Flutterby™! : RFID experiments 2003-09-08 16:10:54.388691+00

RFID experiments

2003-09-08 16:10:54.388691+00 by Dan Lyke 2 comments

I'm not sure what John Robb is working on, but he's looking in some fascinating directions. Most recently, he's asking about RFID, specifically whether anyone's playing with this stuff at home. I haven't dug too deep, but over at BuyRFID it seems that dev kits are running in the several thousand dollar range and tags are still $3.50 quantity 1k. Here's a reason I want RFID tags in everything: If every pair of underwear has a tag I can scrounge, that's a cheap way to populate my own home experiments.

On the other hand, since I'm diddling about with media players in the living room, maybe it's time to break out those old CueCat thingies and resurrect the idea of my book collection as a lending library.

#Comment Re: RFID experiments made: 2003-09-09 14:53:50.17734+00 by: petronius

CueCat!! I remember getting two of them, one as a part of my Wired subscription and one as a giveaway at some mobile technology show that opened in the parking lot of the suburban office complex where I worked. I remember thinking at the time that I don't read magazines at my computer, so when would I use it?

All this leads to to a question: is there a site that recollects famous technological near-misses? Maybe a Museum of Failed Computer Ideas? The CueCat, Push Technology, the Internet computer, PC Junior, and other ideas thatdidn't quite make it? If not, then perhaps we should create one.

#Comment Re: RFID experiments made: 2003-09-09 15:16:25.561665+00 by: Mars Saxman

I don't know if this counts as "at home", but it's an application of RFID for non-commercial purposes: Maribeth Back's Listen Reader. This device was on display at the Dorkbot show in Seattle last month. RFID tags embedded in the pages tell the box which page is currently open, and a theremin-like capacitance device detects the position of the reader's hands over the page.