“The system, touted by one retail expert as potentially the biggest advance in store promotion in decades, uses RFID to electronically track when, how long and where displays are placed in stores. That allows marketers to track results of promotions by store or demographic cluster. It also lets participating manufacturers time local, regional or national advertising according to when displays are in place and send representatives to stores that haven%u2019t put up displays, said Robert Michelson, CEO of privately held Goliath Solutions, the system%u2019s creator.”

“RFID Journal announced today its preliminary agenda for RFID Journal LIVE! Conference and Exhibition, its fourth annual gathering of RFID experts and exhibitors. Held May 1-3, 2006 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, RFID Journal LIVE! 2006 will feature eight tracks in five vertical industries [retail and consumer goods, defense and aerospace, health care and pharmaceutical, manufacturing and transportation and logistics. Three additional tracks will educate executives and technologists about how to get started, how to deploy RFID and how to develop an RFID strategy. Experts will address key issues surrounding RFID deployments, and early adopters will present case studies illustrating RFID’s potential for your business, best practices, and strategies to create a real return on investment for RFID applications.”

Sweet.  

“AIM Global has updated and replaced the original RFID Mark (now termed the ‘RFID Emblem’) and guidance document in response to recommendations from members of the international standards community. AIM Global’s RFID Experts Group (REG) redesigned the earlier graphics, which acts as a visual aid to workers to help them find and identify the presence (and type) of RFID tag in a label, tag or item. The emblem is also designed to identify compatible printer/encoders and readers:”

“Digital Angel, the world’s largest manufacturer of implantable microchips for animals, is proposing that biothermal RFID chips be used on a sampling of the world’s 25 billion chickens as an early warning system for avian flu. Avian flu is currently only identifiable via visual means, such as discoloration of the beak, sneezing, diarrhea, or sudden death. However, using a biothermal chip and an RFID reader poultry farmers would be alerted to elevated temperatures in the flock, company executives say.”

AeroScout, Inc., the market leader in the field of Wi-Fi based Active RFID solutions, today announced a partnership with Alanco to develop and deliver a 2.4 GHz real-time location solution (RTLS) for the corrections industry. The two companies have successfully completed joint development on the industry’s first tamper-proof Wi-Fi Active RFID tag, and deployed the first pilot site for a European prison customer. ▸

“A team of researchers at IMEC, a nonprofit research institute in Leuven, Belgium, have sandwiched a thin, 160-nanometer layer of the organic semiconductor pentacene between layers of aluminum and gold. The device reaches high frequencies by reducing the distance the charge carriers have to travel, says Paul Heremans, who heads the polymer and molecular electronics division at IMEC. The charge carriers in the pentacene layer are known as holes - places in the polymer structure where an electron is missing. The hole appears as a positive charge, and it travels through the material by a kind of domino effect. Rectification results from the fact that electrons from the gold electrode jump into the holes in the pentacene layer easily, while electrons from the aluminum electrode do not.”

“There is no doubt the Alaskan seafood brand sells, even when the product is counterfeit and not from Alaskan waters. Can RFID help fix this dilemma? Yes, it can. The Alaskan seafood industry is being impacted by global market forces, the competitive advantage of farm-raised salmon and ever-present counterfeit restaurant menu items featuring Alaskan seafood not imported from Alaska. Competitors from Chile are considering developing a processing or packaging plant at Miami International Airport, a major gateway for airliners to other parts of America and Europe - and, of course, for their farm-raised salmon.”