Here’s a neat concept that we’re hoping finds it way to production: a standalone player that comes with 8 RFID tags that can be linked to music. The idea is the little tags could be playlists and when affixed to the stand alone player would bring up that playlist. It’s a simple enough idea that more »

Remember Nabaztag, the Internet-connected bunny that would read you RSS feeds, light up and spin his ears? Well, there’s a new version, this time with the more easily pronounced and memorable name of Karotz. What make Karotz different? Well, this time it’s a bit more social. A lot of the functionality looks to be the more »

RFID is the future. It is if you listen to Ericsson’s vice-president of systems architecture, Håkan Djuphammar. Mr. Djuphammar expects every new cell phone to contain RFID chips by next year and these phones will usher in a whole new ecosystem of creative uses of the technology. Could RFID be a win-win for everyone?

One customer Ericsson is working with is an electric company with hundreds of unmanned stations that have a combined total of 15,000 access keys. The customer is not exactly sure where all those keys are and who has them. The solution Ericsson provided is RFID locks and enabled phones allowing the phones to act as a key and unlock these stations based on the workers proximity. Even cooler, these RFID codes can be set to allow temporary access by specific RFID enabled phones allowing the company to control who can get where.

Have you heard of Tikitag? I first saw it at ShowStoppers in NYC and it officially launched on the 1st of October. No, it has nothing to do with tikis.

It’s a RFID system. You get RFID stickers, you put them on stuff, and then you place the tag near or on a reader connected to your computer. Your computer will do some pre-programmed action like open a website, play music or whatever.

It’s almost a good idea. The problem is they are marketing it directly to consumers. They want you to tag a picture, send the picture to your grandma and then your grandma will swipe the picture to the reader and the computer will open a Flickr slideshow or something else.

Will this thing succeed? Keep reading.

If you haven’t heard of a company called Tikitag, then you might be hearing more of the Alcatel-Lucent venture. Tikitag has put out a product that allows a user to put a RFID tag anything, anywhere.

The Tikitag works as easy as Post-Its, which allows for RFID technology to like any offline device will link with information online. So, if you have anything that you want to put on a product, such as information on a business card, just use a Tikitag.

In a move to help support the reduction of data theft Sharkoon have launched the $50 Sharkoon Swift-Case Securita with RFID encryption to help protect against unauthorized access. Built into each of the cases for 2.5-inch SATA hard drives is a RFID transceiver that responds solely to the accompanying RFID transponder which is a simple more »

Every Monday, Bryan Glanzberg contributes The Water Cooler, a column that bridges the gap between technology and business. RFID technology has been around for a long time tracking everything from raisins to nuclear weapons in the armed forces. Until recently, not many companies paid much attention to this technology except as an inventory management tool. more »