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Unwired - News About GPS, Wi-Fi, RFID, Bluetooth - May-27-2006 May 26, 2006

Here are some summaries related to wireless technologies (GPS, Wi-Fi, RFID, Bluetooth) for May 27, 2006:

Are Smartcards Becoming Too Niche-Focused? May 16, 2006

CardTechnology reported recently that Switzerland is trying out a new contactless payment card aimed at moviegoers. While this seems incredibly unusual, it seems to be one of the big problems with RFID and touchless payment systems. There are numerous RFID projects afoot all over the world, and no standards.

I’m not a big fan of digital money to begin with, but to aim cards at such a small niche seems a waste of effort. What’s worse, these cards will only work at Europlex cinemas. You have to open an account, deposit funds, then use your card to buy tickets and …

Ooh Baby It’s A Wired World May 11, 2006

(With apologies to Cat Stevens). Maybe it’s force of habit, but the title of this post is proof that even when I’m discussing wireless networks, I refer to a “wired” world. In a sense, the wiring is still there, it’s just organized differently. Then again, “unwired” world just doesn’t have the same ring to it. But regardless of what it’s called, no doubt the inhabitants of Iqaluit, in the Canadian territory of Nunavut, are more than happy to have their own free city-wide Wi-Fi network.

Nunavut simultaneously joins the growing list of cities and towns offering (or planning to offer) …

Happy Earth Day To You - Or What To Do With Your Old Cell Phone April 27, 2006

With Earth Day (Apr 22) just gone by, I was lamenting that I once again didn’t do anything significant or “green”. (I did, however, go to the first year of Earth Day celebrations when I lived in Toronto many years ago.) This thought was particularly triggered when I read how some of the large European smartcard vendors are rushing out half-baked cell phone products with SIM cards that have been rewired , just to meet deadlines. Their publicly state intent is to fix the problem with later releases of the cell phone model.

So where, then, does that leave people who …

You’re… Hired - Job Seeking In The Global Village March 28, 2006

The Associated Press reports today that technology firms in the United States are waiting for word from Congress in Washington regarding importing engineers and computer programmers on visa arrangements. They’d like immigration laws to change. This is no doubt due to the tech bubble that is once again forming, creating a void in the labour pool, even though there actually are skilled, out-of-work people available, but invisible.

Now, I don’t know what the unemployment figures are these days in North America. I gave up looking for full time programming work 2 years ago, after 2 unfruitful years of searching, up …

Hark, Who Goes There - Digital Identification and the New World Order March 24, 2006

According to CardTechnology Magazine, parts of southern Taiwan are trying out a contactless digital money card, branded by MasterCard, for bus passengers. Apparently, the card cannot be validated fast enough for subway use. The cards are also being used for purchases at stores.

The Taiwanese trial is one of many that are going on around the world. The Feb 2006 print issue of CardTechnology magazine asks the question “Will Banks and Transit Create A Common Contactless Card?” on the front cover. There is a move all over the world to force citizens to give up hard currency and printed identification …

Your World Daily Planner March 21, 2006

What’s On When has taken a novel idea and turned it into a website. What they’ve done is turned themselves into a storehouse of upcoming events all over the world. Events are searchable through a number of means, including a world map, by continent, country, city, theme, and date range. Quite comprehensive, I’d say.

The one thing it doesn’t have is the ability for someone to enter a search string. The themes are predefined, so you’d have to sift through a page of listings to maybe find what you’re looking for. However, maybe they’ll add features in time.

What’d be really …




  

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