RFID Gazette

According to InfoWorld:

"Privacy advocates and some lawmakers are pushing a debate over potential privacy abuses from the growing use of radio frequency identification chips as huge retailers such as Wal-Mart Stores Inc. move toward large-scale use of the technology.

"While a number of privacy groups have raised concerns about the potential uses of radio frequency identification (RFID) chips, the U.S. Congress hasn’t yet drafted legislation to regulate their use. But the Utah and California legislatures have both considered RFID privacy legislation this year, and the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has scheduled a workshop on the uses of RFID and the effect on consumers for June 21." Read more

According to DigiTimes:

"The technology is estimated to boost RFID production by more than NT$10 billion (about US$299 million) in three to five years, according to DoIT." Read more

The USDA is pushing to give every cow in the United States its own unique identification number, making it easier to track diseases, such as mad cow disease, back to the originating farm. RFID technology would be used to track the numbers.

CNN reports:

"Several countries already have mandatory tracking systems. Australia's National Livestock Identification, which uses RFID tags, has reported virtually no malfunctions since it began in January.

"'If there was a disease outbreak, within seconds we can trace the animal, the property it came from, and every movement the animal has made,' said Keith Wright, director of Boontech. 'It means the region can be isolated, while the rest of the country can keep trading.'" Read more

According to EDN:

"EM Microelectronic's new EM4223 UHF RFID IC fully complies with the international standard ISO18000-6A and EPC (Electronic Product Code) 64- and 96-bit code specifications. Air interface ISO18000-6A, which ISO finalized in 2003 and plans to publish in the coming months, also defines families of items to store in the AFI (application-family-identifier) segment of memory. Using AFI, the EM4223 supports a direct-selection mechanism, which enhances throughput by reducing the data flow through the network." Read more

See a (PDF) of the reader, courtesy Reed Electronics.

According to TechWeb:

"Checkpoint Systems and Royal Philips Electronics on Wednesday said they have formed an alliance to jointly sell electronic tags and readers and system integration services to retailers and consumer products companies. [...]

"Checkpoint sells RFID systems that include hardware and software, while Philips is one of the largest makers of RFID tags that are attached to pallets and cases for better tracking of goods moving through a supply chain. [...]

"'Checkpoint has recently deployed RFID solutions based on Philips RFID chips in more than 12 in-store and supply chain applications thus far in 2004,' Albert Roger, Checkpoint vice president and general manager for RFID in Europe." Read more

Innovision Research & Technology, a UK vendor based in Berkshire, has developed the world's smallest RFID reader that supports Near Field Communication (NFC) standards. The reader module, called 'io,' supports Near Field Communication (NFC) standards that allow electronic devices to communicate when they come into physical contact with each other.

io can read and write to 13.56 MHz RFID tags and smart labels and is optimized for a 2.8V battery operation. Innovision has added NFC support to prepare for a time when users may be able to download music to their MP3 players simply by tapping the player against a poster. Other applications include using an NFC phone to store electronic cash, thereby enabling users to purchase movie tickets by waving the phone at a movie poster.

ZDNet UK reports:

"This day is close, according to Innovision, which predicts that NFC applications could be deployed next year.

"'NFC has all the right building blocks for many applications,' said Marc Borrett, managing director of Innovision, who added that the first products could be deployed within 12 to 18 months, followed by 'a wave of applications.'

"The NFC standard is being backed by Nokia, Philips and Sony, who launched the NFC Forum at the CeBIT trade show earlier this year."

is reports:

"Matrics Inc., a global leader in the design and manufacture of EPC-compliant Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) systems, today announced that it has been selected by the Airport Authority Hong Kong. The deployment of passive UHF RFID technology will lead to improved customer satisfaction and increased security. Matrics' strategic partner, Marubeni Corporation, will be providing systems installation and support services."

epcSolutions CEO Kevin J. Kail and EPCglobal US President Mike Meranda applaud each other for their work to progress the standardization of EPC and RFID middleware.

reports:

"epcSolutions, Inc., an industry leading Electronic Product Code (EPC(TM))/Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) middleware provider and creator of ThingsNet(TM), a fully-compliant EPC-standard savant, today announces its support of the standardization of RFID technology as a subscriber to EPCglobal US, an affiliate of EPCglobal Inc. EPCglobal Inc, a joint venture between EAN International and the Uniform Code Council (UCC), is entrusted by industry to establish and support the EPCglobal Network(TM) as the global standard for immediate, automatic, and accurate identification of any item in the supply chain of any company, in any industry, anywhere in the world.

"Developed by the Auto-ID Center, an academic research project headquartered at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (M.I.T.) with labs at five leading research universities around the globe, the EPCglobal Network is a set of technologies that enable immediate, automatic identification and sharing of information on items in the supply chain."

According to CNET Asia:

"Tokyo-based electronics giant NEC is backing a global effort to establish standards for radiofrequency identification technology.

"The company last week became the first Japanese IT firm to join EPCglobal, a Belgium-based organisation seeking to develop RFID standards to work in tandem with a next-generation barcode system called electronic product code.

"Membership in EPCGlobal will allow the company to participate in standardisation projects and trials." Read more

Information Week reports:

"It was at last year's Retail Systems conference in Chicago that Wal-Mart CIO Linda Dillman seized the industry's attention by announcing the goal of having the retailer's top 100 suppliers deliver cases and pallets with RFID tags by January 2005. Last week, Wal-Mart was back at the Retail Systems conference, promising to get 200 more suppliers into the RFID effort this summer and to keep the pressure on suppliers, tech companies, and even rivals to make RFID a reality. 'This joint work has ensured that many months, and even years, have been taken out of the traditional development cycle for a project like RFID,' Wal-Mart stores division CEO Mike Duke said." Read more