World's Smallest RFID Reader Touted

An anonymous reader writes "Innovision Research & Technology, a UK company, has developed a radio frequency identification (RFID) reader that supports Near Field Communication (NFC), a new standard that will allow electronic devices to interact when "touched" together. The NFC standard is being backed by Nokia, Philips and Sony. It's meant to let users access content and services by simply touching 'smart objects' and connecting devices just by holding them next to each other. Some services include swapping music and buying movie tickets. Once a connection has been established between two NFC-enabled devices, another wireless technology such as Wi-Fi or Bluetooth will be used to actually transfer the data. By adding support for NFC, Innovision says it's getting ready for when mobile users will be able to download music tracks by just tapping their device against a poster."

Comments

As an extra space saving...

[gowen]

... I'm having mine built right in to my tinfoil hat. That'll stop the CIA/NSA/MI6/CI5/Walmart from spying on me as I carry out my top level, high security, deeply private but basically non-existent personal life.

Re:As an extra space saving...

[Big Nothing]

"As an extra space saving I'm having mine built right in to my tinfoil hat. That'll stop the CIA/NSA/MI6/CI5/Walmart from spying on me as I carry out my top level, high security, deeply private but basically non-existent personal life."

Yeah, but we can still spy on you

- FBI

Althought it's a good idea -

[JosKarith]

Does anyone else see this as the first step in making RFID tagging of everything acceptable - "See how our RFID system makes your life easier"
As Largo says - "Dude - the government sent us these RFID tags. It says we gotta wear 'em cos they protect us from 3\/1L"

Re:Althought it's a good idea -

[Uzik2]

You can misuse anything. Chemistry and medicine are responsible for both poisons and medicines. It's up to us to see they're used wisely. Are we going to be frightened of the future and hide in the sand?

oh suuure..

[JTMON]

"Innovision says it's getting ready for when mobile users will be able to download music tracks by just tapping their device against a poster."

and the RIAA is getting ready to sue them!

Re:the world's smallest RFID

[Concerned Onlooker]

I wonder how sensitive these things will really become. Will we accidentally transfer things if we bump into someone if we've left it on (e.g. Palm receive mode)?

Excuse me, I have to get the phone....

The future is here

[Janosh]

"Innovision says it's getting ready for when mobile users will be able to download music tracks by just tapping their device against a poster"

This is sci-fi. And i even think RIAA will be able to get money from this. (don't know if i like that)

Re:The future is here

[armyofone]

Heh - "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." -- A.C.C.

The RIAA will be happy to collect their slice of this pie. And don't think for a second that they won't be right there, with their hands in the customary 'palm up' position, as this technology is rolled out.

Not that I would have a big problem with the RIAA if they just didn't act like such imbeciles. I'd be happy to see them get their cut if they fostered innovation in music and actually helped the creative process. Instead, like any other large conglomerate, they are more interested in the bottom line. So, what we'll get are more waves of Auto-Tuned Britney, Xtina, and Justin clones.

Sad, really...

Re:The future is here

[kerrbear]

Heh - "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." -- A.C.C.

I knew some Albanian refugees who came to the States. My wife took them shopping at the grocery to show them how to do it. She had to get some cash, so she went to the ATM and got some out. The Albanians stared in disbelief as she simply removed cash from a machine to buy goods. It had to be explained to them that it was her money from the bank.

I had this idea that in the future that vechicles would be driven on a rental basis. Any person could simply get into any car and start driving it because their tag would dock them the money it cost to use it as long as they were driving it. To the observer from our era, it would look as if the person was stealing the car!

So it's fast then is it?

[Ratface]

By adding support for NFC, Innovision says it's getting ready for when mobile users will be able to download music tracks by just tapping their device against a poster."

Amazing - that would be a great transfer rate if we're talking about full songs. Or when they say "tap" do they perhaps mean "holding their devices against a poster for a few minutes."??

Re:So it's fast then is it?

[Stuwee]

Amazing - that would be a great transfer rate if we're talking about full songs. Or when they say "tap" do they perhaps mean "holding their devices against a poster for a few minutes."??

No, we're talking more about tapping your device against the poster in order to get the unique rfid. Then you connect to the wifi or bluetooth wireless connection avaliable, and presumably use a custom protocol to request the song by giving the network the rfid.

Lots of useful applications

[Stuwee]

Innovision says it's getting ready for when mobile users will be able to download music tracks by just tapping their device against a poster

Imagine also walking into a high street music shop with your MP3 player in hand where all of their CDs are embedded with rfid tags. Tap your MP3 player against a CD case to get the rfid tag, then your MP3 player connects to the store's wifi network and requests a sample of the album using the rfid tag.

