Below are the 3 most recent journal entries recorded in coolhandluke7's LiveJournal:

Tuesday, October 11th, 2005
1:17 pm	Can Edge Servers be hacked? This relates to edge servers as they work in conjunction with RFID Tags. To bring everybody up to speed, edge servers are simply mainframe computers that act as translators of electronic signals. they are called edge servers because they are 'on the edge' of the physical boundaries of a company--usually located in warehouses and business parks that are not physically connected to the company's headquarters. There is always the risk of hacking into computer servers. But what is signficant in the rfid tag context, as it relates to edge servers, is that nefarious types will be able to acquire not only personal information. But location information. Suppose i was a deranged former employee and i wanted to hurt pepole i used to work with. i could crack into an edge server and possibly find out information about where the highest concentration of employees in a company were at any giventime. this isb ecaue many company id badges contain rfid tags that transmit personal information to a tag reader to allow or deny access. i know this sounds like a conspiracy theory--but it's actually a real possibility when it comes to RFID technology. (Comment on this)
Thursday, September 15th, 2005
4:37 pm	RFID TAg Readers in my last post i went over general uses of rfid tags. (you know besides tracking your whereabouts on a daily basis.) in this post i want to go over rfid tag readers. Basically rfid tags are useless without the accompanying readers. many tags are passive in nature and need the tag reader to send out an electric signal that gives the tag enough juice to send a signal back to the reader. (usually with simple info like location and product info.) Active tags do have an internal power supply, which allows the information being sent to be more complex, but it's really the rfid tag reader that decodes the signal and converts it into something a human can actually use. working in the industry i find rfid tag readers to be infintely more interesting than tags. they are the engine that drives this whole industry, for better or for worse, and while we wait for the per unit price of tags to fall, the technology of tag readers continues to grow by leaps and bounds. (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Tuesday, September 13th, 2005
1:34 pm	The Uses of RFID Tags I was at a party and someone asked me what are the uses of RFID tags. (I guess because i'm an engineer and i should know these sort of things.) So for my first post i thought i would tell the world what i told my friends.) RFID tags are essentially microchips that act as transponders that communicate between a given chip on an item and an RFID tag reader located in a fixed physical position. When most people hear about an RFID tag it’s usually in some ‘big brother’ context and usually involving the perils of allowing Wal-Mart to track you and that Dave Matthews CD you just bought. But people might miss out on the many societal benefits of RFID Readers and Tags. For instance a lot of work is being done with hospital patients. By implanting an RFID tag in a pre-operative patient you can make sure the ‘wrong’ surgery is never done. They are also being used with seismic sensors to determine fault activity and hopefully give people an early warning system for future earthquakes. RFID tags are also being embedded in euro currency to avoid counterfeit bill circulation and tags can also be found in shipped goods to reduce theft and the higher prices that come as a result. It is in embedded uses of RFID Tags that the technology has received its strongest criticism. Methods like implanting a pet with an RFID tag may be acceptable to most pepole---but is the same thing okay with a child. And is it a good thing that retailers like Wal-Mart know so much about your purchasing habits. That being said, it seems that the benefits greatly outweigh the minor inconveniences attached to this controversial technology. (1 Comment |Comment on this)