RFID will be in all new mobiles by 2010 says Ericsson

All new mobiles will be packing a RFID chip by summer 2010 - ultimately opening up the possibility of your phone also becoming the keys to your car or your house. Cnet.uk reports.

That's the prediction of Ericsson's VP of systems architecture, Håkan Djuphammar, speaking at the mobile infrastructure company's Business Innovation Forum in Stockholm on Tuesday.

He told delegates: "A year from now basically every new phone that's sold will have [Near Field Communication]. It's a two-way, bio-directional RFID communication link that makes this device work as a tag or as a reader."

E-Money in Japan: Overview througj videos

CScout Japan has posted a series of videos, showing how the Japanese are using contactless e-money cards or enabled cell phones, to pay for their subway fair, buy drinks from vending machines, purchase an airline ticket, check into a hotel room, pay for a public locker or pay for access to a public restroom.

Japan is well known for its well-developed e-money infrastructure. With RFID integration in mobile phones, train passes, and even loyalty cards for shops, it’s possible to do a great deal of your shopping and transportation without carrying cash or using a credit card either.

New '2D barcodes' for cameraphones

ScanLife and Jagtag want you to get in the habit of using your cellphone camera as a magic wand to extract digital content from inanimate objects. USA Today reports.

ScanLife and Jagtag supply technology that let you use your camera phone to do the scanning. They can deliver anything you might see or hear on a Web page to your handset, paid for by publishers or advertisers.

Designer QR Codes

Mixing design with technological innovation, Tokyo based creative agency SET teamed up with Japanese artist Takashi Murakami and fashion designer Louis Vuitton to create a distinctive QR code featuring one of the artist’s characters and the classic LV pattern.

[via PSFK]

Other wonderful barcode designs:

-- Bar codes as art

-- Design QR Barcodes

-- Bar codes as art

-- Circle shape QR Codes

-- Whimsical barcodes

-- Color Barcodes

-- 2D Barcodes

Barcodes to store videos

Scientists have developed what they claim are new barcodes big enough to hold images or video which can then be downloaded by camera phones. The India Times reports.

A team at Edith Cowan University in Australia is looking for a way out for multimedia data to be stored in barcodes and retrieved with a mobile phone camera snapshot, allowing software such as ringtones to be “downloaded” from mediums like magazines.

They have named it the Mobile Multi-Colour Composite (MMCC) 2D-Barcode, the media reported.

Lead scientist Dr Alfred Tan said, "The MMCC is a colour 2D barcode designed for storing high capacity data on printed media and displays, tailor made for camera mobile phone applications.

"Using the MMCC, the user can retrieve digital content to their camera mobile phone directly from the barcode by capturing an image of the barcode and decoding it on their mobile."

According to the scientists, by taking a photo of the barcode, users can download complex information, such as videos, voice recordings or text, directly to their mobile -- this information will be transferred to the mobile regardless of whether it is connected to the Internet or a mobile.

"The system is particularly suited for use in areas with limited Internet access. The MMCC can encode and store multimedia content such as ring tones, video clips and games, so that these can be delivered to any camera mobile phones anywhere without the need for mobile connectivity.

"It could also encode and store multimedia tourism contents in foreign languages so that tourists with a camera mobile phone can listen to the commentary at remote tourist sites, without the need to read English," Dr Tan said.

Image from Eurotechnology.

Old School Hip Hop Uses New School 2D Barcode Technology

Rhyme Library features classic old school hip hop songs with videos. Users can snap a picture of the QR Code under the song which will take them to iTunes for purchasing.

Clicking on the QR code from a computer will also take you to the iTunes music store - as long as you have downloaded a QR Code Reader app such as:

-- Barcodes
-- BeeTagg
-- Barcode
-- NeoReader
-- Snapper 2D

Wearing your Social Media on Your Sleeve

Spotted on ChipChick, the W-41, a high tech shirt that comes with a logo that if captured with a cellphone will connect the person who just took the picture to your MySpace page, Blog, and just about any social networking site you could possibly belong too.

