RFID in Japan

Pasta and vinegar reported it. WMMNA mentioned it. Oh, they are very quick! JAPELAS (Japanese polite expressions learning assisting system) is a very unique RFID application.

BTW, I'd be happy if machines recognize who I'm talking to and automatically convert what I say to something polite enough. In this case, I'm not actually learning anything. But should I learn polite expressions or should machines take care of them for me?

TANGO is also an interesting system. There's some detailed info about this system here as well.

Shinsekai, Co. Ltd developed a technology called Design QR that can embed human recognizable patterns in a QR code. There are some samples here (w/ goth smiley) and there . When will this meet Bit haiku?

via QR Code Blog

UBWALL is Fujitsu's large display device that integrates eight RFID readers. This device was first publicly demonstrated at RetailTech Japan 2005 exhibition in Tokyo in March. (Here's the official press release in Japanese - thanks regine).

This device was again featured at CEATEC Japan 2005 in October. Here's a video clip from the event. UBWALL appears near the end of the clip.

[UBWALL. screenshot from the video clip]

I'm still curious about the uses of eight readers. They could provide more interactive experiences than a simple RFID-triggered public kiosk.

Please use the following URL to read RFID in Japan on a mobile phone:

http://ubiks.net/r

Powered by MT4i
(Tested on Nokia 3650's built-in browser only.)

Earlier this month, Preamble Corp. released Trident, a virtual pet game for camera phones.

[battle mode]

Players feed their virtual pets by scanning QR codes. Then, in "battle mode," the pets fight with each other. In order to win a battle, players should feed thier pets the right food (or QR code) and thereby raising/strenghening the pets and collecting key items. For example, if a fight can last long, you may want to feed lots of good food before the fight.

via QR Code Blog

If you haven't seen this, check this out. Very cool.

Yes, this is done by Zapped! folks.

NTT Data, Nissan, and other three companies developed a system that can alert drivers when kids are nearby. This system is designed to, for example, prevent traffic accidents in residential districts where it is difficult to visually check the presence of kids (or cars). The companies will conduct a pilot test in Aoba-Ku, Yokohama city next month.

200 kids will participate in this pilot test. The kids will carry RFID-tagged "good luck charms." RFID tags and alert devices are installed in about 100 cars that will be used for the pilot test.

20 WiFi base stations will be installed in a 2km^2 area, each of which can detect the presence of an RFID tag within a 100-300m radius. Based on the data captured through this infrastructure, the system determines if a kid and a car are too close with each other, and if the alert device in the car should be activated.

via Yomiuri Shimbun, November 20, 2005.

I was unable to blog as much in the last couple of weeks. I'll be back from the city on Wednesday -- so, expect to see more posts here after this coming Wednesday. Thanks for your patience.