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  Boris Hua 21:41 on October 7, 2010 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: Lenovo, NFC ( 5 ), RFID ( 19 ), RFID market ( 4 ), Thinkpad   

  NFC module into personal computer 

  Chinese computer maker Lenovo started selling NFC module embedded ThinkPad laptop a few months ago. The NFC functionality come as an optional extra to buyers of lenovo’T410, T510 and W510 ThinkPad laptops.

  The NFC NFC module (TN33MUE002L) was jointly developed by NXP Semiconductors and Toppan Form. As the first global release of the NFC read / write module for laptop, TN33MUE002L use the highly integrated NXP PN533 NFC chip, which built-in micro-controller and support for 13.56MHz contactless communication. TN33MUE002L is compatible with the mainstream of contactless smart cards in market, such as MIFARE and FeliCa. It also compatible with a variety of open standards protocols (ISO 14443 A Class and B), these protocols are widely used in the current global banking, government and public service .

  Although you currently can not find any NFC extra option from Lenovo official Web site, but according to media reports, Lenovo has sold 1,000 units embedded RFID modules ThinkPad already. However, NFC module used in personal computers is significant and will drive the NFC technology into a brilliant future, to attract a broader consumer groups.

   

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  Derek Du 19:06 on September 23, 2010 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: EAR TAG, LIVERSTOCK, RFID ( 19 ), SURVEY   

  RFID Livestock Ear Tags Design Survey 

  

  This survey jointly sponsored by RFID-BLOG and Nexqo Technology. We are conducting a survey to learn about the current livestock ear tags design and use. Your help and information will be greatly helpful to improve our design.

  The questionnaire will just take your several minutes to finish. Thank you very much for your support and help.

  For survey link, please press here.
  

   
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  Tao Wang 19:30 on July 27, 2010 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: cost ( 2 ), RFID ( 19 )   

  RFID item-level tag @ retail 

  The retail giant Wal-Mart will place radio-frequency identification (RFID) tags on underwear, jeans and other consumer items to keep better track of its inventory from next month.

  Wal-Mart will be embed RFID tag in the items you buy at the store which previously used on pallets carrying products. Store workers can quickly check the stock of an item on a shelf by scanning the tag with a handheld reader. In addition to managing inventory, Wal-Mart hopes that the tags will help avoid employee theft by allowing the store to track the clothing throughout the store.

  RFID item-level tagging helps retailers realize greater overall productivity， and makes to retail operations with inventory accuracy increasing up to 99percent, compared with 70percent to 80percent. Apart from the large retailer like Wal-Mart, some small and medium size retailers have begun to try to introduce RFID system in their store.Florida shoe retailer Peltz Shoes as an example, has saved approximately 1,500 man-hours in the past year by applying a passive GPC Gen2 RFID tags to every box containing a pair of shoes at each of its four stores, and by employing an RFID-enabled cart to manage its inventory.

   
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  n.wang 14:21 on July 16, 2010 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: NFC ( 5 ), RFID ( 19 )   

  A “NFC France” in steps 

  2005, Philips, Orange and Samsung Joint with retailers LaSer and Vinci Park implement a six-month NFC technology pilot project at city of Cannes . It was the biggest attempting of NFC service worldwide by that time. The main purpose is to collect feedback from telecommunications providers, retailers and the consumers.

  2009, Nice has won government funding to become the ‘city of reference’ for a pre-commercial phase of NFC testing, which involving four French mobile operators — Orange, SFR, Bouygues Telecom and NRJ Mobile. A total number of 4,000 NFC phones will on sale to subscribers in Nice initially. The phones will be the NFC version of touch-screen phone, the Samsung (S5230) Player One.

  2009, The French ministry of industry, has announced funding running into ‘several million euros’ for 13 innovation projects in the NFC and RFID fields. The projects winning funding across many areas, from public transportation, logistics management, secure payment solution to access control managing, medical records tracking, RFID-based real time stock tracking system, etc.

  2010, After the successful launch of the NFC service in Nice. The French Minister for Industry and also Mayor of Nice, Christian Estrosi, has announced plans to provide funding to allow a further three to five French cities to adopt NFC services within the next twelve months.

  2010, Details of twelve more government-support NFC and RFID projects has announced by the French Ministry of Industry. €4.5 million of funding from the French government will spend on those projects.The successful projects include applications in the trade, tourism, health and homecare services, sustainable development and consumer services.