Basically you buy any one of the pieces of clothing available on the site that has this special logo on it, unique to only you with personal info and literally walk around with your social identity heart on your sleeve.

If someone passes by who happens to be familiar with this type of clothing and they have downloaded the software available on the site for free to their phone. The image is transmitted to the software download on their phone and your blogs and virtual identity is revealed for those to leave you messages or check out your social networks.

[Coolest Gadgets Coolbuzz]

Dubai launches M-Visa: mobile phone barcode visas

The Dubai Naturalisation and Residency Department (DNRD) on Sunday unveiled several new technological advances in customer services, including a system that allows people entering the emirate to use a barcode sent to their mobile phone.

The mobile visa service, 'M-Visa', allows people to receive all types of entry visa permits via email and text messages in a form of a barcode, which can then be scanned directly off a mobile phone upon arrival in the UAE, the DNRD said.

[via Arabian Business]

Barcode application to come preloaded on Samsung phones

Scanbuy, a global leader in mobile marketing solutions, announced that it has secured a global agreement with Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. to preload the ScanLife mobile 2D barcode application on Samsung's camera phones.

Samsung will begin selling these phones in Spain, Italy, and Denmark starting as early as next month. Availability will quickly expand to other major markets including Mexico and the United States.

[via Just Another Mobile Phone Blog]

CTIA Announces Camera-Phone Barcode Scanning White Paper

CTIA announced today the release of the "Camera-Phone Based Barcode Scanning White Paper," on behalf of its Carrier Code Scanning Action Team.

Utilizing industry-wide input from the nation's leading carriers, the White Paper's purpose is to help define, develop, and promote a multi-layer, open ecosystem for camera-phone 2D barcode scanning in the U.S. market.

[via MarketWatch]

New York offers RFID-embedded driver's licenses

The State of New York has started offering driver's licenses embedded with RFID chips, or enhanced driver's licenses (EDLs). The news comes on the heels of New York becoming the second state to offer identification that can be shown at the border in lieu of a U.S. passport (which is also RFID-embedded).

[Crave via engadget]

Japanese Graves Make Mourning Loved Ones Easy

Burial plot prices are skyrocketing in Japanese cities, so one company built a facility that uses RFID technology to help store the dead. At Nichiryoku, mourners visit a “prayer area” where they swipe RFID cards to have the cremated remains of their loved one are lifted up from an underground storage vault.

[Gear Fuse via Trends in Japan]

View demo on YouTube.

Related: - Last call: Japanese tombs link up with cell phones

RFID Pill Monitors Body Temperature at Walking Race

Researchers at Radboud University in The Netherlands were able to monitor the body temperature of participants at the world's largest marching event using RFID technology. RFID Update reports.

"Volunteer participants in the annual Four Days Marches of Nijmegen swallowed an RFID-based temperature sensor that measured their internal temperature and helped researchers identify potential health issues.

... "Based on their height, weight and age, the system was able to alert the volunteer if their core body temperature had reached a dangerous level," says Martijn Bakkers, branch manager of healthcare at Progress Software.

... Radboud University Researchers were able to monitor and record the ten volunteers' temperatures via a signal transmitted every ten seconds from the RFID "pill" to a receiving device in the volunteer's backpack.

That data was then transmitted via Bluetooth to a GPS-enabled mobile phone (provided by Dutch telecommunications operator KPN) to the operations center at Radboud."

NEC technology identifies person’s age and sex, delivers targeted ads

This sounds scary. NEC has developed of an electronic advertisement delivery and face recognition system that makes it easier for companies to address customers with targeted ads. CrunchGear reports.

"The company uses a newly developed plasma display (50 inches) that has a camera on top of it. NEC’s technology makes it possible to detect the age range and sex of a person standing in front of the display. The screen will then show customer-specific commercials, optimizing overall ad spend for the company running it.

NEC said if their system identifies a young girl for example, the person will be shown a commercial featuring products specifically aimed at women. People can then tap their cell phone against an RFID reader that feeds them a URL, which contains coupons or further information about the product advertised. Using the NEC system, companies are able to effectively measure the success of commercials."

