VeriChip Corporation had their IPO recently under the ticker symbol CHIP, and so far they are off to a bad start.
There seems to be a cloud of negative press around them for some reason. VeriChip is the company that brought you such innovative products as the implantable RFID chip.
Might be fun to keep an eye on.
clone a VeriChip for like 20 bux: http://cq.cx/vchdiy.pl
consumer electronics giant Hitachi has created a RFID "powder" that is 0.05 x 0.05 mm. you can see in the picture how they compare to a strand of hair. these little chips have a 128-bit ROM, which can store a 38-digit number. and, most likely, this number can be read with some sort of RFID scanner. probably not from too far away, who knows... the original source is in Japanese anyway.
a tag of this size could be used to track anything basically. they made a version of this before which was 9times larger (0.4 x 0.4 mm) called Mu-chips. probably good for paper, printer ink, currency, or even a food-additive. LOL
anyways, it seems that the government of Malaysia has bought the rights to it. i'm sure they'll find some fun use for it.
oh yea, the Mu-chips work @ 2.5GHz if you want to go hunting. dunno what the new ones work @.
sources:
http://www.spychips.com/blog/2007/02/hitachis_weaponized_rfid_powde.html
http://www.pinktentacle.com/2007/02/hitachi-develops-rfid-powder/
http://www.hitachi.co.jp/Prod/mu-chip/
Reports are just coming in about canadian coins that were embedded with tracking devices. These coins were found on high-security US contractors working in canada. The canadian government is denying any knowledge of them.
Such small transmitters should only be detectable from a few feet away. Who knows tho.
So that's cool.
i've recently stumbled upon this site that gives you instructions on how to give yourself an RFID implant! there seems to be a few geeks out there doing this. that's cool. here is the demonstration and shopping list. you too can be RFID'd for only ~$105.49. claims to be usefull for computer security. anyone thinking about doing this should be aware that there are tags that can monitor your pulse, temperature, send GPS data, as well as temporarily paralyze you, among god knows what other things.
see: Digital Angel
