Hitachi's RFID powder freaks us the heck out

As if the various other permutations and teensyness of RFID weren't wild enough, here comes Hitachi with its new "powder" 0.05mm x 0.05mm RFID chips. The new chips are 64 times smaller than the previous record holder, the 0.4mm x 0.4mm mu-chips, and nine times smaller than Hitachi's last year prototype, and yet still make room for a 128-bit ROM that can store a unique 38-digit ID number. The main application is likely to be anti-counterfit, but since the previous mu-chips could be embedded into paper quite easily enough, we're fairly certain Hitachi is just doing this for bragging rights and potential pepper shaker mixups. Hitachi should have these on the market in two or three years.

[Via Pink Tentacle]

[Fernando @ Feb 15th 2007 5:48AM]

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[Jacob Schlottke @ Feb 14th 2007 10:26PM]

Talk about "big brother" lol.

[slowerpig81 @ Feb 14th 2007 10:27PM]

holy crap! so, like , could you switch this with pepper and and track someone like that? yikes

[Jonathan Keim @ Feb 14th 2007 10:32PM]

I really want to get in the discussion of the end times here :)
How many believe this is 666?
My take is that it isn't. 666 will probably take this form, but it won't be 666 until the antichrist comes.

[tiuk @ Feb 14th 2007 11:05PM]

How about we just talk about gadgets and not religion? Sounds good.

[Cam @ Feb 14th 2007 11:46PM]

How many believe we are biological computers evolved from sort of monkey and the 666 nonsense is just stuff we invented when we were gibbering with fear in caves?

[joel @ Feb 17th 2007 7:10PM]

Your social security number already qualifies as 666

[MD2000 @ Feb 23rd 2007 4:32PM]

Um, you mean 66666666666666666666666666666666666666 don't you? It said 38 digits (decimal) in a 128-bit ROM.

If you really want to see a cool application, something similar was mentioned in Vernor Vinge's "A Fire Upon The Deep". Each speck was a wireless router, camera, microphone, and RAM. Blow them through the space station and they establish a wireless network mesh that allows you to stealthily track and observe anyone in the system. Powered, of course, by a low-power microwave pulse every second that permeated the installation...

[Jared Schwager @ Feb 15th 2007 4:18PM]

I agree. The first thing I thought about when I read this article was the end times and the Antichrist. Things are getting pretty scary in the RFID arena.

[Jesse Beer @ Feb 17th 2007 11:51PM]

this is definately 666. this is what will be used. just a matter of time till we can figure out who the Anti Christ is. Maybe our next president.

[fjh_2010 @ Feb 28th 2007 10:20PM]

I believe that this is part of the 666. 666 and the Antichrist is not a person it's a system...and they can't just come and force every one in it...at the beginning it starts out with a microchip, then goes on to more until the Antichrist starts to show his face. I just hope you Believe in God...because we are living the end days...look around you...

[riggs @ Feb 14th 2007 11:51PM]

cool, now ill get my salt and coder shakers.

[Jonathan Keim @ Feb 14th 2007 11:41PM]

Cool with me, but this technolegy still begs to ask the question.

[tjac @ Feb 17th 2007 8:01PM]

I'm not so much behind the 666 but it does have certain overtones as we watch tech like this invade our privacy and take away our Rights.

[Dave @ Feb 14th 2007 11:21PM]

Cool. We're literally going to be inhaling RFID. The future is sooo cool! Now the government will know exactly where my lungs are!

[Leif @ Feb 14th 2007 11:24PM]

Well, everybody get your shoplifting in while you still can.

[Andir3.0 @ Feb 15th 2007 9:33AM]

The question of why millions believe in a non-fictional character in a book written to control the masses?

[riggs @ Feb 14th 2007 11:51PM]

about as many people who think that youre smart :D

[eyeb1 @ Feb 15th 2007 7:20PM]

well the bible says that the number 666 .. it is the number of a man ..

frankly i don't think you could come up with a more accurate or more generic description of a man if you tried ..

for we are indeed carbon units .. the atomic description of carbon 6 protons .. 6 electrons .. 6 neutrons ..

me thinks .. we miss the obvious when it comes to the meaning and significance of the mark of the "beast" .. humans who have partaken of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of "good" and "evil"

now how would something .. that on the surface you would think would be a good thing .. IE. knowing the knowledge of what is so called GOOD and what is so called EVIL .. turn out to be the source of ALL mankind's problems and fall from the natural state of grace .. knowing neither good nor evil ..