Supermarket of the future

A German supermarket is encouraging customers to scan and ring up their shopping using camera phones, and check out without the help of a cashier.

Watch BBC video.

Radio ID tags can play havoc with hospital devices

Electronic interference from RFID tags could have disastrous consequences in hospitals, according to a team of Dutch researchers, switching off ventilators, reseting intravenous drips, and reprogramming pacemakers, they claim. New Scientist reports.

"As RFID and other wireless technologies stream into medicine, the chances of accidental malfunction rise. The FDA has documented at least one such incident, involving an implanted brain stimulator that caused a minor physical tremor in response to a wireless signal.

However, the Dutch researchers and other experts believe more testing and better engineering – rather than a ban or moratorium – will make for safer hospital wards."

McDonald’s new cashless RFID system goes nationwide in Japan

After nearly a year in development, McDonalds Japan has finally released it’s innovative new Kazasu Coupon (Contactless Coupon) loyalty and payment program, beginning with 175 stores and expanding gradually to its 3,800 nationwide stores by 2009.

[via Scout]

Take a Picture of an Ad, Earn a Reward

Two men’s magazines are trying to engage their readers more — by increasing their cellphone bills, reports The New York Times.

"Rolling Stone and Men’s Health are both testing programs in which readers can take cameraphone pictures of icons on ads, then send them to a certain number. In exchange, they’ll receive more information or an offer from the advertiser."

Harrods To Use "Cult' Barcodes

Mobile barcodes are getting another push in the UK, reports The Washington Post.

"Posh department store Harrods is running a campaign thought to be the first from a major British retailer--according to a swooning article in the Times, that notes the use of the codes come 110 years after the store introduced the "world's first moving staircase."

The codes will feature in a series of ads in London and national media to publicise a new exhibition put on by Harrods called Design Icons, which features Vivienne Westwood, the fashion designer, and the architect of the new St Pancras International station."

Mark Tomblin, director of strategy at digital agency TBG, which helped Harrods create the campaign added, "This is an attempt to connect with a more tech-savvy audience, and frankly we're quite pleased if the whole campaign remains a bit 'cult'. Harrods is also creating a MySpace profile, and plan to use Twitter to send out event alerts around the exhibition."

Create Your Own QR Code With an Army of Little Robots

A company called Cross Borders created a fun little program that lets you generate your own QR codes—a 3-dimensional bar code common that can be read by cell phone camera.

All you have to do is enter a URL, and the service dispatches an army of little robots that start off standing at random but quickly start hopping into position until they make sense together and can be scanned by IR.

[via Tokyomango]

Mobile barcodes now speak to us – quite literally…

A consortium of three companies has decided to improve on the usual URL-carrying QR Codes by tweaking the data in each black and white square to contain a brief snatch of audio and a simple image. Digitalworld Toyko reports.

"The Voice QR, as it’s called, simply needs to be scanned with the camera on a mobile phone for it to give up its hidden treasure without the need to connect to a website.

That might be a squeaky voice saying “Hello,” “Well done on getting into college,” or “Thanks for your hard work.”

The consortium sees Voice QR Codes delivering multi-media jingles from posters, books and product packaging. For that to happen, it will have to persuade mobile phone makers to install software that understands the new kind of QR code – currently, only seven handsets are capable of doing so."

Japan's QR Codes Being Tested in SF

In the first large test in the United States, online guides Citysearch and Antenna Audio are rolling out QR technology in San Francisco.

More than 500 restaurants, shops and businesses reviewed by Citysearch are placing printed bar codes in their windows.

People who have special software from Scanbuy Inc. loaded on their cell phones can simply take a picture of the code and their phone's Internet browser will immediately take them to the restaurant's corresponding Citysearch page.

Users will be able to decide, based on the Citysearch reviews and other information, whether to step inside for dinner or keep walking down the street.

Once you snap a picture of the code, your phone will bring up the Citysearch's review page, letting you know whether you should go in.

