Facebook Paints Giant, Useless QR Code on its Roof

Painting enormous QR codes that are scannable from the air is something of a rite of passage for tech nerds—sort of like tagging a railway overpass in your hometown when you were a kid. Now, Facebook has gotten in on the action, unveiling a 42-foot wide QR code on the roof of its new headquarters at 1 Hacker Way in Menlo Park, Calif. When scanned, the code opens a Facebook fan page devoted to the code itself—a solipsistic bit of foolishness that perfectly mirrors some of the underwhelming aspects of QR codes themselves.

New scanner recognizes foods at checkout

Japanese company, Toshiba, has developed a, so-called, food recognition technology. The new technology is a scanner which recognises the item of food, particularly fruits and vegetables, thus removing the need for barcodes.

Packages and labels can be crumpled so that the barcode can't be read at the check-out point. Furthermore fruit and vegetables in supermarkets don't usually have barcodes because they're put out while they're fresh, so these items can't be read at the register using barcodes, which means that either a shop assistant has to weigh, put in the correct data and label the product with a barcode or it is the cashier responsible for this job.

Connecticut Advances RFID License Plate Legislation

A lobbyist for the Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) industry has convinced Connecticut legislators to consider implanting spy chips on the state's license plates. Last Wednesday, the state Senate Transportation Committee voted unanimously to pass a bill asking the Department of Motor Vehicles to create a report on the implementation of RFID for motor vehicle registration by January 1.
Implanting the chips on license plates would enable real-time monitoring of all vehicles by positioning tracking stations at key points throughout the state. The main interest behind the bill is to generate automated ticket for drivers whose vehicle registration, emissions or insurance certification may have lapsed for a day or two. RFID makes photo enforcement systems far more accurate. Instead of having optical character recognition software identify vehicles from a picture of a license plate -- often guessing when images are unclear -- the chips would broadcast vehicle identity to nearby stations under all weather conditions.
Former astronaut Paul Scully-Power brought the idea to the attention of lawmakers. Scully-Power stands to profit significantly should the technology be adapted at the state level, as he is the former CEO of Mikoh Corporation and SensorConnect Inc, both of which sell RFID solutions. Scully-Power's written testimony to highlighted how legislators would fare equally well by adopting the technology.
"There are two main reasons for the Department of Transportation to adopt this type of program," Scully-Power wrote in his testimony. "One, to validate that every vehicle conforms to state regulations. Two, to provide considerable income to the state by identifying vehicles that are violating the existing laws of Connecticut.... The state would collect $29,619,500 per year or $79,858,500 in the same three-year period compared to the $594,000 it was able to collect."
The financial estimates were based on the number of uninsured drivers the system could hit with $100 tickets. The system also would increase the profitability of red light cameras, which the legislature is currently considering authorizing.

Datacard Group Expands Into India

Datacard Group, the world leader in secure ID and card personalization solutions, today announced that CardPro Solutions Pvt. Ltd.--a manufacturer, exporter and supplier of smart cards--has installed the Datacard MX2000 card issuance system, helping expand Datacard Group’s growth in the Indian market.
By implementing the MX2000 card issuance system, CardPro Solutions will now be able to offer debit and credit card personalization capabilities for both smart card personalization as well as magnetic stripe encoding in their newly opened bureau in India. The MX2000 card issuance system is a modular system that supports up to nine various modules and can personalize up to 1,200 cards per hour.
“After evaluating various vendors, we selected Datacard Group because of the superior technology they offered to us, which fit with our overall business goals and strategy,” said Vikas Choudhary, managing director of CardPro Solutions. “Datacard Group was able to provide a detailed recommendation and proposal that included their MX2000 system, offering the exact capabilities we required -- which was smart card personalization, optical character recognition (OCR), and encoding two track magnetic stripe data for our loyalty card application.”
Ultimately, Datacard Group provided CardPro with the MX2000 system including modular capabilities of OCR scanning, magnetic stripe encoding, smart card personalization, indent printing, as well as embossing and topping, which enhances readability and the appearance of the embossed characters.
“We are very pleased that CardPro Solutions selected Datacard Group’s technology for their card issuance system,” said Rajiv Singh, managing director, South Asia for Datacard Group. “As a pioneer in creating highly secure card and credential programs, we continue to expand our operations worldwide and see the Indian market as a good opportunity for exponential growth.”
Datacard Group also has a dedicated subsidiary office operating in Mumbai, India, which offers customers in the South Asia region local services and support. In addition, the company offers a Secure Issuance Anywhere™ platform, which provides customers the flexibility to issue, replace and deliver cards anytime, anywhere, with complete security. This integrated platform includes scalable and flexible hardware, software, supplies, consultation and project management for card and credential management.

