jon-david schlough

Brittan Elementary - Students don RFID ID badges, feel like fruit - skipping school now impossible.

Sutter [population 2885] California's California InCom tested RFID badges at a local elementary school and people were impressed. Students walk through readers, attendance is automatically taken, and appears on the teacher's Palm Pilot. It is interesting to note that InCom has employees with kids that attend the school, it's a local startup.

However, as with most implementations of RFID that do not involve toilet paper, fruit, cattle, or your dog - people are not happy about the idea of their children being tracked like packages on a FedEx conveyer belt. One student complained to her Mom she felt like an orange. I don't blame her - not to mention that it's gotta be impossible to slip out of study hall unnoticed, a rite of passage for all aspiring hooligans.

The ACLU is there and pissed off, god bless 'em. After all, Freedom cannot protect itself.

Octopus RFID Cards in Hong Kong, via London

Whilst RFID is about the news and such, I'm one of the folks sitting in pubs thinking about business models that could take advantage of RFID technology. I just got an email from my friend Elwin, who is in London right now, with some pics of Hong Kong's Octupus Card. I thought I'd pass them along as well as his comments [he's an extremely smart guy, imo, I learn a lot from him each and every week].

"While a RFID card as a transport card is nothing novel. Hong Kong’s use is impressive because not only can it be used for all public transportation but in most ‘convenience’ stores as cash. Easily reads through wallets and purses at distances of less than 10 inches. He says that he rarely carries cash in HK (even eating out at restaurants) anymore."