[New Launches via SF Gate and Gizmodo ]

RFID LadyBag Tells You What's Missing

Project Lady Bag uses RFID tags to keep a track of the items you stuff into your bag. Should you miss out on your elusive keys; a related icon will appear on the LED screen.

The LadyBag also displays how you are feeling, fidgety hands is read as nervousness and so a nervous looking emoticon appears. If you're hugging the bag close, a happy face appears.

[gearfuse via Gizmodiva]

Last call: Japanese tombs link up with cell phones

According to Reuters, bereaved Japanese will be able to keep in touch with their loved ones beyond the grave by using mobile phones to scan bar-coded tombstones and view photos and other information about the deceased.

"Ishinokoe, a Japanese tombstone maker, will place the codes behind lockable stone doors on the tomb so only relatives with a key can scan them.

The idea was to create a tomb that would not just be a site for storing the remains of a person, but a place to honor the deceased, the company said in a press release.

Using their mobile phone displays, relatives can post and view different items that reflect on the life of their departed loved one, such as holiday snapshots.

A sample Web site displayed one photo showing a man posing with his family on a boat, and another showing the same man and a woman in front of a cluster of skyscrapers.

The stones will go on sale next month and cost around 1 million yen ($10,010).

But those who neglect their filial obligations should be warned -- the code will also allow other relatives to see a list of people who have recently visited the grave."

Fans rush for 'mobile-compatible' new England kit

England football fans will from today be able to buy their national team's new away kit – which can interact with their mobile phones.

The new Umbro strip contains a Japanese-developed QR code which can be read by mobiles and allows owners to access a special WAP internet site.

According to the kit manufacturer the code is a "two-dimensional barcode which we are using to provide you with exclusive and exciting mobile internet content".

[via Metro]

Getting Wickd

GetWickd is a dating service using mobile technology. Participants buy Wickd clothing, which features a code. Other participants spot a likely person sporting such a code, check the signil on cell phone, and have the option of sending a message to the wearer.

The idea is this: you buy a GetWickd shirt or jacket, download an app to your phone and set up your profile.

Then, when you’re out and about, looking stylish, but unapproachable, a prospective mate (who also has the GetWicked app on their phone) can scan your code from afar and initiate contact from the safety of their mobile.

It’s powered by ShotCode, a proprietary version of QR Code

Apart from the initial setup, all interaction is via the phone. The profile only let’s you link to your other mobile profiles - YouTube, Facebook, MySpace.

This also let’s you get to the know that person you’re staring at across the room a little better; you can see what they’re into before even talking to them.

[via Grinding and Smart Mobs]

Cell phone check-in in Japa

Air travelers of All Nippon Airways have been using their phones to manage the entire airline experience since September of 2006, beginning with booking flights. MSNBC reports.

"Mobile phone users can book a flight, see a seating chart of the aircraft, select their seat, have a bar-code and other key travel information e-mailed to their phone — and go to your departure gate just by producing their encrypted cell phone at airport security.

A 4-inch-long receipt that looks like it came from a standard cash register and prints out at the security check-point serves as your boarding pass."

London Fashion Week gets smart

O2 will allow visitors to London Fashion Week to take part in the industry's first-ever trial of near-field communications (NFC). vnunet reports.

"Buyers attending the event will be able to show their interest in specific clothing collections by designer Emilio de la Morena by touching NFC-enabled phones on posters carrying identifying tags.

When a phone is presented to one of these "smart posters", it will send a text message back to the designer. The feedback will offer vital intelligence ahead of the fashion industry's main selling event, which takes place in Paris two weeks after the London show."

Ikea Mobile Syncs Bar Codes, Weekly Deals to Your Phone

This Ikea Mobile kiosk was found in Seattle by Unpluggd, and allows you to scan bar codes for products to get sent via SMS to your phone.

By doing so you also opt-in to get access to coupons and specials for the week, as well as "regular updates via text message for deals and discounts." Cool while you're in the store, but somewhat annoying if you're getting pinged by Ikea about Poang chairs every week.

