During the early days of globalization, it was relatively easy for corporations to either hide, or be ignorant of, human rights and environmental atrocities committed along their supply chain. Factories and producers were shifting manufacturing or so...
The Musical Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI) arrived in the '80s to help digital instruments communicate with each other. Nowadays, with much of the action on computers, a new breed of MIDI controllers have emerged. Many of today's designs include...
From Skylanders to Amiibo, "Toys to life" have been a pretty lucrative way for video game companies to make money. Sony has been more-or-less absent from the field, but today it's announcing something not too dissimilar: Project Field.
It pays to be paranoid in a time of rampant breaches, social media account extortion, identity theft, fake security products, ransomware, and hack attacks on all. That's why we've put together a gift guide for those among us who don't want to find ou...
Delta's new RFID luggage tags rolled out earlier this year, making it harder for at least one airline to lose your bags. Now, just in time for the holiday travel rush, Delta has already upgraded their baggage tracking system to include a up-to-the-mi...
The NFL is using sensors inside footballs during pre-season to track quarterback throwing speeds, running back acceleration, ball position and other stats, according to Recode. The chips are reportedly made by Zebra, a company that already already tr...
Biohacker Amal Graafstra of Grindhouse Wetware wants to make guns safer so that accidental injuries and death can be a thing of the past. That’s why he has developed a gun whose trigger is activated by a RFID implant in the hand. This smart-gun that can only be triggered by the owner’s touch was recently demonstrated to Motherboard.
The RFID chip is implanted between the index finger and the thumb, so that when the owner lifts the weapon, the implant unlocks the gun. The gun will not activate if anyone else picks it up. Theoretically this approach is more reliable and faster to activate than competing fingerprint-based gun locks.
This may not be practical for regular folks like you and me. Maybe you don’t want a chip in your hand. However, this could be the future of police firearms. If someone steals their guns, they won’t work. But if you don’t mind a chip in your hand, this could definitely prevent accidents or a thief turning a weapon on its owner.
Disney Research and Carnegie Mellon University have developed a way to use RFID tags to make interactive games and controllers so cheap, they're "essentially disposable." Their system called "RapID" can sense if you're moving or touching objects atta...
RFID tags are most often used for tracking or identification. But scientists from Disney Research, University of Washington and Carnegie Mellon University have figured out a way to use them to create buttons, knobs and other input devices out of paper. Just like RFID tags, these input devices are small, light and powered wirelessly by RFID readers.
The scientists’ PaperID system is based on a commercially available stick-on RFID circuit that’s paired with an ungrounded monopole antenna. The antenna was intentionally designed to be bad at harvesting signals – and thus energy – from RF readers. But when the antennas are touched, the human body acts as a ground plane, allowing them to draw enough power to be detected by RF readers. In short, they’re like other HIDs such as a mouse or keyboard. They won’t send any feedback unless we interact with them. By measuring and interpreting the changes in the antenna’s signal when we interact with them, the scientists were able to make buttons, knobs, sliders as well as gesture- or motion-sensing devices out of paper. Equally important is the antenna’s simple design, which makes it easy to print or draw using conductive ink.
It’s like Makey Makey but with paper. Head to Disney Research’s website to read the scientist’s paper on PaperID. You should also check out Disney Research project called RapID, which has a similar purpose as PaperID but with a focus on low latency input, similar to video game and music controllers.
If someone placed your naked smartphone on a table alongside two identical models, how would you determine which one is yours? If you're an engineer at Disney Research, you would pull out a little scanner and immediately pinpoint the handset based on...
During the early days of globalization, it was relatively easy for corporations to either hide, or be ignorant of, human rights and environmental atrocities committed along their supply chain. Factories and producers were shifting manufacturing or so...
The Musical Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI) arrived in the '80s to help digital instruments communicate with each other. Nowadays, with much of the action on computers, a new breed of MIDI controllers have emerged. Many of today's designs include...
From Skylanders to Amiibo, "Toys to life" have been a pretty lucrative way for video game companies to make money. Sony has been more-or-less absent from the field, but today it's announcing something not too dissimilar: Project Field.
It pays to be paranoid in a time of rampant breaches, social media account extortion, identity theft, fake security products, ransomware, and hack attacks on all. That's why we've put together a gift guide for those among us who don't want to find ou...
Delta's new RFID luggage tags rolled out earlier this year, making it harder for at least one airline to lose your bags. Now, just in time for the holiday travel rush, Delta has already upgraded their baggage tracking system to include a up-to-the-mi...
The NFL is using sensors inside footballs during pre-season to track quarterback throwing speeds, running back acceleration, ball position and other stats, according to Recode. The chips are reportedly made by Zebra, a company that already already tr...
Disney Research and Carnegie Mellon University have developed a way to use RFID tags to make interactive games and controllers so cheap, they're "essentially disposable." Their system called "RapID" can sense if you're moving or touching objects atta...
If someone placed your naked smartphone on a table alongside two identical models, how would you determine which one is yours? If you're an engineer at Disney Research, you would pull out a little scanner and immediately pinpoint the handset based on...