-cost development tools. The Cambridge, Mass., company says the M5e-Compact Development Kit is ideal for creating embedded RFID applications for healthcare, legal, transportation, logistics and manufacturing.
Students Try On RFID for Hospitals in Second Life Virtual World
Students had an opportunity to model and test healthcare and logistics applications in the virtual world Second Life. University of Arkansas researchers seeking new ways to make health care more efficient and cost-effective have built a new kind of hospital: one that uses location aware systems, sensors, smart devices, radio-frequency identification and virtual reality.
Students developed smart pill bottles that only the owner to open and know their pill count, smart shelves that know when to re-order, a restocking robot, wheelchairs that can follow way points and virtual RFID readers and tags.
Organic Grower Adopts RFID
Organic Alliance reported Tuesday it has agreed to implement the GS1 System to track produce to improve traceability and consumer safety. The U.S. organic industry grew 21% to reach $17.7 billion in consumer sales in 2006 yet consumers are increasingly more concerned about the origin and safety of produce due to food recalls and produce warnings, according to the company.
GS1 provides standards for accurate identification of products and locations through the use of barcodes, electronic product code RFID tags. The GS1 System offers a technology to identify recalls.
Comment on this blog entry
I'm preparing to leave for Las Vegas this weekend to attend 