[via Gizmodo]

Beyond Bar Codes

Bar codes as art.

Beyond Bar Codes by Jheon Soocheon is a a site-specific installation title. The floor's bar code functions as a platform on which viewers will, by osmosis, become consumer products themselves.

[via del.icio.us/régine]

Hand-washing RFID monitor

A system that tracks hospital staff using RFID tags could ensure better hand-washing procedures and cut infections that spread among patients, say inventors who illustrated their patent application with the above diagram.

[via New Scientist]

A shopping phone

According to The Sun, "a camera phone that lets you snap an item you want, then orders it online is set to revolutionize the way Brits shop.

The breakthrough concept, dubbed Point and Find, has been developed by researchers at Nokia.

Once released (in a year or so), it will enable shoppers to take pictures of products in store windows before forwarding their snaps to special recognition software inside the handset.

After the goods have been recognized, a web browser will open in the phone, sending the information on to the internet.

The phone will then launch on online search for the best price and availability before the user places their order. "

The mobile phone that translates foreign menus into English

The days of restaurant humiliation for linguistically-challenged Britons will soon be over, reports the Daily Mail, thanks to Nokia which has developed a mobile phone application which scans a menu and automatically translates thousands of food-related words in seconds.

"To use the software, the diner simply takes a picture of the part of the menu he or she wants to translate.

The phone comes back with an English translation within seconds.

The software is a version of barcode reading applications which are already found on many mobiles.

The prototype application is able to scan and translate 9,000 Chinese words and 600 Japanese words.

Other languages - such as Korean, French, Italian and Polish - are expected to follow soon.

The software is likely to be added to one of Nokia's top-of-the-range camera phones such as the N95.

[via The Daily Mail]

500 QR Code enhanced invader scarfs

Spotted on All About Mobile Life, a 500 QR Code enhanced invader scarfs.

The code holds messages that can be decoded by any mobile phone with a Q-R code scanner.

Samsung Develops RFID Chip for Cell Phones

Samsung's RFID reader chip will eventually find its way into mobile phones, to enable new information services, according to PC World.

"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."

Finnish Town has Culture on the go with Mobiles

Fancy a dose of culture in the Finnish city of Oulu? According to Reuters, all you need is a mobile phone.

"Get theatre tickets digitally, download a smart video trailer of how the play was directed, order and pay for snacks for the interval and, after a culture-packed night, order a taxi home -- all by just swiping a cellphone over smart tags placed on the menus or around the foyer of the theatre.

The Oulu City Theatre in northern Finland, 600 kilometers (373 miles) north of Helsinki, says it is the world's first cultural institution turn mobile phones into wallets.

... NFC (near-field communication) technology is activated by waving phones over wireless readers, or smart tags, and is widely used in public transport access cards."

Solar Powered RFID tracking system

Lockheed Martin has begun deploying solar-powered Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) readers and signposts, saving energy and negating the need for installing electrical infrastructure in remote areas. Gizmag reports.

"Designed for use in the defense and commercial sectors, the solar-powered signposts activate RFID tags attached to vehicles or pieces of equipment.

The tags then report the assets’ positions to nearby RFID readers, which relay the information to Savi Site Manager software that automatically updates the assets’ latest location.

The system is capable of tracking more than 25,000 tags per day."

Wireless ID Skin Patch Technology

Surgical suply manufacturer Frank Sammeroff and technology company Gentag will be working on a new smart, wireless ID skin patch technology that aims to reduce medical errors in hospitals, reports Ubergizmo.

"This patented, non-invasive solution combines disposable skin patches with RFID tags and cellphones, enabling doctors and nurses to use their handsets or wireless PDAs to update medical charts, time of patient visit and drug administration. "

Consumer Gadget checks the ethical background of consumer products

One of the phone projects from the europrix nominees:

Designed for mobile browsers, Consumer Gagdet is consumer's new best friend. It is a browser application that allows consumers to check the ethical background of any consumer product.