   
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  Derek Du 03:32 on July 7, 2010 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: China ( 14 ), NFC ( 5 ), NOKIA, RF-SIM ( 2 ), RFID ( 19 )   

  Nokia’ fight on hands, NFC Smart phones 

  Anssi Vanjoki, Nokia’s new executive vice president, has announced that it will incorporate NFC into all new smart phones next year. The world’s largest mobile phone maker just lowered its 2010 earnings outlook in June, and integrated its own smart phone sector and Ovi service, with a view to developing a competing smart phone against Apple and Blackberry.

  “we have a fight on our hands,” The new vice president Anssi Vanjoki wrote. “The first battle is to bring you products and services you will want to own and use, to inspire you to create and do new things in this ever-changing digital world. I’m ready to take this challenge on, and so is the entire Nokia team.”

  Maybe for Mr.Anssi Vanjoki, to incorporate NFC into smart phones would be his first battle. According to the statistics from market research firm IDC, Nokia sold 67.7 million smart phones by last year, almost double the number of RIM did (3450 million). Therefore, once a significant number of handsets have NFC then the technology will take off, and by the time Apple and others gets round to embedding NFC into their mobile device, Nokia will be a technology leader again.

  In China, Although the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information has not decided yet a national mobile payment standard between 2.4G and 13.56MHz, but with the tendency of the three major carriers have adopted the NFC standard, market prospects became clear. Now with the Nokia’ new smart phone policy, it can be said, NFC almost won the standards battle.

   
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  Rui Wang 03:48 on July 5, 2010 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: music festival, RFID ( 19 ), RFID market ( 4 ), Wristband   

  Cashless music festival by RFID wristband 

  The festival wristband is set to become more than just a piece of souvenir in the UK by next year. Music fans will pay electronically rather than using cash by a RFID wristband and cash top-up systems. Fans can use the wristband to buy everything from food and drink to t-shirts and their favorite CDs. In addition,

  Although the investment on infrastructure for such RFID systems will be significant,  the prospect of allowing fans to use wristbands have many benefits. The big advantage of using RFID wristband is to avoid has millions of pounds of cash on festival sites, which can be seen as a security risk. The wristband can also be use like a entry ticket, that function can lead a easy controlling entry to different parts of the festival, such as backstage or VIP areas.

  The RFID technology has being used in many industries, but the concept of music fans being able to attend festivals without having to carry cash is new to the music industry. If it did goes well, the potential market will be huge in the hot summer season.

   
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  Derek Du 15:04 on July 1, 2010 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: FIFA world cup, RFID ( 19 )   

  Do we need Goal-line technology? CTRUS football by AGENT 

  FIFA chief Sepp Blatter on Tuesday apologised to England and Mexico for the refree errors that led to their World Cup exit. Both the teams suffered from refereeing errors in their Round of 16 losing their games to Germany and Argentina, respectively.

  English Player Frank Lampard’s goal was denied even though his shot clearly crossed the line, in Germany’s 4-1 win over England during Sunday’s clash. Blatter assured a discussion on goal-line technology in July 4 meeting of International FA Board.

  

  The introduction of goal-line technology use on the real pitch has never stopped, those who oppose the use of goal-line technology always claim that football game got its own “tradition and charm”, but in my opinion, the “impartiality” should be the first priority before those “tradition and charm “.

  Actually, a new football with the name of “CTRUS” which designed by AGENT, could ensure the “impartiality” of football game. CTRUS functional principle is based on the mechanical properties of its materials. it is composed by an inner structure (skelle-core) and an outer net-embedded shell, made out of reinforced elastomers. In addition, CTRUS provides added functionality controlled by the electronic components in its nucleus which communicate wirelessly(GPS/RFID) with control stations at the stadium:

  - inner light, color changes at critical game situations (goal, offside and out of bounds).
  - recording of kick force and travel speed.
  - location of the ball relative to the court (interactive detection system via GPS / RFID).
  - P.O.V. camera footage (software stabilized image).

