Gadgetell | Tech News, Reviews, and Interesting Things

Worried that you are being tracked by big brother everywhere you go, 24/7? I can’t say whether or not that is true, if I tell you the truth they’ll kill me, but I can warn you about getting a new passport. All passports issued by the US State Department after January 1 will have always-on RFID chips (radio frequency identification chips), making it easier for officials – and hackers – to grab your personal stats. These are the same chips used for the “quick pass” systems in your credit cards, tied into clothing for scanning, and are one of the bigger ways Wal-mart came to be a $250 billion business.

So if you weren’t already about credit card identity theft, how about passport identity theft (who knows how much data these chips will hold). Here’s the low down of how to get around the situation (via Wired):

• RFID-tagged passports have a distinctive logo on the front cover; the chip is embedded in the back.


• “Accidentally” leaving your passport in the jeans you just put in the washer won’t work. You’re more likely to ruin the passport itself than the chip.


• Forget about nuking it in the microwave – the chip could burst into flames, leaving telltale scorch marks. Besides, have you ever smelled burnt passport?


• The best approach? Hammer time. Hitting the chip with a blunt, hard object should disable it. A nonworking RFID doesn’t invalidate the passport, so you can still use it.

Oops, did I almost forget to say that tampering/destroying your passport will result in 25 years in jail for you—I take no responsibility. Happy smashing!

And now that you in such a sour mood, here is some RFID humor:

Perplex City creator’s, MindCandy, are prepping for the world’s largest alternate reality game (ARG) live event ever - The San Francisco Connection. Set to take place in San Francisco, CA on August 12, 2006, the event will have thousands scouring the city streets, taking part in a high-tech treasure hunt.

Up to 1000 players and spectators will take part on-site, along with thousands more online. The main puzzle will involve real-time RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) tracking – something never done before, making it the most impressive and high-tech puzzle ever. Using special chips embedded within objects, RFID allows for a variety of games by tracking the chips within a specific area. The day’s activities will be ‘in-game’ - in other words, participants will influence a vitally important part of the Perplex City story.

There will be hundreds of puzzles for players to solve as they take to the streets. For instance, following a trail of puzzles might direct players to the Transamerica building, where they would need to find how many entrances it has in order to move on; other examples of puzzles will range from images and riddles to finding stale technology (where can one find a floppy drive these days?).

The event will begin and end at the Palace of Fine Arts Theatre in San Francisco, and will run from 10:30am to approximately 4pm. It is open to everyone (if under 16, please bring a parent or guardian). Those planning to attend are asked to sign up beforehand at www.perplexcity.com (under ‘live events’), as there are a limited number of player spaces available. Players are encouraged to bring a car, bike, or another mode of transit if available (although it isn’t necessary) and a good map of San Francisco.

About Perplex City
Read [Perplex City]

RIM announced that the Blackberry will beef up on features in the coming months--presumably to combat the strong competition from the Treo 700w, 700p, Motorola Q, and other recent smartphones. By the end of this year we should see the addition of Wi-Fi, a still camera, a video camera, memory expansion slots, GPS, and MP3 playback.

In addition RIM will expand its BlackBerry Connect service in the United States, with the service coming to Palm devices in July. BlackBerry Connect allows non-BlackBerry devices to use the BlackBerry network. “Twenty non-BlackBerry devices can use the BlackBerry service now,” Balsillie said, adding that 20 more would be able to use it this year including CDMA devices (currently only GSM devices support the software). Balsillie said that one area that was starting to grow quickly was the market for BlackBerry peripherals. He said these included printers, bar-code scanners, RFID (radio-frequency identification) scanners, and digital pen and paper.

Balsillie refused to answer questions about rumors that RIM was in discussions to buy Palm, saying only that his company sees itself as “one in a plurality of wireless device providers.” He also declined to say which BlackBerry he thought was the coolest; he said they were different to meet the needs of different users.

Read [eWeek]
Via [Business Logs]