IE. linear conceptual language ..

because it lacking any ability for real and true reference and relativity .. with the exception of polarity .. for all that i can do with two points is draw straight lines in space .. i need a third point for plainer reference and a forth point for dimensional relativity ..

it can't be that simple .. could it ?? no or all those smart people would have figured it out by now ..

be afraid .. be very afraid ..

but personally i thing the vast majority of the masses are to much in a state of programing(public education) and denial to get it ..

[Tim UF @ Feb 14th 2007 11:49PM]

Are these going to require antenna leads? i think its hard to believe the leads are onboard with the chip... unless its working at an insane frequency...

[anonymous @ Feb 15th 2007 12:07AM]

I don't think this would be very useful at all for tracking people unless there was a receiver a millimeter away... now paper and other stuff I can see an application

[Paul @ Feb 15th 2007 1:20AM]

Does this have any medical implications?
It is small enough to be mistaken for pepper and presumably fairly safe to consume.
Would it be possible to have someone consume some, mixed with water perhaps, in order to track the digestive system, instead of barium solution and xrays?

[asher @ Feb 15th 2007 1:32AM]

I for one welcome... oh screw it, this is just damn unnerving.

[IOTA @ Feb 15th 2007 2:06AM]

Ahh, where to begin.

Hitachi has had these ICs out for some time (like 2+ yrs).

It is called the Mu chip and it operates at 2.4GHz via a proprietary protocol.

While there is an antenna, it is etched into the silicon which has severe effects on operating range; it is certainly on the order of mm.

And finally, to address any discussions of eating these ICs....IT IS SILICON!! Have you ever heard about the health effects of even working in a fab?

Try chipping a piece of silicon from a chip on an old motherboard and let us know how that goes.

Good luck

[www_rpgSE_com @ Feb 15th 2007 2:18AM]

why does the military not use RFID yet for all of its equipment and personnel? How far away can you track these from?

[tjac @ Feb 17th 2007 8:02PM]

You don't read much do you? Military has been using RFID for about 3 years now on/in almost everything.

Here's some light reading:
http://www.rfidjournal.com/article/articleview/576/1/1/
http://www1.rfidjournal.com/article/view/1987/
http://news.com.com/FAQ+How+Real+ID+will+affect+you/2100-1028_3-5697111.html

I got hundreds more if you want them! Or, do your own searches if you think I'm lying.

[Eric @ Feb 23rd 2007 5:08PM]

They do. RFID began development during World War II. They have been utilized in warehouse and file tracking for years (since at least the early 80's), aka tracking of military equipment. This is not new technology...it is simply shinking like everything else.

[Ben @ Feb 15th 2007 2:51AM]

This wouldn't be able to replace the role of barium. As a radio-opaque liquid, a barium meal (or enema) is used to give an outline of the inside of the digestive tract to diagnose structural and motility problems. There may be other medical uses but if the range is in mm, as IOTA says, they're hard to imagine.
As to the dangers of silicon, it's very bad to inhale as a powder but not too bad to eat. Elemental silicon is quite inert.

[littlepear_com @ Feb 15th 2007 2:52AM]

I don't think the bride and groom would care for you tracking them from mm away on their wedding night. Say, isn't it silicone that's purported to be toxic? I thought silica was just white sand. Hey maybe I should head out to the beach and have some dude kick sand in my face. My head could use some extra memory.

[littlepear_com @ Feb 15th 2007 2:57AM]

So, breathing in this stuff could give you pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicavolcanoconiosis.

[Z @ Feb 15th 2007 4:00AM]

Haven't heard that 45-letter word used in a looooong time.


And these aren't just some new RFID chips. These speckles are actually based the new nanoSD card format. Just sprinkle in as many as you need into the memory reservoir to increase memory levels to whatever capacities you need.