TransCard Announces NFC Certification to Enable Contactless Payments

TransCard this week announced the completion of contactless Near Field Communication (NFC) certification for MasterCard PayPass contactless payment transactions. Financial institutions and corporate clients working with TransCard will be able to offer contactless payment programs that are either stand-alone or connected to an existing TransCard prepaid card account.
The recent announcements around NFC have validated the product in the minds of merchants and consumers. In June, the Financial Times reported that Google Executive Chairman Eric E. Schmidt believes a third of check-out terminals in retail stores and restaurants will be upgraded to allow wireless “tap and pay” from mobile phones within the next year. Such a development will prepare the ground for what he believes will be a “trillion dollar” industry of mobile advertising and payments.
Craig Fuller, CEO of TransCard, stated, "We are tremendously excited about the momentum in the NFC universe and the growing interest in contactless and mobile payments. We believe an entire eco-system is developing around NFC payments and TransCard is proud to be one of the select group of prepaid processors that is contactless certified."
The pilots TransCard currently has underway will provide further evidence of the various applications NFC prepaid can serve.

Orange QR Introduces QR Code Tracking Software

Orange QR is pleased to announce the launch of its new QR code tracking software. By utilizing the company's QR code tracking software, customers are better able to track and manage all of their Quick Response Codes.
For those new to QR code tracking, it stands for Quick Response codes which are two-dimensional bar codes. These codes can be read from camera-ready phones which will send the visitor to a website or provides information on a product or service. The technology was created in Japan back in 1994, but has since made great strides in both reliability and speed.
QR bar codes can be placed virtually anywhere, making them very functional for a wide variety of businesses. When a visitor scans the code into his or her camera phone (and has installed the proper phone app) the code becomes active. Phone apps are easy to find and install and are available for Android, iPhone, or Blackberry. Orange QR offers free access to its search feature for those who wish to learn more about QR code readers.
Applying QR bar codes may be simple and reading them just as easy, but how do companies that are using them track and manage all those codes? This is where Orange QR can play a huge and important role. When users create their codes using the Orange QR site software, they can track and manage their QR codes in real time. The software to use is the Code Tracking Generator.
The Code Tracking Generator is easy to use and not only creates the QR codes but also initiates the tracking function for those codes. With QR code tracking, businesses are able to track who scanned their QR code, where that particular code was scanned, when that particular code was scanned, and how it was scanned (meaning which media was used to scan the code). When businesses have this level of information, they are better able to design more effective marketing campaigns as well as focus on geographic hot spots. Having access to this information can help boost sales as businesses concentrate on those areas that are responding the best to their codes.
 

RFID advances as a dairy management tool

How simple would a herd check be if all a dairy producer had to do was wave a magic wand and instantly know the status of each individual cow in a group? What once seemed like a fantasy is becoming a reality with the advancements of radio frequency identification (RFID). Last week, the Wisconsin Livestock Identification Consortium (WLIC) hosted an educational event in DeForest to highlight the progress of RFID not only as a tracking method but also as an integral dairy management tool.

