Thread: Hewlett can pack big loads of information in tiny chip

Make no mistake people, the illegal immigration situation is just the tip of the iceburg! Just another thread in the spiders web!


http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.c ... JVQ9H1.DTL

Hewlett can pack big loads of information in tiny chip
Device is size of a pencil dot and can go anywhere

Benjamin Pimentel, Chronicle Staff Writer

Monday, July 17, 2006
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/object/ar ... H1.DTL&o=0
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/object/ar ... H1.DTL&o=1
Hewlett-Packard's newest microchip looks like a small sticker that can be attached to virtually any object: a photograph, a patient's hospital tag, a movie poster.

But the device, which is the size of a pencil dot, can pack a lot of information: the voice of a child pictured in a photo, a summary of someone's medical history on a hospital tag, or even a trailer of a movie portrayed on a poster.

The Memory Spot operates similarly to radio frequency identity, or RFID, tags now being used to track inventory and company supplies. But the HP chip is smaller, more powerful and capable of recording and broadcasting more kinds of information.

Howard Taub, vice president and associate director of HP Labs, called the chip "RFID on steroids."

"We can put (the chip) literally anywhere," he said in a demonstration in San Francisco. "I can embed it on a piece of paper and it will be unobtrusive." The Palo Alto giant is unveiling Memory Spot today as one of the latest technologies from HP Labs.

It will not be available to consumers anytime soon, but HP is spreading the word about the device hoping to attract potential partners who can think of other ways the chip can be useful.

HP is already thinking that it can be attached to military tags so physicians treating wounded soldiers would instantly get an overview of the person's medical history.

Or it can be attached to legal documents to offer more information.

Or it can be used for scrapbooks, offering audio or video clips of family memories.

During the demonstration, Taub pointed a chip reader, a pen-like device, at a picture of a child. A laptop then played an audio clip of the child's voice.

"It gives a whole new meaning to this picture," he said.

The chip operates the same way an RFID tag does: The chip transmits information upon being scanned by an electronic reader.

But while RFID tags typically have only a few kilobits of memory, HP's Memory Spot can pack up to 4 MB.

The HP chip can also transmit data at a faster rate of 10 Mbps. RFID tags typically transmit data at 10 to 100 Kbps.

This allows the chip to store and transmit more information, including audio and video clips.

The Memory Spot is only 1.4 millimeters by 1.4 millimeters large, while a regular RFID tag measures about 5 centimeters by 8 centimeters.

Consumers could eventually use a specialized reader or other devices, such as a cell phone, a memory stick or a even a car key, to access the information on the chip, Taub said.

For example, a user could point a cell phone at a Memory Spot on a movie poster and play a trailer of the movie on the phone, Taub said.

Analyst Tim Bajarin of Creative Strategies Inc. said the Memory Spot chip is unique in its own way.

"It's a different form of bridging the physical world with the digital world," he said. "I think it's got great potential."

Katherine Albrecht, a consumer privacy advocate and a leading critic of RFID technology, said the HP chip "will make a lot of cool things possible."

But she also cited potential privacy concerns that can come out of the technology.

One thing she worried about is the size. "That's really small," she said of the chip which she said "could be there, but I don't know it's there."

Amid the furor over the Bush administration's efforts to gain more access to personal information as part of the campaign against terrorism, Albrecht said she also is worried about the federal government abusing the technology.

"I'm sure the federal government will jump on it and mandate it for all sorts of things," Albrecht said.

"I'm sure the federal government will jump on it and mandate it for all sorts of things," Albrecht said

She is right about that.

Anything they can do to keep the sheeple in line!