[Nith @ Feb 15th 2007 3:41AM]

Wow where to begin?!
A. Considering how quickly the gov't adapts to new technology by the time the will think of tracking us with these, they will be obsolete, so all of you 14 yrd kids at home worrying about Big Brother tracking you with these, I wouldn't worry about this.

B. Ingesting the chips - as mentioned would not be harmfull. What is harmfull is the airborne silicone dust particles that get into your lungs. If silicone was poisonous Pamela's career would have taken a different turn.

C. The main use I see for these tiny chips is nano-robotics. I cannot give a specific use but maybe it could be used to count insect numbers or maybe they can somehow be used to see if there is a clogged blood vessel or something (most procedures today require you to ingest radioactive substances).

D. 666 is invention of Christianity not the caveman. While doomsday predictions are not necessary a solely Christian thing you do mainly see Christian nuts talking about it.

[Z @ Feb 15th 2007 4:04AM]

Christian nuts? Now, now... be nice.

[Nith @ Feb 15th 2007 4:10AM]

I'm not dissing Christians, just the Doomsday sayers :-)

[Rynth @ Feb 15th 2007 4:27AM]

I don't know about anyone else here, but that stuff scares the shit outta me. So many uses for that... I'd rather not think about it. We'll - Looks like the police are going to know where I go and smoke pot now... The bastards.

[boss sauce @ Feb 15th 2007 5:40AM]

Gah! As if glitter wasn't bad enough?! Get that stuff the f#@& away from me, new age hippies!

[Pete @ Feb 15th 2007 8:54AM]

One point that I think everyone is missing about these chips is that they are useless without an antenna. Attach them to an antenna that's 3" x 1", and you can read them at 30 ft. Try to use the chip itself as an antenna, and you couldn't read it from an inch away.

There's nothing to fear if you know the facts.

[IOTA @ Feb 15th 2007 9:35AM]

Actually, the antenna doesn't have to be that large (just the length of the 1/4 wave) and the range will only be on the order of 7-8Ft.

Remember that much hyped announcement about a month ago involving "RFID" and shopping within the largest shopping district in Japan? That pilot utilizes these chips with readers integrated into cell phones.

Hitachi has been running a PR campaign for this old and proprietary technology for the last few months even though the world has pretty much standardized on another protocol and frequency (~900MHz). I guess they made too many and need to get rid of back stock?

[Andir3.0 @ Feb 15th 2007 9:35AM]

Ahh, the dawning of the age of people fighting over fictional characters in a book written to control the masses with fear.

[Jeff @ Feb 15th 2007 10:05AM]

Now they can finally find out just exactly where all that cocaine goes!! How many of these RFID chips can fit in Darryl Strawberry's Nose?

[Ken @ Feb 15th 2007 11:30AM]

I wouldn't be too unnerved about it. It's not you won't be able to detect ingestion/inhalation of these with current and cheap technology. Also they, more than likely, could be neutralized from a small EMP.

[Parker @ Feb 15th 2007 12:08PM]

Forget 666 and doomsday. An increasingly invasive government and loss of privacy rights is a very real evil. I don't care if these particular little things work or not, but I'm concerned with the industry trend in general toward manufacturing products that heighten tyranny. How do these people sleep at night? And why do we shrug our shoulders and put up with that kind of crap?

Government oppressing its people is not some orwellian myth, it's a real danger. And if we don't speak out against it now, before it gets that far, it'll be we who are oppressed in thirty years. How long will we joke about it before we take it seriously, and at that point will it be too late?

[Ignacio @ Feb 15th 2007 12:27PM]

Those pictures are definitely *not* of the 0.05x0.05mm chips, they seem to be the previous 0.4x04mm. That is, the actual chips would be about one-tenth of the size shown in the picture.

Scary.

[kevin @ Feb 15th 2007 2:08PM]

About the 666 thing.

Who the hell was it that came up with the idea that it was going to be a computer chip? And why do people feel like they have to buy into that if they're Christian?

If I wanted religion written by sci-fi authors, I'd fork out the bucks and become a Scientologist.

