Hands-on with the CES 2008 RFID badge

As if the beginning of November wasn't reminder enough that CES 2008 is a scant two months away, we also happened to get greeted by our press badge and associated admission tickets when we opened the mailbox today. Normally we'd just toss the envelope aside and pretend that our week of living hell wasn't nearly upon us, but with this year's badges sporting an unusual high-tech attachment, we thought we'd snap a few pics before tucking it away. As you can see, the RFID tag attached to the back of our paper badge is no thicker than the badge itself, with the circuitry actually printed onto an identical piece of card stock. Be sure to check out a few more shots after the break, and tune in for all the excitement when we stick a bunch of these tags onto our intern and trick the Man at CEA into thinking that Team Engadget roams the show floor as an intimidating pack from dawn till dusk.

They send out more and more lunch tickets, event invitations, and swag coupons every year.

Whoops!

You can just barely make out the circuits, but size-wise, it's still got nothing on this stuff.

[Isaac @ Nov 1st 2007 5:37PM]

Wow, they are tracking you guys? Thats just low.

[PiTT @ Nov 1st 2007 5:38PM]

do not eat the indian food they have there, it's f'ing disgusting and makes you poop for days.

[bombastinator @ Nov 1st 2007 5:42PM]

will there be any engadget affiliates also attending? A bit of testing with multiple badge examples could produce some possibilities for hackery.
Any device that returns the same electronic signature as the badge could effectively be the badge, and unlike it can be modified potentially at will.
All kinds of entertainment presents itself.

[Ryan Beesley @ Nov 1st 2007 5:42PM]

Back in '92-'93 when I was at Comdex, they'd have barcode readers that you could scan at a booth to exchange contact info. I suspect this will be used in a similar way at CES this year... I'm sure the organizers of CES might make use of this data too, but I'd be surprised if they care much about the average Joe walking around.

[david @ Nov 1st 2007 5:58PM]

Yup. I got mine yesterday. Hard to believe it's only two months away.

[Othello @ Nov 1st 2007 6:39PM]

So, anyone trying to clone it or hack it?

[Nathan @ Nov 1st 2007 6:50PM]

its an inexpensive alien technology tag... not really hard to hack or clone because all you need is a reader

they may have locked it but you can still kill it or clone it but thats not gonna get you anywhere because they just scan it so they can spam your inbox with BS

[Robert Barbieri @ Nov 2nd 2007 1:49AM]

You guys dread going to CES? I love CES. I find it the funnest week of the year. Maybe i'm some sort of gadget whore/super geek... Can I go instead! I didn't get badges in time :P

[MegaZone @ Nov 2nd 2007 2:19AM]

Yeah, mine came a few days ago. I'm both looking forward to and dreading it. Great stuff, sore feet/legs.

[Valkor @ Nov 2nd 2007 9:51AM]

Really, you guys are dreading CES? Dude I have a blast every year I go. But that's the tech geek in me. I love salivating over new and shiny things. But I can guess how CES can be hell for some as most of the time rather than perusing the show floor, you're stuck in meetings and conferences. I got my badge last week (RFID tag included) and it should be interesting how this will play out with the new tag

[CES Responds @ Nov 6th 2007 10:53AM]

Glad you got your CES badge. I thought you'd want to know that press get the RFID badges to make it easier to get in the keynotes and press conferences and to make sure we've got enough seats for you. The RFID scanners are only outside of the keynote entrance, Sands/Venetian press conference ballrooms and the Sands showfloor. Anyone who doesn't want it can get a new badge onsite. Hope this helps clarify and you can thank us later if the keynote process actually runs a bit more smoothly this year.

[gadgeTT @ Nov 11th 2007 11:42AM]

Hmm.... I got my "attendee" badge over a week ago and it's the standard plastic mag-stripe card with no mention anywhere of RFID. Is the RFID version not for everyone? And BTW, CES is like xmas for me :-)