Institute For The Future

Memory Spots

HP announced a new kind of tag for putting digital information on things. Called Memory Spots, they're somewhat like RFID tags in basic structure-- they're passively powered, have an antenna and memory-- but add a small processor and a lot more storage space. The New York Times highlights some differences between Memory Spots and RFID, both in technology and potential use:

In contrast to RFID tags, which store only a few hundred or few thousand bits of information, and which are readable from distances of tens of feet, the H.P. Memory Spots can be read only from extremely close range and store up to hundreds of thousands of bytes of information.

Like RFID tags, Memory Spots are powered from radio fields emitted by reading devices, but the H.P. researchers said they would have new applications beyond the typical supply chain and identification functions of RFID chips. Ultimately, executives said, the reading and writing technology could be added to smart phones or other inexpensive handheld devices.

The Memory Spot chips could be priced as low as 10 cents each if they were manufactured in volume, Mr. Taub said....

One of the advantages of the Memory Spot is that the 1.4-millimeter-square chips contain a small processor and as a result have the ability to offer data protection features.

Interestingly, that "putting bits out in the world" line is getting lots of play: this morning's HP press release is titled "HP Unveils Revolutionary Wireless Chip that Links the Digital and Physical Worlds," and features this bit:

“The Memory Spot chip frees digital content from the electronic world of the PC and the Internet and arranges it all around us in our physical world,” said Ed McDonnell, Memory Spot project manager, HP Labs.

However, many of the applications they suggest are pretty RFID-like:

Some of the potential applications include storing medical records on a hospital patient’s wristband; providing audio-visual supplements to postcards and photos; helping fight counterfeiting in the pharmaceutical industry; adding security to identity cards and passports; and supplying additional information for printed documents.

Currently there are RFID-enabled hospital wristbands, but they don't have patient records on them: they're just an ID device. Likewise, there's been plenty of talk about RFID being used in counterfeiting, document identification, and passports. It'll be interesting to see how and where RFID and Memory Spots actually compete. There are four obvious questions:

• Will Spots (a nice alternative to "tag") will operate on the same frequencies as RFID tags, or require entirely different infrastructure? If they're interoperable, and if RFID deployment is fast enough, that could affect some choices regarding spot use.
• When does it make sense to have large amounts of data embedded in an object, instead of associated with it? HP suggests users could "[s]end a traditional holiday postcard to family and friends with a chip containing digital pictures of a vacation, plus sounds and even video clips." In a world of YouTube, have we passed the point where sending
• Will Spots be more secure? On-board processing and the short read-range suggests the possibility greater immunity to hacks, if they're well-designed.
• When will it be worth the extra cost? HP estimates that the cost of Spots could fall to a dime per, with volume production-- still far above the dreamworld of the penny RFID tag.

I think there's also a bigger trend that one can extrapolate from this data-Spot.

 

We think of RFID tags as new and unique, but that's wrong on both cases. RFID tags have been around for quite a while; what's new is the emergence of a couple standards that promise to make them cheaper, more ubiquitous, and easier to use (or abuse). They're also not unique; it's better to think of them as the first-to-market examples of a new family or class of devices, with varying levels of intelligence, memory, and range.

 

Together, they're aimed at a functional merger of bits and atoms-- that embed data in things, facilitates the real-time/real-space retrieval of information, and chips away at the familiar distinction between the "real world" and the "online world." Cypak AB's disposable computer, which is more like an RFID tag on steroids than a competitor to PCs; Ted Selker's work on RFID signatures; and dozens of other prototypes and early adopter products are building on Wifi, GPS, IPv6, and other infrastructure to enable a digital-physical convergence.