RFID (radio frequency identification) chips or tags as they are better known are the size of the smallest coin in your purse, but they can hold huge amounts of information that can be manipulated in methods that can do fantastic things.

For instance, RFID tags are in the majority of office identity tags and in a few passports, enabling the holder to pass through security quickly while keeping the building or the country secure.

They are a modern version of the bar code. Remember before bar codes and bar code readers? When a shop keeper had to type prices into the cash register, correct mistakes and look up prices that they could not remember? People do not have any time for that anymore.

It is OK at the newsagents, but picture a teenager typing in your two trolleys of weekly shopping at the superstore every Saturday. You would still be there on Sunday! Supermarkets have thousands of articles and dozens of special offers – no-one could remember that lot.

No-one can, but bar codes make it straightforward and so do RFID tags. Bar codes work well, but they have to be seen to be read. RFID tags send out their information on a unique frequency which can be read out of line of sight. In other words, an RFID scanner does not need to see the tag to read it.

The scanner can see what is in your trolley without you having to empty it and as you pass by that scanner and pay for your goods, they are deducted from stock straight away so that the store manger can see what people are buying and what nobody wants to buy. So, if one brand of cat food is selling better than another, the manager will see that on the computer print-out and buy more of that brand, thus keeping more people happy.

This use of RFID in stock control or asset management to give it its more official title, can translate itself into other uses too. An RFID tag can be put under your cat’s fur or in its collar so that you can locate him if he gets lost. The police and the wardens scan stray animals for a tag as part of their routine these days. Consevationists have been doing this with wild elephants, big cats and other endangered animals for years. Now you can have it done with your pets as well.

Company vehicles, as assets of the business, often carry RFID tags and you can have one placed in your car to aid recovery if it is stolen. Baggage handlers at airports or bus terminals can (and do) use them to avoid lost luggage.

The US government insists that RFID tags be placed on all vehicles carrying ammunition or hazardous substances and have done for nearly ten years. The US military is in fact the principal user of these tags in the world. RFID tags are used to track military assets such as armaments, battle tanks, fuel, containers, artillery, you name it.

Some people worry about RFID technology. Where is the line between their convenience and their personal information? For example, they do not like getting junk emails from people that have been able to track the purchases they made with their credit cards.

Owen Jones, the writer of this piece writes on several topics, but is now concerned with the RFID asset tracking. If you would like to know more, please go to our website at Active RFID Management.

RFID (radio frequency identification) chips or tags as they are better known are the size of the smallest coin in your pocket, but they can store huge amounts of data that can be manipulated in methods that can do incredible things.

For example, RFID tags are in most office identity tags and in a few passports, allowing the holder to pass through security quickly while keeping the building or the country safe.

They are a modern version of the bar code. Remember before bar codes and bar code readers? When a shop keeper had to type prices into the cash register, correct mistakes and look up prices that they could not remember? People do not have any time for that anymore.

It is OK at the newsagents, but picture a teenager typing in your two trolleys of weekly shopping at the superstore every Saturday. You would still be there on Sunday! Supermarkets have thousands of articles and dozens of special offers – no-one could remember that lot.

No-one can, but bar codes make it straightforward and so do RFID tags. Bar codes work well, but they have to be seen to be read. RFID tags send out their information on a unique frequency which can be read out of line of sight. In other words, an RFID scanner does not need to see the tag to read it.

The scanner can see what is in your trolley without you having to unload it and as you pass by that scanner and pay for your things, they are deducted from stock straight away so that the warehouse manger can see what people are buying and what nobody wants to buy. So, if one brand of cat food is selling better than another, the manager will see that on the computer print-out and buy more of that make, thus keeping more people happy.

This use of RFID in inventory control or asset management to give it its more formal title, can translate itself into other uses as well. An RFID tag can be placed under your cat’s fur or in its collar so that you can locate him if he gets lost. The police and the wardens scan stray animals for a tag as part of their routine these days. Consevationists have been doing this with wild elephants, big cats and other endangered species for years. Now you can have it done with your pets also.

Company vehicles, as assets of the business, often carry RFID tags and you can have one placed in your car to aid recovery if it is stolen. Baggage handlers at airports or bus terminals can (and do) use them to avoid mislaying luggage.

The US government requires RFID tags be placed on all vehicles carrying explosives or dangerous substances and have done for nearly ten years. The US military is in fact the principal user of these tags in the world. RFID tags are used to track military assets such as armaments, battle tanks, fuel, containers, guns, you name it.

Some people worry about RFID technology. Where is the line between their convenience and their personal information? For example, they do not like getting junk emails from people that have been able to trace the purchases they made with their credit cards.

Owen Jones, the writer of this piece writes on quite a few topics, but is now concerned with the RFID asset tracking. If you would like to know more, please go to our website at Active RFID Management.