Limit it to a couple of samples per person per unit time to avoid abuse, and you've got yourself a very powerful means of marketing CDs.

Re:Lots of useful applications

[kfg]

Give away something for free to drive sales? Don't be daft man, why would anyone buy milk when they can get it for free?

(Hey, ya know? This cheese really is pretty good. You'll have to excuse me now, I'm off to the dairy aisle. Later.)

KFG

Re:Lots of useful applications

[nkh]

A few stores already do that: a bar-code scanner combined with ear-plugs. At least you can listen to the full album in the store without stealing anything.

Doesn't seem like it'll kick off

[pcmanjon]

It doesn't seem like it'll make it.. I mean, this would be good for gameboy or you know other device-to-device transfers but you require WIFI for it meaning I wouldn't be able to transfer stuff with a friend a work without a wi-fi designed for this purpose too.

IR is still a better option it appears.

The tap initiates the transfer

[davidmb]

Once the tap against the poster has been registered, the transfer takes place via Bluetooth or Wi-Fi. So it could take seconds or minutes, it doesn't matter if you stay close enough to the transmitter. It may even appear to the user that the tap transfered the song instantaneously.

Re:The tap initiates the transfer

[tommy_teardrop]

I must be missing something here... Why not just have bluetooth devices to the whole process? Surely the point of RFID tags is that they are cheap and can be spread, virus-like, through the known multi-verse. But if you have to have a transmitter for the transfer process anyway, why not just do it all through the bluetooth or wi-fi in the first place..?

Re:The tap initiates the transfer

[confused one]

It's just a way of initiating the transfer. It's also an effective system that even the computer illiterate could use with ease: "Just tap your card here to purchase ...."

You'll be walking through a sea of RF signals. How does your hardware know which ones to ignore and which streams it's supposed to intercept, decode and save? Unless the RFID transciever was authenticated first, the signals would be ignored.

Re:The tap initiates the transfer

[Gaijin42]

Tapping is a good selection GUI.

If you are in a music store, they have 70 posters, and thousands of CDs. Which samples do you want? How are you going to scroll through them all?

You browse as normal. Tap, and then continue to walk around the store while you listen to the samples or songs you just bought.

This would make a great addition

[InternationalCow]

to business cards! So, if I am at a conference and I talk to someone doing interesting stuff, we can just have the business cards touch and exchange all necessary contact information. Now that would be really easy. If there were a way to wire this thing to your fingertips, you could exchange the information by shaking hands :)

Re:This would make a great addition

[CvD]

You should read the novel 'Noir' by KW Jeter. Its set in the near future, and business men have their hands wired so when they shake hands they exchange information.

They have a part of the book online. Click on the central image until you get to page 14, halfway down the system is described.

For the rest the novel is a good read, if you like Neal Stephenson or William Gibson. Same sort of writing style and setting.

Re:This would make a great addition

[horza]

to business cards! So, if I am at a conference and I talk to someone doing interesting stuff, we can just have the business cards touch and exchange all necessary contact information. Now that would be really easy. If there were a way to wire this thing to your fingertips, you could exchange the information by shaking hands :)

That's been around for ages.

Phillip.

Re:This would make a great addition

[comet_11]

So, if I am at a conference and I talk to someone doing interesting stuff, we can just have the business cards touch and exchange all necessary contact information.

Yeah, or, and follow me on this one 'cause it's a little crazy and out-there, you could write all the contact information on the business card, and then you could give them the card, and they instantly have all the information.

What an idea... *rushes off to the patent office*

We can beat them at it

[trezor]

• presumably use a custom protocol to request the song by giving the network the rfid.

Quick! Somebody patent custom protocols! So we can stop them! Otherwise OSS will die! And DRM will reign! And... Oh, well. Whatever.

Re:uhh noooo...

[JTMON]

"Or did you think it said 'free' download? Better think again"

what was I thinking...you obviously believe two things-It will be unhackable and indy artists who have no ties to the RIAA won't be able to use the technology..

Movie tickets?

[JMJ]

Why is the buying movie tickets example always touted with this kind of technology? Does anyone actually spend that much time buying them to make it worthwhile for boffins to spend millions researching ways to make it a few seconds faster?

Confused! (easily)

Re:Movie tickets?

[bhima]

The last time I was in the US, I went to see a movie. They had 5 Credit/Debit card kiosks and 3 cashiers available for customer use. There were about 100 people in line for the cashiers and less the 5 in line for kiosks. What makes anyone thing people will actually use the this technology?

