On RFID trends, society and commentary

We at SkyeTek are lucky to be exposed to ideas in their infancy. Lots of ideas. Working for SkyeTek, where we are focused on the embedded reader market, the ideas about how RFID will change the world go way beyond tracking goods. We sit with customers every week who tell me about their visions. Some simply want to improve existing products by adding RFID as a feature to do the same thing they’ve always done – but better. Others are integrating RFID with sensors, controls, wireless networks, and other technologies to create new and unique products. If even a small percentage of these ideas succeed, we stand to see a revolution in retail marketing, life-changing advances in medical treatment, a change in what we carry in our pockets, and countless other improvements in the way we move through our day. We might even have more fun on our vacations. (We're still engineers at heart, so we love automation and streamlined processes).

There has been much press in the last few months about security and privacy concerns related to RFID technology. Even The Today Show had a segment questioning whether the new smart cards were really that smart. First of all, I think it’s GREAT that RFID-enabled technologies are entering the American vocabulary on morning shows next to what to wear for fall and how to cook the best Thanksgiving turkey. Surely, this is a positive indication that RFID is starting to take hold and becoming more relevant to our everyday life. But to address the controversial issues surrounding RFID, these are nothing more than challenges that will take time and creativity to overcome. And overcoming these challenges is what makes working with emerging technologies fun!

RFID is still a relative newborn in terms of mass adoption. Of course, the internet wasn’t born overnight, barcodes took 30 years to become pervasive, and the evolution of cell phones and other mobile computing and communication devices is still evolving. All of these technologies changed the way people live, and we are excited to think of all the ways that RFID is likely to do the same.

These entries will focus not just on the neat ideas that will revolutionize the way we live our lives, but also discuss the associated challenges whether they be technical, political, social, or economical. By discussing these issues, I hope to open a dialogue for creative solutions that we at SkyeTek are now and continue to be aggressively involved in solving.