Outcourcing Operations
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Or tracked, or located, or ID'd. A few shorts from C|Net on RFID tags and some of their uses. There's a story about betting chips in Vegas being tagged, a police chief in New Jersey having one implanted, and school uniforms in Japan being tracked, and more.
From a geek perspective, the notion of RFID tags is very cool. Think about all those remotes that you have for your TV, DVD player, etc. I used to hate having to pick mine up and point them at the appropriate device to get them to work. There was a time where the VCR and TV weren't that close and I'd point the wrong remote at the wrong thing and get annoyed that something didn't happen.
Then I got this cool RF remote with a Bose stereo. Now that was very cool. We could sit down to play cards at the dining room table and control the stereo without lifting the remote. Just pressing a button. It doesn't seem like much, but that simple change made the remote much more effective and less intrusive as a device. Just like cordless phones changed the whole way that a phone was perceived. All of a sudden you were more mobile and a device that you found useful grew into a whole new dimension of "usefulness".
I think RFID tags will have a similar type of effect. The ability to scan and tag things without physically having to see them could be a boon in all sorts of industries, and could really help retail establishments boom since theft should theoretically go down.
But that boon is a double edged sword. Privacy concerns abound with the ability to read tags from a distance, without the knowledge of the person holding the tag. Stalkers could immediately know what you've purchased from a store, or even what's in your purse. With the lax security of many large databases, people reading your tags from your car, your possessions, even inside you, could gain all sorts of information about you.
Like many technologies, the potential for good and great things abounds, but in the hands of a malicious person, there is a huge potential for abuse. I'm not sold that the tags are a good idea. I might feel better if I could disable or render them useless when I leave the store, or am done with them, but even then I'm not sure.
The other really cool RFID thing I've seen lately is in autos. A friend bought a new Corvette and was showing it off. The key fob is read by the car and when she gets in the car, she just pushes a button to start it. No fumbling with keys, no waiting. It even unlocks her door as she gets within 3 feet of the door. Imagine, your car locks when you leave with the key fob in your pocket. You walk back up to it, open the door, start the car, and drive, all without reaching in your pocket or removing your keys.
Now that's a good use of technology. Effective and unobtrusive.
Steve Jones
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This was removed by the editor as SPAM
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That's because the text in the forum does not match the text in the actual editorial (sent in the 5/5/2005 email).
I like this article much more than yesterday's article; which seemed a little wacky.
Specialization and standardization....we've seen this happen in pretty much all the other sciences. It's only inevitable that it happens in IT (a practical branch of Computer Science...really). There is a lot to be gained by this, that's for sure.
This model is probably better than the one where an IT department tries to do everything for the company. I mean, there are some great departments out there, but most could use some outside expert assistance at least once in a while. And getting rid of the boring day to day stuff is definitely a plus for everyone. Usually there are cost savings in doing this as well.
I like to think forward to when business becomes even more specialized, and much more decentralized. Think of businesses as portals to collections of services, including other company's services. Then think about it recursively, and how that applies to IT.
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