QR Coded Dental Plaque

RFID-enabled Enterprise Visibility Solution of Consumable Assets from WaveMark

Intelligent InSites, a provider of enterprise real-time location systems (RTLS) software helping hospitals improve patient satisfaction and operational performance while supporting multiple RFID and RTLS technologies, and WaveMark, Inc.  have announced the integration of WaveMark's enterprise visibility solution of consumable assets including medical implantable devices and supplies with the Intelligent InSites enterprise RTLS software solution.
According to Chadha, with the cloud-based RFID-enabled supply chain management solution from WaveMark, hospitals are able to better manage their inventory levels by adjusting par levels to match usage more closely, eliminating waste from expired products. In addition, WaveMark's solution can conduct detailed analysis on device usage per room and physician. This information supports effective inventory consumption and regulatory compliance.
The Intelligent InSites RTLS software solution -- which provides a unified user interface for multiple enterprise-wide RTLS applications, integrations, connectivity, 3rd-party solutions, and RTLS hardware technologies -- enables hospitals to achieve meaningful and measurable hard-dollar cost savings while improving patient satisfaction and patient care.

MyAssetTag.com Lets Shoppers Design and Print Asset Tags

MyAssetTag.com, a pioneering asset tagging and management solutions provider, has launched a custom barcode label wizard. The web store supplies a variety of asset tags and labels required for asset and inventory management, with many offered for free.
Famous for delivering the best value to its customers, the online store now encourages buyers to create their own professional asset tags free of cost. In minutes, shoppers can design their own asset tags and print them out instantly through PDFs password-protected for security. With the same designs that professionals use, printing for free saves people from purchasing barcode software that averages over $300 per seat.
Creating & printing the free asset tags is a user-friendly process thanks to the company's state-of-the-art technology. No training or program is required. A customer can design a tag by choosing its size, shape, color, adding personal text, and even a company logo. Tags can be printed on any PC, on any stationary material, and in full color with a range of barcode symbologies (including 2D) and sequential numbering. Some special asset tags materials like EconoGuard™ Vinyl Labels or Stick-n-Peel™ Removable Polyester Labels can be ordered and used to fully professionalize the asset labels at home or work. The design quality is compatible with a regular laser or ink-jet printer for creating professional tags.
 

Digimarc enhances mobile platform to include barcode reading

Content technology provider Digimarc has further enhanced its Digimarc Discover mobile 'seeing/hearing' application to include support for reading of barcodes used in consumer packaging (UPC and EAN) and books (ISBN). The Digimarc Discover mobile application allows consumers to automatically access online content and services from printed materials and music through simple selection of 'look' or 'listen' options within the application. The 'look' mode utilises the smartphone's camera to automatically detect the presence of digital watermarks, QR codes, and barcodes in printed content and deliver related print-to-mobile experiences, such as directing users to a product search page for product info, comparison shopping, finding related products, and user reviews.

Road Codes to be QR Code Killer

As of late, the interactive technology in the marketing world known as the QR Code has been garnering a ton of bad press for its many limitations, and being fully aware of these limitations, Paul Brocky and Tom Catuosco created The Road Code to be the QR Code killer. QR codes, originally designed to track auto parts at car factories, are soon to become road kill as The Road Code targets on-the-go consumers, making the dissemination of information easy to use, safe, and more effective than its predecessor.
The Road Code offers free 4-character alpha numeric codes for users to create to their own mini website, or use as a website redirect identical to QR codes. With a Road Code, it’s easier for people to remember a unique 4-digit character code relatively easily and put it into The Road Code app on their smart phone or online when they get home. It isn’t necessary to snap an image of the code or remember a lengthy web address; this allows drivers a safe avenue to retain information posted on billboards and other outdoor advertising mediums, as opposed to the most recent hubbub about QR codes. As QR Codes are now becoming banned from outdoor media because of the safety issues with using a cellphone while driving, The Road Code has set out to become the ultimate QR killer by offering a more user-friendly and safe alternate.
“Every day we are excited about the potential of The Road Code,” stated Paul Brocky, co-owner of The Road Code. “Only 6% of all smartphone users have scanned a bar code or QR code and that should be an alarming statistic to marketers; despite the fact that they are free, they are causing more harm than good in many areas. The most recent news breaks about QR codes are certainly an opportunity for us to fill a void in that market and create a product that is easier to use, more effective and better looking.”
As of late, The Road Code has created hundreds of codes since the site’s launch on January 18th and is being used by people in all 50 states and more than 35 countries all over the world.
This online freeway for advertising allows users to log on and create their own mini website to promote anything their heart desires with an easy-to-use 4-character alpha-numerical code. The downloadable Road Code signs (already designed by The Road Code for users personal use) can be placed outside a home or business or in an advertisement that when you go to the Road Code website or app, you go to an entire page dedicated to whatever the advertiser want to promote.

