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Innovative Uses of RFID Tags
Roland Piquepaille writes "When your newspapers write something about RFID tags, it's almost always about Wal-Mart or how these tags are threatening our privacy. But they often miss the important innovations brought by this technology. For example, in Florida, RFID drives highway traffic reports on more than 200 miles of toll roads. Or take DHL, which is tracking fashion with RFID tags on more than 70 million garments in its French distribution center. Elsewhere, in Texas, 28,000 students test an e-tagging system which promises better security for them. And what about RFID tags which could prevent surgical errors and have just been approved in the U.S last week? So, what do you think? Are these innovations promising a better future for us or not? For your convenience, this overview contains the essential details from the different articles mentioned above."
Not to mention the possible side effects of having a radio transmitting from inside a human body for long periods of time.
First of all, there are two kinds of RFID chips, the active kind, that contain a power source and constant transmit and the passive kind that only activate when they are around the reader.
Most of the tags in existance today are passive models, they are cheaper and have a virtually unlimited lifespan. They are powered by either a electric or magnetic field (depends on unit frequency). These models DO NOT CONSTANTLY TRANSMIT and would be unlikly to cause any problems to humans unless they were read a lot (1000+ times a day).
The active kind are unlikly to be used alot around humans do to cost. The battery installed into them means that they usually only have a lifespan of around 5 years, and would have to be replaced then. Chances are after a cycle or two of battery usage, whatever the tag was doing will be replaced by a better technology.
Medevo
Can anyone point to technology that religion embraced in its infancy? I really would be interested.
The Printing press
There is no sanctuary. There is no sanctuary. SHUT UP! There is no shut up. There is no shut up.
Technology embraced in it's infancy? Other than the printing press?
Anything having to do with construction (building churches, etc), communication (radio, tv, the internet) and transportation (bussing those seniors in for Sunday Mass).
Julie Moult is an idiot.
Well, here's an article for VeriChip, which is implantable, and stores a persons health information, and is wirelessly writable.
Here's another about an implantable GPS system, currently the size of a pacemaker, but the inventors believe it can be shrunk down to as much as 1/10th the size.
And, one last one about Wal-Mart, tracking customers using RFID "from company headquarters some 750 miles away".
So yes, RFID can do those things, and IS doing some of those things now.
Julie Moult is an idiot.