Consumer Gadget can fetch the ethical information via EAN barcodes.

Snitch-chips embedded in UK school's uniforms

According to the Times Online, children are being tracked by micro-chips embedded in their uniforms in a trial at a secondary school.

"The devices are used to monitor pupils’ movements and register their arrival in class on the teacher’s computer. Supply teachers can also be alerted if a student is likely to misbehave.

The chip connects with teachers’ computers to show a photograph of the pupil, data about academic performance and whether he or she is in the correct classroom. It can also restrict access to areas of the school. The radio frequency identification system is being tested at Hungerhill School in Doncaster, South Yorkshire. Ten pupils began wearing a chip sewn into their uniforms eight months ago."

The scheme has drawn criticism from human rights campaigners. “Tagging is what we do to criminals we let out of prison early,” said David Cleater, from Leave Them Kids Alone, which campaigns against the finger-printing of pupils. “It is appalling.”

Related: - UK school uniforms may soon have GPS

[via The Arch Blog via boingboing]

Cellphone check-ins get a global standard with bar codes

According to the IHT, the trade association representing international airlines announced a global standard Thursday that could speed the adoption of cellphone check-in services using bar codes, and eliminate paper tickets.

"Airlines have been slow to adopt a system based on mobile technology because of competing regional formats. The formats permit a passenger to register a phone during booking to receive a text message containing a bar code that becomes a boarding pass. The bar code can then be read directly from the phone's screen.

The International Air Transport Association standard will enable new scanning equipment to read several regional code formats, including Aztec and Datamatrix, which are available now in Europe and North America, and QR in Japan.

The group aims to shift entirely to bar code boarding passes by 2010. Among the few airlines that now offer mobile check-in services are Air Canada, Air Berlin and Spanair.

Pet Shop Boys include QR codes in new video

English synthpop duo, Pet Shop Boys just released their new video for “Integral” which includes embedded QR codes.

Viewers with a mobile phone and a small piece of software can take pictures of the codes, and then be transported to a website about personal freedom. [via Digital Experience]

“Integral” is a critique of the Big Brother surveillance state with the slogan “if you’ve done nothing wrong, you have nothing to fear”. The QR codes are linked to websites containing info about issues of civil liberties. All the QR codes are available as downloads and people are asked to use them in their own videos, and upload them to a dedicated YouTube group."

African readers get access to information via cellphones

According to the AFP, a South African newspaper Sunday became the first on the continent to offer readers the opportunity to access information via cellphones with Internet connectivity.

"The Sunday Times is inviting readers to take a picture of a front-page bar-code with the camera on their mobile phones, which will then give them automatic access to a website of one of the Springbok rugby team's chief sponsors.

... The bar-code technology has been in widespread use in Japan where it was invented in the 1990s but, according to Daniels, it is the first time that it has been used in Africa.

"In Africa, this is major. They all have cellphones but they are not online yet. This could help in bridging the divide between print and new media as well as the technological and social divide."

Mobile Barcodes Driving Magazine Traffic

The French Association of Multimedia Mobiles (AFMM) has said that the use of mobile barcodes in magazines in the past few months was very successful. mocoNews.net reports.

"With 15 to 25 percent of traffic to the websites of magazines Public, Closer, and Voici being generated by the codes.

People have to download an application—Flashcode—in order to access the content, and there were about 30,000 downloads of the software in July and August.

... “One of the main priorities now will be to gradually pre-equip mobile devices with the Flashcode software, so that the user doesn’t have to download it,” said Nicolas Guieysse, from the AFMM."

mPedigree to Track Meds in Africa

Ethan Zuckerman, an activist for economic development in Africa and a research fellow from the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard Law School, reports about a new project called mPedigree, to fight pharma fakes in the developing world with cellular phones: [via
MedGadget]

"The project, called mPedigree, seeks to build a system first in Ghana, and then throughout Africa, that tracks drugs from their original producers all the way to the pharmacy shelves, allowing each buyer in the chain to ensure that they're dealing with a legimate product, thanks to RFID tags"