Athena Smartcard Demonstrates Enterprise and Government NFC Solutions

Athena Smartcard paves the way for Enterprise and Government to exploit the rapidly growing NFC ecosystem by providing a portfolio of secure NFC devices, tools and software.
Using Athena's industry trusted Enterprise and Government Identity technologies as its basis and supporting ISO 14443 Type A & B contactless communication standards Athena NFC solutions offer the possibility of deploying anything from a simple SmartPoster or other standard Tags up to NFC enabled solutions capable of supporting authentication, identity, loyalty, payment or ticketing. The Athena NFC solutions offer up to 80KB of on board memory and enhanced security which is unavailable in standard NFC tags.
Athena NFC, through its support for dual interface and contactless form factors, can be configured as a Secure Element for use with NFC aware mobile devices; such as Smart Phones, to offer VPN, SSL or Digital Signature functionality or used to enhance security levels in Payment and Loyalty platforms by offering Common Criteria and FIPS certified services.
Complementing these NFC Card and Tag solutions Athena also offers desktop and embedded NFC readers, application software and personalization support to its partners.
At NFC and Smart World, Athena is showcasing its NFC aware PKI cards which are capable of supporting a variety of smart phones from manufactures; such as RIM, Samsung, Google and others.

Deltek Expands Project Manufacturing Capabilities

Deltek, Inc.announced a significant expansion of its solutions for project-focused manufacturing companies. Deltek Costpoint offers new and significantly expanded project manufacturing and materials management capabilities for manufacturing execution, shop floor time collection and barcode and RFID scanner integration.

These new capabilities provide real-time visibility into shop floor operations and enable companies to improve production efficiency, deliver on LEAN and paperless manufacturing objectives, and reach new levels of manufacturing performance that will deliver cost savings and stronger bottom line results.

The new modules enhance Costpoint's existing inventory management and project accounting functions and deliver significant new capabilities including:

-- Manufacturing Execution and Quality: Deltek Costpoint MES provides routing information, work instructions, and online documentation to be used in complex project manufacturing environments. Deltek Costpoint MES captures work order status throughout the manufacturing process and supports quality control and non-conformance findings and results. Project manufacturers will remove a significant amount of paperwork and inefficiency from the shop floor through online instructions and activity tracking, thereby improving the quality of the products, audit trails, and information produced, and meeting LEAN and paperless manufacturing objectives. Deltek Costpoint MES leverages industry leading technology and features through an expanded partnership with iBASEt.

-- Shop Floor Time: Deltek Costpoint Shop Floor Time supports the rapid capture of start and stop times for shop floor activities. Deltek Costpoint Shop Floor Time supports complex pay rules and schedules, as well as employee self-service scheduling requests and approvals. The solution tracks attendance, vacation, holiday, illness, late arrival, and all other critical requirements for project manufacturers, delivering real-time visibility into the status and cost of all projects.