Re:Movie tickets?

[BiggerIsBetter]

I don't think they're trying to sell the idea to the public. They're selling it to people who want to extract money from the public, and the benefit is not time savings but lower running costs (read, less staff). I'd say it's aimed at large retailers and mass media.

Re:Movie tickets?

[GTRacer]

When was this "last time"? Our biggest theatres have the same setup, but a slightly higher cashier:kiosk ratio on busy nights.

Anyway, I use them all the time and there's usually a couple of people on each one. But one difference might be that since you can order tix online and merely pick up at the kiosk, the user only has to stand there for about 30 seconds and he's done. Maybe more people are using them than is immediately apparent?

I tend to favor stores where I *can* use the debit card because I *don't* carry cash and I hate signing charge slips.

GTRacer
- ...because then they'd know my real name, see?

kinetic repair?

[JTMON]

"Innovision says it's getting ready for when mobile users will be able to download music tracks by just tapping their device against a poster"

Ok, but can they make it so we can fix electronics by tapping our fists against them?

Re:New geek pickup lines coming as a result of thi

[Anonymous Coward]

Or here's one from OOP: Hey baby, wanna encapsulate
my member?

Elegant solution to 802.11 security

[domQ]

Once a connection has been established between two NFC-enabled devices, another wireless technology such as Wi-Fi or Bluetooth will be used to actually transfer the data.
This idea could solve the wireless security problems in a really secure and convenient way (if only the standards folks can get the crypto right this time :-/ ): exchange symmetric keys over NFC, then do encrypted 802.11 or Bluetooth. This gets rid of passwords (which are either difficult to remember, easy to guess, or both), is as secure as wire (requires physical access to the 802.11 hub to build a connection) and provides a nice security metaphor to non tech-savvy people: by touching the two devices together, one creates a "virtual wire" between them that can be "stretched" up to the maximal range of the wireless link.

Re:Elegant solution to 802.11 security

[Moraelin]

See, that kind of inventing metaphors for supposedly retarded users is precisely one of the problems with this industry. If the users have a problem, it's not our product that's got piss-poor usability. We just need a more awkward metaphor.

The problem nowadays isn't that the users are retarded, nor that they're monkeys which need colourful visual aids to understand which buttons to use. And the sooner we get rid of that snotty "user=idiot" attitude, the better.

The same users didn't need any metaphor to learn how to use a TV remote control. Even the most uneducated peasant in the middle of nowhere, has no problem using his remote.

But they don't need to touch their remote to the TV and picture some invisible wire stretched between the two. They can very well understand concepts like "you're pushing a button here, and something happens over there."

E.g., the mouse is probably one of the most successful devices of this century. Even your non-techie grand-grandma has no problem using it, with some minimal showing her how.

It doesn't even try to simulate another real-life device, nor to rely on some convoluted metaphor. You don't need to touch it to the screen, nor perform some rituals to apease the gnomes in the monitor that push the cursor around, nor any other retarded metaphor. Again, people can very well understand the concept of "you push it here, and something moves over there."

E.g., take the hyperlink. It's so successful that it's pretty much become the standard interface wherever information is involved. Even the menus on DVDs basically use hyperlinks. Your retarded neighbours who call you to remove Gator off their PC, got it... by clicking on a hyperlink.

And again, it doesn't even try to rely on any metaphor. You don't need to give them a visual of something squeezing through that link and spilling all over their screen. Nor to show them some convoluted animation of a hand flipping through a book to find the page they've requested.

Etc.

All the successful interfaces are, in fact, abstract. They're easy to use for what they are, not because of needing mind-twisting visual metaphors to understand them.

I.e., while I do think that this use of RFID does bring a usability improvement, it will _not_ be because of convoluted mental acrobatics to imagine an invisible wire. It will be because the act of touching two things together is simple and intuitive, in and by itself. (Or at least easier than generating and distributing WEP keys.) You can tell anyone "just tap it to a poster to get a sample song", and rest assured that they'll understand it very well as such.

These convoluted visual metaphors aren't just unneeded, they create more problems and questions that they solve. E.g., if you tell someone to visualize an invisible wire, you just give them reason to ask wire-related questions. E.g., "what if someone walks through my invisible wire?"

Re:uhh noooo...

[armyofone]

Of course, you're right. Almost everything is hackable but... most people don't hack - they buy into the technology and money changes hands. Why else is Microsoft still making billions?