  

  

  

   
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  Tao Wang 16:32 on June 14, 2010 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: e-commerce ( 3 ), iPhone 4G, Mobile Wallet ( 4 ), NFC ( 5 )   

  RFID application on iPhone4G 

  Since 2005, iphone does not carry the RFID function itself, while some third-party developers tried to introduce RFID product which support iphone. Companies such as Visa jointly with mobile payment company DeviceFidelity developed a special iPhone case In2Pay, which enable iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS users use the iPhone as a credit card without having to carry wallet. In2Pay iphone case fully compatible with all major payment networks and with financial institution adopted NFC (13.56MHz) and ISO 14443 specifications.

  But after launching iPhone 4G, there has been filed a patent by Apple for RFID antenna which will enable iPhone users to shop using the handset, products like In2Pay may become an unnecessary invention. Furthermore, iphone 4G with RFID functionality and accompanied by a variety of application may really change our social interaction.

  Like iTravel, a travel check-in application which possible launch in iphone 4G, not just allows users to search and book flight directly in the phone, but also can share user’s travel information to any phone contact. Apple’s iTravel is base on NFC to allow user simplify their check-in processes.

   
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  Rui Wang 01:25 on June 11, 2010 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: RFID ( 19 ), TAIBEI COMPUTEX   

  Smart RFID products from COMPUTEX Taipei 

  COMPUTEX Taipei, which ranks as the world’s second largest, is Asia’s most important ICT exhibition and transaction platform. This year COMPUTEX Taipei celebrates its 30th anniversary amid the theme “Shaping the Future: Smiling for a Better Life” and this was the first time COMPUTEX Taipei adopts RFID technology in its badges. After registered online or at the exhibition, visitors can access into the exhibition by RFID badges rather than the traditional ticket. Furthermore, visitors no longer need a lot of extra business cards or carrying heavy company introduction, they can share their personal or corporate information to exhibitors’ vendors by scan the RFID badge at front of vendors’ booth.

  

  There were varieties of RFID products on the exhibition, with RFID handhelds and tags are still the most kind, but two innovative products attracted my attention.

  First is the Smart Badge which won the IF product design award 2010 by Apacer Technology. This product is an identification card for office or factory environment, combined with RF Reader, four detachable USB flash drivers and security software capabilities.

  

  

  The other product is a digital vending machine at Intel’s exhibition booth, which using a massive touchscreen instead of a glass window, display items for sale and other information like advertising content. What sets this machine apart from other vending machines is buyer cannot purchase by cash, but a RFID card (build-in rfid chip credit card as imagine). The addition feature is a built-in camera that interfaces with facial recognition software to determine the approximate age and sex of the buyer, which potentially provide valuable market information to the vendor.

  

  

   
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  Derek Du 01:19 on June 9, 2010 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: China ( 14 ), E-Wallet ( 2 ), Mobile phone ( 2 ), Mobile Wallet ( 4 ), NFC ( 5 ), RF-SIM ( 2 ), RFID ( 19 ), RFID market ( 4 )   

  Battle of RF-SIM and NFC 

  Recently, China Mobile formally Suspend RF-SIM mobile phone payment project (Mobile Wallet), the project will not be restart within two years for a conservative estimate. This result is a direct contest between China Mobile and China Unionpay, the only domestic credit card organization in China, which they support RF-SIM and NFC (Near Field Communication) separately.

  RF-SIM technology led by China Mobile use 2.4 G frequencies, which is not compatible with NFC (13.56MHz frequency) use by China Unionpay. Although China Mobile has the world’s largest mobile phone user group, but It’s too hard for China Mobile’s 2.4G standard to become primary frequency wireless communication technology in Chinese market as UnionPay’s 13.56MHz technology has being widely used by the financial POS, bus, subway, gas stations and more other fields. If China Mobile continues to push 2.4G standard, it means that not only RF-SIM card need to purchase one by one, but also full replacement of POS machines across China. The costs will reach hundreds of millions dollars.

  According to the statistics of Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information, China’s mobile phone users reached 780 million in the first quarter. If 40% of Chinese mobile phone users choose the mobile payment service like in Japan and South Korea, China will have more than 300 million users to pay by mobile. Different wireless communication frequency standards will lead to redundant investment and other issues in such huge market. To solve this, the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Technology is to promote a mobile payment standard system. Although the result is unsettled, but the industry view was expressed that, with the suspension of China Mobile’s RF-SIM project, 13.56MHz NFC technology is likely to be the final winner.

  It is uncertain that who will become leader in the field of mobile payments in China, but one thing is certain, that no one can dominate the market, only to cooperate together for a bigger cake.