In an article at TechCentralStation, Instapundit writes about his fears that the nanotechnology industry is setting itself up for a PR disaster. It's all because that industry's very own spokespersons are mishandling criticism, he says.

There is a corollary between the nanotechnology industry and the RFID industry. Both are technologies that are not widely understood by the public. Lack of understanding gives rise to fears -- both the legitimate kind and the overblown, unsubstantiated, sci-fi inspired kind.

Yet, it is the way the nanotechnology industry is handling those fears that creates the problem, according to Instapundit. He points out his concern is an industry that does not effectively address legitimate concerns, and doesn't anticipate and forestall issues. The nanotech industry group is even alienating its supporters, he says, just because those supporters are openly discussing legitimate issues.

I bring this all up here because the RFID industry can learn a lesson from the nanotech industry.

The RFID industry is at a critical time. It needs to make the right decisions as to how it responds to public privacy concerns and the industry's critics.

Now, I am not in any way suggesting that the RFID industry spokespersons or groups are mishandling anything. Not at all. On the contrary, from what I have seen, groups such as AIM Global, a trade association representing the RFID industry in the United States, seem to be gearing up to do a pretty effective job. They moved to debunk harmful urban legends such as RFID chips in US$20 bills, urban legends that only serve to increase public distrust of RFID. And they seem to have done an effective job putting out good, balanced information for the general public, such as RFID FAQs.

Only by openly acknowledging and adequately addressing privacy issues can the RFID industry move ahead quickly and without stumbling. RFID attracts its share of tinfoil hat types. Some privacy concerns are overblown. Yet, there are some fundamentally valid concerns at the heart of the privacy debate. Concerns that make even the most enthusiastic RFID supporters (like me) uncomfortable if left unaddressed.

The RFID industry groups need to have a PR strategy that helps the public separate the legitimate issues from those that are based on fiction or improbabilities. They need to work collaboratively with legislators and businesses to safeguard individual privacy.

That means getting businesses to self-regulate, i.e., voluntarily adopt standards to ensure privacy. And, even though I am a free markets person who abhores excess regulation, dare I suggest that the RFID industry may have to consider working with lawmakers to pass reasonable, balanced privacy laws if that will forestall more onerous regulation?

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Microsoft has formed a new Microsoft Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) Council.

The Council will look at how to take advantage of RFID to make it easier for retailers and manufacturers to track and ship merchandise.

The company also highlighted a "growing ecosystem of partners that are building innovative RFID solutions on the Microsoft® platform to enhance control of key business processes, improve inventory visibility and provide better customer service for manufacturers, distributors and retailers."

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Consider this picture: A business owner attends a seminar put on by several experts. At the seminar, the business owner learns about setting up computer databases, using palm pilots in the field to gather information, and using RFID to track inventory.

What kind of business might this be? Manufacturing? Retail?

The answer: farming.

That's exactly what happened recently in the midwest United States, where a group of 50 livestock producers attended one such seminar covering databases and RFID.

Farming in the developed world (U.S., Canada, U.K., Europe, Australia, etc.) is becoming increasingly sophisticated. And in the world of livestock farming, RFID tagging and tracking is becoming an important way for cattle producers to ensure consumer confidence in the face of issues such as Mad Cow disease.

However, according to experts there are several issues limiting the usage of RFID by livestock producers: (1) the performance of RFID tags and readers in the field varies greatly, (2) there is not a lot of software designed specifically for certain segments of the livestock industry, and (3) the cost of implementing RFID is still too high for most small producers, since the typical herd size is less than 40 head of cattle.

To help farmers and livestock producers analyze RFID implementation costs and make an RFID buying decision, the site www.beefstockerusa.org has a useful, downloadable RFID cost spreadsheet. According to the spreadsheet, the average cost of implementing RFID for a herd size of 250 is US$8.34 per head.

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In a well-balanced report, Tim Oren at the Due Diligence blog says that the privacy concerns about RFID shouldn't be focused on the RFID technology itself, but on databases of information about individuals. And those databases of information are already out there, and for the most part unrelated to RFID:

"You want a policy issue? Go after the ownership of that data.... And, by the way, there's already quite a lot of this going on - what do you think merchant 'loyalty cards' facilitate? You want to hyperventilate? Learn something about database and transactional systems architecture, and take on a much larger and nastier privacy and information ownership policy issue. "

He also points out that the biggest limitation on RFID being used to mine consumer data is simply the lack of profit potential.