Ultimately, this will be targeted toward consumers - and that's where the money will be made. Hackers and indie artists notwithstanding...

Dyslexia

[Fizzl]

I could have sworn it said:
Invasion Research & Technology(...) when I glanced on the blurb for the first time.

BANG BANG BANG, OW! That hurt.

[Lotharjade]

Bang your head against a soda machine to get a coke. If it doesn't work, keep banging!!!

why not just use IR?

[hak1du]

IR is already in widespread use, supported by many phones and most PDAs, and very cheap. Furthermore, you can make it as "near field" as you like simply by where you place the emitter. And unlike any RF technology, IR data can be shielded easily in real-world settings.

Re:why not just use IR?

[rm007]

IR is already in widespread use, supported by many phones and most PDAs, and very cheap.

Very cheap - good point. And something not mentioned in the article. What would really drive the adoption of RFID - and make available the advantages of the technology that are mentioned elsewhere (i.e. RFID tags would be much cheaper and smaller.) would be announcement of the worlds CHEAPEST RFID reader. That would be news. Sure, the price of anything will come down with volume, and volume comes with widespread adoption, but to speed up the rate at which this technology gets adopted - and have super-small readers embedded in all kinds of devices - not only do the tags have to come down in cost, but the readers will have to be cheaper too. Is there something about how they put this together that will, all other things being equal, give this a cost advantage over other ways of putting readers together?

Oh, and to be able to compare, does anyone know anything about the cost of a typical IR reader of the type used in phones, PDAs and laptops? How about the cost of other RFID readers? While I am sure that device manufacturers are assuming that the costs will be or become equal, any idea as to when this might realistically happen?

Oh boy

[Anonymous Coward]

"Innovision says it's getting ready for when mobile users will be able to download music tracks by just tapping their device against a poster."

This is right up there with "Imagine, as you're walking down the street, restaurants and other service providers can, get this, beam information straight to your mobile phone!!1!" of yesteryear. I can see the marketoid frothing at the mouth and waving his hands. They just don't get it.

No. Bad marketoid. Your idea is stupid and you suck. Nobody will lug around such a device, certainly not for tapping posters with. Nobody will want to buy movie tickets with such a thing. What people might want to do is on their own time and leisure buy tickets, music, etc. over the net from home. I'm not sure at what stage things are in the US, but over here (north europe) I buy tickets online before a show since I can't remember when, takes all of two minutes. So take your rfid crap and stick it. Shit, why don't you just integrate this with the barcode scanning fridge and webcam "You've run out of milk"-schtik that you dreamed up in the 90's, which, incidentally, was obviously a fucking stupid idea to everyone except to marketoids who apparently don't use their fridges.

Re:Oh boy

[laigle]

Know what I don't get about the movie ticket idea? What the hell is the big problem with buying movie tickets conventionally? I mean, do they honestly believe people are so sheeplike they'll impulse buy tickets just because they walk past a poster?

Okay, dumb question.

But seriously, it's not like you can watch the movie at the poster. You have to go to the theater, where they sell the tickets anyways. So instead of buying some universal payment laptop and worrying about who has a "smart device" skimmer in their briefcase, why not just, I don't know, LEAVE THE FRIGGIN HOUSE FIVE MINUTES EARLIER AND BUY THE TICKET WHEN YOU GET THERE?!?!?! Or if you really have to involve futuristic technology in the process, buy the tickets online as above. It's not like there's been some huge gap in our purchasing ability and we were crying out for the ability to buy random crap in more convoluted ways.

Novelty

[Luciq]

This seems more of a novelty function than something useful. I can see this technology having a few cool uses, but downloading media by tapping CDs and posters isn't it. Remember 5 years ago when "In the future, you'll be able to buy drinks by pointing your cell phone at a soda machine, or using your Java Ring!"

If I want to buy music digitally, why the crap would I want to put pants on and go to the mall? So I can tap my player against a CD and buy music the super-cool new way? I don't know about the rest of you, but for me a primary advantage of buying digital media is the fact that I don't have to go anywhere.

This could make for some hilarious ways to buy porn...

Easy on the language!!!

[Illserve]

This bit here:

"access content and services by simply touching 'smart objects' and connecting devices just by holding them next to each other"

reads like erotica to the average /.er

What happens....

[Brain Stew]

when you want to buy porn? Sounds like it could be dangerous to place this reader next to my "device."

NFC vs. iButton

[chiph]

So, how is NFC any different from Dallas Semiconductor's iButton which has been around for years and is a proven technology?

Chip H.

New Frontiers

[radiophonic]

For virus authors:
"Tap your Windows CE device to this poster and get a kewl new game!"