Wal-Mart will shortly be adding Radio Frequency IDentity tags to some of its clothing. RFID tags can hold more data than bar codes and so are better for stock control. An item bearing an RFID tag does not have to be removed from the trolley to be scanned because the tag reflects its data back to the reader on its own unique radio frequency. These tags can be put under labels or sewn into garments because they can be very, very small.

Wal-Mart plans to begin using removable tags. This is important, because these tags broadcast their data to any machine that asks for it and there are simply thousands of RFID readers in every city.

For instance, the tag in your Wal-Mart shirt might be saying: ‘I am a sleeveless shirt, colour yellow, size 12. I cost 9.95. I was bought at Wal-Mart Superstore number 00067 in New York, USA. I am number 400 of 20,000 bought on June 15, 2010 I was made by Satis in Thailand in June 2010′.

This and more information, encoded on the RFID tag is very useful for stock control. RFID tags are an advanced form of bar code. Bar codes are OK, but the scanner has to see them to read them, whereas RFID tags reflect back their data when they get the power to do so from an RFID reader.

These readers can be hand-held or stationary and can usually read the tags from about a metre away without needing to see it. Therefore, the reader could be under, over or along side the shopping trolley and as you walk past it will read all the contents of your trolley without you needing to unload them.

This saves time, which can mean fewer human mistakes and even fewer employees. If the reader is connected to a central computer, stock levels are adjusted automatically, and the fastest moving items and the most and least profitable items in the store can be read off a list that is correct up to the second.

Connect the stores to head office and the CEO knows what is going on everywhere in his empire live. Connect the computer to the central distribution warehouse and items can be ordered automatically when stock drops to a prearranged level.

However, there are some privacy issues. Wal-Mart intends to use removable tags, but consumer societies say that criminals could scan garbage bins to see what a person has bought recently. More of a problem would be if the tags were sewn into hems or linings, because they are ‘always on’.

RFID is used in a great deal of credit cards and security passes, so it is hypothetically possible that the readers will scan those too. If the details concealed on passes, credit cards, driving licenses and passports is linked together, then the store will know a whole lot about you, as well as your shopping predilections as soon as you walk through the door.

It could be a very smart move for Wal-Mart to start using smart tags. An experiment at American Apparel Inc. in 2007 showed that shops using smart RFID tags made 14.3% more sales that stores that did not use them. It is also easier to discover employee theft of items from the stock room if RFID tags are used.

Owen Jones, the author of this piece writes on quite a few topics, but is now concerned with the best RFID printer. If you would like to know more, please go to our website at Active RFID Management.

Nowadays most individuals and their grandmothers are using computers on a daily basis to access the Internet and even the so-called computer illiterate operate computers in devices that they have not yet realized contain them. We are all working with computers all the time whether we realize it or not.

Equipment at work, the car, the mobile telephone and the ATM all have computers built-in to make them more efficient or indeed to make them work at all. Everyone ought to try to take that small leap to learning how to use a computer with a keyboard, especially if they are under fifty.

Not only are we all working with computers, but we are all working with mainframes – the type of computers that NASA makes use of for its calculations. Where?, you might ask. Well, when you go to the self-service garage and punch in what you would like and how you are going to pay for it, the computer on the petrol pump checks its supplies to see whether it can supply that amount

Then it tells HQ that it has delivered that amount and that stock levels have to be decreased by that amount; then it checks you credit card details with the banks’ mainframes and then you are free to have your card back and go on your way. And not before. If you do attempt to get away early, it will already have taken a snapshot of your face and probably your car’s registration plate as well.

Do you have a security tag to get into work? That will be an RFID (radio frequency ID) tag, which will be communicating with the company’s mainframe computer to tell it that ‘employee xxx’ has turned up for work and it will almost certainly keep tabs on where you are at every other moment of the day as well.

Some people used to enjoy doing a little automobile maintenance once a week or once a month (OK, many did not too), but that is now a thing of the past. Before anyone knows what is wrong with a vehicle, they have to plug it in.

If you go to a main dealer, that information will go into the company’s database to help it design a better car next time (or perhaps they will use the data to make sure that it breaks down earlier next time – planned obsolescence).

The purpose here is that if you do not have an idea of what computers can do or indeed are doing, you will be left behind, standing incredulously in the past wondering what happened to your old life. The easiest way to find out what computers can do is to begin working with computers on a conscious level.

There is only one problem with this piece though and that is that because you are reading it on line, I am talking to someone who is already working with computers. Never mind, I tried.

Owen Jones, the article of this article, writes on a number of subjects, but is now concerned with the wireless broadband router. If you want to know more, please visit our website at Best Router For Gaming Online