[CarrotAndStick]

http://www.engadget.com/2007/02/14/hitachis-rfid-powder-freaks-us-the-heck-out/

Hitachi's RFID powder freaks us the heck out
Posted Feb 14th 2007 10:14PM by Paul Miller

Filed under: Wireless

As if the various other permutations and teensyness of RFID weren't wild enough, here comes Hitachi with its new "powder" 0.05mm x 0.05mm RFID chips. The new chips are 64 times smaller than the previous record holder, the 0.4mm x 0.4mm mu-chips, and nine times smaller than Hitachi's last year prototype, and yet still make room for a 128-bit ROM that can store a unique 38-digit ID number. The main application is likely to be anti-counterfeit, but since the previous mu-chips could be embedded into paper quite easily enough, we're fairly certain Hitachi is just doing this for bragging rights and potential pepper shaker mixups. Hitachi should have these on the market in two or three years.

[Calpernia]

Nano particles.

[CarrotAndStick]

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
Highest RankedJacob Schlottke @ Feb 14th 2007 10:26PM
Talk about "big brother" lol.

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Highest Rankedslowerpig81 @ Feb 14th 2007 10:27PM
holy crap! so, like , could you switch this with pepper and and track someone like that? yikes

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Lowest RankedJonathan Keim @ Feb 14th 2007 10:32PM
I really want to get in the discussion of the end times here :)
How many believe this is 666?
My take is that it isn't. 666 will probably take this form, but it won't be 666 until the antichrist comes.

Replies: 6 | Reply
Highest Rankedtiuk @ Feb 14th 2007 11:05PM
How about we just talk about gadgets and not religion? Sounds good.

View Comment in Thread | Replies: 2 | Reply
Highest RankedDave @ Feb 14th 2007 11:21PM
Cool. We're literally going to be inhaling RFID. The future is sooo cool! Now the government will know exactly where my lungs are!

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Highest RankedLeif @ Feb 14th 2007 11:24PM
Well, everybody get your shoplifting in while you still can.

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Lowest RankedKurtis @ Feb 14th 2007 11:35PM
Get a life.

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Lowest RankedJonathan Keim @ Feb 14th 2007 11:41PM
Cool with me, but this technolegy still begs to ask the question.

View Comment in Thread | Replies: 1 | Reply
NeutralCam @ Feb 14th 2007 11:46PM
How many believe we are biological computers evolved from sort of monkey and the 666 nonsense is just stuff we invented when we were gibbering with fear in caves?

View Comment in Thread | Replies: 2 | Reply
Highest RankedTim UF @ Feb 14th 2007 11:49PM
Are these going to require antenna leads? i think its hard to believe the leads are onboard with the chip... unless its working at an insane frequency...

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Low Rankedriggs @ Feb 14th 2007 11:51PM
about as many people who think that youre smart :D

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Highest Rankedriggs @ Feb 14th 2007 11:51PM
cool, now ill get my salt and coder shakers.

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Highest Rankedanonymous @ Feb 15th 2007 12:07AM
I don't think this would be very useful at all for tracking people unless there was a receiver a millimeter away... now paper and other stuff I can see an application

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Highest RankedPaul @ Feb 15th 2007 1:20AM
Does this have any medical implications?
It is small enough to be mistaken for pepper and presumably fairly safe to consume.
Would it be possible to have someone consume some, mixed with water perhaps, in order to track the digestive system, instead of barium solution and xrays?

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Highest Rankedasher @ Feb 15th 2007 1:32AM
I for one welcome... oh screw it, this is just damn unnerving.

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Highly RankedIOTA @ Feb 15th 2007 2:06AM
Ahh, where to begin.

Hitachi has had these ICs out for some time (like 2+ yrs).

It is called the Mu chip and it operates at 2.4GHz via a proprietary protocol.

While there is an antenna, it is etched into the silicon which has severe effects on operating range; it is certainly on the order of mm.

And finally, to address any discussions of eating these ICs....IT IS SILICON!! Have you ever heard about the health effects of even working in a fab?

Try chipping a piece of silicon from a chip on an old motherboard and let us know how that goes.

Good luck

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Neutralwww_rpgSE_com @ Feb 15th 2007 2:18AM
why does the military not use RFID yet for all of its equipment and personnel? How far away can you track these from?

Replies: 1 | Reply
NeutralLTM @ Feb 15th 2007 2:40AM
Paint this RFID white, throw it like confetti or rice over the bride and groom after the wedding, track them on your rfid tracking system to the location of their honeymoon suite, get the binoculars out and gain brownie points and respect from all the other pervs on the planet for the strangest use of technology to get your rocks off!


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Highest RankedBen @ Feb 15th 2007 2:51AM
This wouldn't be able to replace the role of barium. As a radio-opaque liquid, a barium meal (or enema) is used to give an outline of the inside of the digestive tract to diagnose structural and motility problems. There may be other medical uses but if the range is in mm, as IOTA says, they're hard to imagine.
As to the dangers of silicon, it's very bad to inhale as a powder but not too bad to eat. Elemental silicon is quite inert.

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Neutrallittlepear_com @ Feb 15th 2007 2:52AM
I don't think the bride and groom would care for you tracking them from mm away on their wedding night. Say, isn't it silicone that's purported to be toxic? I thought silica was just white sand. Hey maybe I should head out to the beach and have some dude kick sand in my face. My head could use some extra memory.

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http://www.engadget.com/2007/02/14/hitachis-rfid-powder-freaks-us-the-heck-out

[AU72]

its new "powder" 0.05mm x 0.05mm RFID chips

That's why I'm skeptical of UFOs of extr-terristerial origin. If ETs wanted to monitor us nano is the way to go.

[George W. Bush]

Hitachi's RFID powder freaks us the heck out

Freaked us all out. Imagine the uses, spraying them on crowds at political or religious events.

The anti-RFID legislation is a good first step. But they need to go further and force them to erase the records of all RFID signatures when you sell a tagged item or it leaves your place of business.

[VxH]

>>Hitachi with its new "powder" 0.05mm x 0.05mm RFID chips

Eventually, we'll have nano-RFID's

Also, your own DNA is enough to identify you.

Read the fine print on the Information Disclosure forms when visiting a new doctor. "For the purposes of law enforcement" is included in the release, at least out here in in Mexifornistan.

The crux of the issue is not the technology - it is the way in which the technology is allowed to be used.