Now, I don't own any devices that would potentially use such a service but I really don't see the value in this. It seems more like the clam before the RFID storm. Get people to accept the technology as good and then become more intrusive. Common tactics. Of course, when I read it, some things went through my mind. Such as:

• How hard would it be to set up a rogue system based on this technology?
• How hard would it be to BREAK the device? What if I tap it too hard...with a hammer?
• How much more intrusive can the advertising people get?

This hurts my head with so many possibilities that are malicious or otherwise.

I think y'all are missing something here.

[MythoBeast]

This technology isn't a download technology, it's an ID technology. It doesn't download a 3mb song in the time it takes you to tap a poster, it just transfers a UUID or similar identifying set of bits. It doesn't automatically download anything, you'd have to set your receiver to start looking for it.

Here's how it would work. You're in a music store and you want to "grab" a demo of a song. You tell your PDA/IPOD thingie to grab a song, then tap it on the appropriate poster. The IPOD receives a UUID, connects via WIFI or Bluetooth to a song server and starts to receive the music. It could quite readly play such a song as soon as it starts to receive it, since WIFI speeds are way above playing bit rate these days.

There's no magic here, except for the ability for an "RFID reception area" to be in the shape of a poster with printing on it, as opposed to an invisible ranged sphere.

it's distrust of the misuse of technology, not...

[zogger]

... technology itself. and I've seen this distinction to be failed to be seen over and over again here on slashdot. Why is it if someone just doesn't like "A" piece of technology, then it automagically means they don't like - "fear and mistrust"- ALL technology? Why is that? Where ever did you (generic you really, not personal) get that idea?

From my POV, the idea of getting microchipped, or handing "them" the ability to track me/surveil me/ whatever in every single thing I do by putting RFID tags in every conceivable place and for every conceivable situation is totally abhorrent. Totally. It's disgusting, and I've been speaking out against it as long as I have been aware of it, because it's incredibly easy to do a logical progression and see what is going to happen. I am almost completely against the entire concept of RFID, and certainly don't want my life to revolve around that technology, although I thoroughly enjoy and use many other aspects of modern technology. I'm as much a gadget freak and tool user as anyone else here, but some things are just better left alone, not to be used, IMO. You see it's called "choice", and millions of us choose privacy, and not turning over our lives and our souls to some corporate profits at any cost technofeudalistic society. We don't want the borg to win, in other words. We've seen what just implicitly "trusting" them has caused. It's not all good, far from it. blindly just adopting technoloyg just because it's new and shiny is not all that smart. sometinmes it turns out whatever was created was a pretty bad idea. Socially, we are still millenia behind where we need to be, technology is just "out there" but it is not being used *wisely* in any manner of ways or places.

In fact, that's a public line in the sand for me, anyone trying to force a microchip, for ANY reason they concoct,iiregardless of any authority they purport to be or represent, on me, against my will, is going to be met with instant ultra violent force from me TO them, in the most efficient and technologically advanced manner I am capable of at the moment. In addition, I will personally shun any human I am aware of that has accepted any sort of embedded "chip" no matter the stated purpose. I would literally harangue, yell at, cuss out, and spit in the face anyone who wanted to microchip "shake hands" with me. And I encourage others to do the same.

A lot of us out here are not in any way, manner, shape or form interested in becoming cyborgs, or being part of some hive mentality-termite society, which is the obvious direction this technology is leading us to, along with some other technologies.

Others will choose differently, and so it goes. Guess what, men will win, machine men will eventually lose. It will be a big fight, but pure humans who value "human-ness" over all else will win. Call that a prediction.

This microchip crap and tagging, etc, is just *wrong* and SO wrong that it can and will cause a lot of violent revolutionary action against it. Eventually. Not sure when, but I am fully confident it *will*. It is also wrong to assume people who value their privacy/indivdulaity/personal soverignty and who think that this complete fascist blend of government and international business that all of us are currently serfing away under are in any way "luddites", far from it, we just think "they" have enough power/control/information about us and over us already, they certainly don't need more than what they have now, and we don't care how "convenient" it makes it for them, or how much more "profitable" it is for them to use this technology. SCREW em basically, enough's enough.

And THAT is why you see more people at the cash line, and less at the borg line. One of the reasons anyway. Another is, is that for casual purchases, CCs are stoopid. People all over are using CCs less, because they got burned so bad in the dot com alleged "boom" years. That's why they keep having to drop interest rates, people noticed it is more "interesting" to stay within a budget,to hang on t