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Via the Dottocomu weblog comes this interesting little article about parents using radio frequency tags to watch over their children:

"The Nikkei Shimbun newspaper reports that NTT and Dainippon Printing have built a system aimed at kindergartens that allows parents to keep a remote eye on their children using a system of RFID tag readers and webcams in classrooms. Parents log into a website and enter their child's details, a server at the kindergarten determines the child's location using an RFID chip built into their nametag, and it then streams video from the appropriate camera back to the parents' PC. Given the price that RFID tags and readers are set to fall to, it sounds like the kind of system that we could definitely be seeing more of in future."

Japan Today reports that the system costs 2.9 million Japanese Yen, or approximately US$27,500.

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Editor's note: We are pleased to provide another "on-the-ground" report from guest blogger Atul Salgaonkar, Founder of RFID Solutions.

Many of us have this neat compartmentalized thinking:

• That all active tags are used in KHz range and are not intended for retail-related applications;


• That only passive tags can be EPC-compliant in the 900 MHZ frequency range;


• That the best case read distance is about 20 feet (3 meters).

Well, meet this new Israel-based start-up called Power Paper, which challenges this simple thinking.

At the recent RFID Journal Live event, this company was getting a lot of attention.

Their main claim to fame is their printable power source which allows them to make EPC compatible battery assisted tags that work in a UHF frequency space. Due to its design the read range can go from 26 feet (8 meters) to 40 feet (12 meters).

I asked their Sales Director, Avi Zamir, about the application and the shelf life of these tags. He said that battery shelf life can go to 4 years. Applications would include traditional supply chain as in retail as well as specific point applications (baggage or patient tagging). Exact costs were not available. Avi said that the ROI was better than that for passive tags.

Power Paper was recently named one of the year's 12 leading start-ups by Business 2.0 magazine (requires subscription).

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From the comments under the Vodafone post, comes this interesting tidbit: Shin'ichi Konomi points out a presentation by NTT DoCoMo called Vision 2010. You can access it by going to the NTT DoCoMo home page at: www.nttdocomo.com, and clicking on the link to "Vision 2010."

It's a video presentation of a near future world (in the year 2010, only six years away). In it, mobile devices and RFID help us not only transact business better, but also improve the quality of life and connect with family and friends. This one uses either Real Player or Windows Media.

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An article in C-Net suggests that companies are still working to understand RFID technology.

They are still getting up to speed and thus few are talking about their plans in detail -- simply because they are still figuring out what those plans should be.

Tom Pounds, of RFID hardware maker Alien Technology is quoted in the C-Net article as saying:

"Of the Wal-Mart 100, you have maybe 10 suppliers who are really up-to-speed and have experience, and another 30 to 40 that have some basic understanding of the issues and have worked on it to some extent," Pounds said. "The other half--these are people who are just getting started and orienting themselves with technologies."

I've pointed out before that the RFID mandates making the news right now -- Tesco, Wal-Mart, U.S. Department of Defense -- have very aggressive time frames.

I think we should look at these mandates first and foremost as BHAGs (Big Hairy Audacious Goals).

As with any BHAG, one of the primary values is their ability to motivate people to action. Even if the BHAGs are not met 100%, they are sure to be catalysts to dramatically advance the use of RFID in the supply chain.

Maybe the point isn't so much whether companies are meeting the mandates exactly on time, but instead whether they are finally taking action and making progress.

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Antonio Fumero says "Take a look at this Flash presentation and let your imagination go for a moment."

This is yet another interesting Flash presentation demonstrating future technology.

In this one, Vodafone, the global telecommunications provider, outlines various ways that ubiquitous computing will enhance our future lives. Ubiquitous computing, of course, means embedded computers around us using sensors, radio frequency and other technologies to transmit information.

Vodafone's presentation is special because it is interactive. You can vote on whether you like the future products presented. Make sure you have about 10 minutes to fully explore it -- there's a lot there.

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The Aberdeen Group has a useful -- and FREE -- report about implementing RFID.

One of the things I found most valuable about the report are the many charts outlining implementation. This one, for example, describes the benefits companies can get from RFID -- benefits that bar codes can't match:

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