[mamasayssing @ Feb 17th 2007 5:22PM]

My main concern with this chip is that when computers and things are thrown into the landfills, as any microscopic thing, it will be taken in the wind and breathed in and will be just more air pollution.
What are these people thinking?
Sorry, idiots have turned our planet into a floating nightmare, young'un's.
Ya know, my dear old grandmother when I was young used to tell me the world has been the same since the beginning of time, with horrible wars and bad things happening, but "we have Television and the radio to tell us about them now."
That was 40 years ago even before the internet.
But it's true.
War, murder, warlords, living in caves, all has had it's difficulties. However, all this new technology is supposed to IMPROVE our lives, right?
Bill Gates says his goal is to get rid of textbooks and everyone will have a notebook.
So, what happens when someone shoots the sattelites out of the sky and all the books are gone?
Back to the stone ages again.
Sometimes, I wish Bill Gates was never born, but then it would have been someone else.
Save a book.
Mamasayssing

[TrackMe @ Feb 15th 2007 6:09PM]

Facts:

1) EMF can or cannot fry the little bugger. Why? They are protected with ESD and they need Electro Magnetic Field to power up. Giving it EMF like feeding a monster with a Titanic sized barbeque chicken. Yummy

2) Without external antenna and running at 2.4GHz freq will not get the little bugger anywhere if you swallow it. But at a lot higher freq, we are talking about few feets of tracking. But higher frequency will not get the signal out of your digestive system, higher frequency has problem with water and metal. The signal cannot get through it.

3) Ignorance is bliss, but if it make you look like a chicken and yell the sky is falling, then it is not a bliss anymore. 666? Is it written anywhere in the bible?

4) Technology is good. It may cause you to live shorter, but what is the fun of living if you sit still in a cave without PS3 and HDMI?

5) People who works in IC fab dies earlier not because they are exposed to silicon. They are exposed to dangerous gaseous like Arson and Boron (dont get confused with Moron). Remember WMD lies about Iraq had chemical bomb? Arsenic was one of them. Lies.

6) What you need to worry about people tracking you? Being online is good enough exposure of being tracked. Your cell phone can also get you tracked. Its nice to have me being tracked, especially if I am lost in a jungle on my monthly visit to my cousin Harry who want to live long and chose to live deep in Himalayan jungle.

Cheer up, :)

[William Davis @ Feb 15th 2007 8:14PM]

Let's put these RFID's in the paint on all Goverment Vehicles, so we can track our tax money.

[TrackMe @ Feb 15th 2007 8:26PM]

You know why the RFID does not work with me? My number is 21..... 2 Hydrogen, 1 Oxygen, 90% of it. It is scientific fact that high frequency gets attenuated through water.

I think somewhere in the bible, it should note that we are made of clay. Clay are not carbon. I think the number 666 are just made up without any significant meaning just so people can make scary movies.

Technology are good. Guess why god made us with this supercomputer called brain? So we can come up with solution to make life better. Cars are dangerous, but people cant have enough of them. Computers are dangerous, they can explode or Big Brother can track us, but we cant live without them. TV are bad, gives bad influences, but I learned a lot from Discovery Channel.

See, people see what they want to see. A glass is half full or half empty, depends on perspective of the person looking at the glass. To me, half full is better than full empty.

[wtxpyro @ Feb 15th 2007 10:40PM]

What is the effective transmission range of one of these RFID devices? It can't be more than a few meters given it's size.

[turtle @ Feb 21st 2007 5:27PM]

dont try explaining it to the ones who say,"whats the big deal?" if they dont have enough imagination and deductive reasoning skills to see how technology like this could be used for negative purposes,then let them be tagged like cattle. being controlled and monitored makes them feel safe,like they have a lifetime mommy watching over their shoulder...

incidently,several companies in Japan and the USA are working on imbed chips for humans and other livestock. we are just a "resource" after all. pets are already chipped. criminals will be next.(gotta keep track of the lifetime sex-offenders,right?) eventually,kids will be chipped for their "safety." no more runaways or abductions,right? yeah,believe it or not...its coming.