-- RFID and Barcode Integration: Deltek offers web services for bi-directional, real-time information exchange between Deltek Costpoint and handheld, voice-directed, RFID, PLC, barcode, and other scanners and devices. Deltek customers can leverage these web services for scanner integration to accelerate shop floor improvements, drive efficiency and increase data quality. These capabilities are offered through Deltek's close partnership with RFgen, a division of DataMAX Software Group, Inc.

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The number of people using mobile payments is on the rise, and this number will only grow over time as new technologies and advancements are introduced. Today’s consumers increasingly expect a shopping experience that seamlessly crosses online and offline channels. They use multiple channels and information sources to make buying decisions and expect an integrated experience that’s timely and consistent wherever they are and at any time—a concept First Data calls Universal Commerce.

Identive announces NFC Transponder Product Line

Identive Group, Inc., a provider of products, services and solutions for the identification, security and RFID industries, announced a new line of near field communication (NFC) transponder products based on Sony Corporation's FeliCa Lite chip technology. The announcement coincides with the NFC and Smart World Conference in Tokyo this week, where Identive will be previewing its new FeliCa Lite designs for NFC Forum Type 3 engineered inlays for tag and label applications as well as its ultra-thin SmartCore™ technology for card applications.
Sony's FeliCa Lite technology is designed to offer a lower cost alternative to conventional FeliCa chips thanks to a compact and energy saving design, streamlined security features and an optimized simple file system, making it ideal for high-volume NFC applications where cost is critical. FeliCa Lite is backward-compatible within FeliCa environments.
"FeliCa contactless technology has been widely deployed in Japan and several other Asian countries for many years for public transportation, customer loyalty programs and payment applications, and there is a growing need for NFC infrastructure products to capitalize on and expand this success," said Shunichi Fujii, President of Identive Japan.

Dai Nippon Printing and Identive Team to Deliver NFC Reader for ID Authentication

Dai Nippon Printing Co., Ltd announced they have jointly developed a new ID card reader that allows Japanese merchants, banks and others to read any of the diverse types of electronic identity credentials in use in Japan. The NDI711 reader supports the rapidly growing market for near field communications (NFC) phones and cards, and also includes a traditional contact smart card interface. The ability to read both contact and contactless ID credentials, together with a compact form factor, make the NDI711 reader ideal for use in the space conscious retail environment in Japan.
The first customer for the new reader is a leading mobile phone retailer that has purchased more than 20,000 of the devices for installation in its stores across Japan. In addition to verifying customers' IDs when they sign up for their mobile phones, the readers are also being used at the customer service counter to validate customers for after-sales services such as phone repairs. The reader makes it easier for the retailers' employees to collect required customer data and is faster and more convenient for their customers.
"Japan has taken a leading role globally in the implementation of electronic identification credentials, but the use of disparate electronic technologies has made it difficult for many sectors to move away from paper-based systems. Our cooperation with DNP targets a significant opportunity to provide electronic identity authentication to the retail, banking and public sectors in Japan," said Dr. Manfred Mueller, Executive Vice President and Managing Director of Identive's ID Infrastructure division.
In Japan it is a common requirement that mobile phone stores confirm the identity of their customers when they sign up for new phone plans or transfer their mobile phones services. Currently most stores manually copy personal identity credentials such as a driver's license and store these as hardcopy files, which creates a workload issue. Within stores that have implemented electronic card readers, two separate devices are required to handle the various types of contact and contactless card technologies used in identification credentials. The NDI711 enables retail stores to utilize one small device to read a wide variety of ID credential types, including Japan's millions of FeliCa and Osaifu-Keitai Mobile Wallet phones, contactless Type A/Type B smart cards (used for drivers' licenses and the Juki resident registry card).

InComm Patents "Value Insert" Solution

InComm, a leading prepaid product and transaction services company, announced today that InComm Japan has received a patent for its "Value Insert" Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) solution. InComm's new patent is for technology that makes reading an RFID card by a point-of-sale (POS) cash register more effective. RFID involves reading identifying information from chip tags with close range electromagnetic or radio communications. This technology can be applied in the service and retail industries.

"RFID technology continues to expand globally, and manufacturers, service providers and retailers are using it for distribution as well as payments," said Frank Monaco, Vice President, International, InComm. "RFID payment technology is advanced in Japan, so having our intellectual property recognized there is a significant accomplishment. We look forward to creating strategic partnerships with Japanese businesses interested in benefitting from the efficiencies our technology provides."

RFID- and NFC-Enabled Smart Washing Machine Detects Fabric

What if your washing machine could detect what you've put in the laundry and adjust its own settings automatically? This week, NXP Semiconductors is showcasing its RFID- and NFC-enabled smart washing machine demonstrator at Embedded World in Nuremberg, Germany, featuring advanced yet practical wireless functionality. The most popular feature of the demo is fabric detection: The washing machine reads information about the fabric type and color from RFID-tagged buttons, helps you avoid mixing white and dark laundry, and optimizes the washing program based on the characteristics it reads from both the clothing and the detergent itself.
Another popular feature of the demo is NFC-based maintenance: Using an NFC-enabled phone, an authorized maintenance technician can perform diagnostics on the smart washing machine onsite, change its status, upgrade firmware, and launch an app that communicates directly with the manufacturer's service center using the phone's built-in 3G connection.
"Major home appliances are becoming 'smarter' by the day -- yet we've only started to explore the universe of possibilities when it comes to two-way communication," said Jan Willem Vogel, senior director, industrial applications marketing, NXP Semiconductors. "We're particularly excited about our new smart washing demonstrator, which brings together our advanced application insights, our expertise in RFID and NFC, as well as our broad-based understanding of the complex sub-systems driving white goods today. The demo also showcases the breadth of NXP's portfolio -- the most extensive in the semiconductor industry when it comes to home appliances."

RFID chip lets readers talk first for use in retail apps

Researchers at Imec, Holst Centre and their partners have fabricated a radio frequency identification circuit made in low-temperature thin-film technology that allows reader-talks-first communication.
Today, thin-film RFID chips are based on a tag-talks-first principle: as soon as the RFID tag gets powered from the RF field of the RFID reader, it transmits its code to the reader.  In retail applications, many tags will try to contact the reader at the same time, requiring an effective anti-collision mechanism.
“When the RFID reader first powers and contacts the tag, it transmits a clock and identification data. The tag then uses this data and clock to determine when to send its code. This mechanism for the first time allows implementing a practical anti-collision scheme for thin-film RFID tags,” said Paul Heremans, imec director large-area electronics and coordinator of Oricla, in a statement.
The new RFID tag is a complementary hybrid organic-oxide device that combines a 250°C solution-processed n-type metal-oxide TFT with typical charge carrier mobility of 2cm2/Vs, with a pentacene p-type TFT with mobility of up to 1cm2/Vs. A high-k Al2O3 dielectric was used, which increases the transistors’ current drive.
According to the researchers, the technology behind this prototype is indispensable to create RFID tags that are cheap enough and have enough performance to be used as intelligent item-level tags on the packaging of retail consumer goods. Such tags can be used to provide buyers with information on price, characteristics, or freshness, or to allow vendors to implement automated billing and inventory management.
The technology development is supported by the EU FP7 project Oricla, with project coordinator imec (Belgium), Holst Centre – TNO (The Netherlands), Evonik Industries AG (Germany), and PolyIC (Germany).

Checkpoint’s new RFID Tags portfolio for apparel retailers

Checkpoint Systems Inc announced its expanded and new RFID encoding solutions and the expansion of its RFID tag portfolio for apparel brands and their retail partners, as well as closed-loop apparel retailers and department stores.
Checkpoint’s growing RFID portfolio of hardware, software, tags, and service and support offerings provides further value for the increasing number of apparel retailers seeking to deploy RFID broadly throughout their operations to increase sales, reduce out-of-stocks, reduce working capital, as well as enhance loss prevention efforts and consumer experience.