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Cisco CCNA / CCNP Home Labs: Developing Troubleshooting Skills
CCNA / CCNP candidates are going to be drilled by Cisco when it
comes to troubleshooting questions. You're going to have to be
able to analyze configurations to see what the problem is (and
if there is a problem in the first place), determine the...
How Do Wireless Networks Work?
Wireless networks work using radio waves instead of wires to
transmit data between computers. That's the simple version. The
big advantage of WiFi is its simplicity. You can connect
computers anywhere in your home or office without the need...
Kill The Messenger (Service)
You are familiar with the software applications that you run on your computer, but you may not be familiar with the dozens of programs running in the background on your computer. These programs, called "services" handle tasks like event logging,...
Reasons to Start a Wireless Network.
As far as I'm concerned, wireless networks would have to rank as
one of the best inventions in history. They really are the best
thing since sliced bread. I mean, really, bread is easy enough
to cut yourself, but have you ever tried to wire up a...
Time to Redefine Telecom
Telecommunication, according to Wikipedia, is the extension of communication over a distance. In practice, it also recognizes that something may be lost in the process; hence the term 'telecommunication' covers all forms of distance and/or...
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Wireless Shopping with RFID
So wireless networking has got rid of your network cables and
your USB cables... what can it do next? Well, the answer might
surprise you: wireless is going shopping. There is a small army
of uses for this technology and many are in use at this very
moment.
RFID: Electronic Barcodes
Yes, that's right: RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) is a
replacement for the barcode, using wireless radio technology.
But what's wrong with barcodes, you ask? Well, they need to be
scanned, for a start. Supermarkets and other shops have small
armies of staff in their stores, in fact, doing almost nothing
but scanning barcodes and taking money.
RFID lets barcodes be replaced with radio signals, which can
automatically be scanned. In theory, you could have a shopping
cart full of RFID-labelled products, put it near an RFID
scanner, and the things in your cart would be detected and their
prices added up instantly.
Imagine being able to stop in front of a machine at the
supermarket's exit, and do nothing but put your credit card in a
machine before you leave (if your credit card is RFID-enabled
too, you might not even need to do that). You can checkout in a
matter of seconds! It's a win-win situation: it saves you time,
and it saves the supermarket money. The only people who lose out
are the ones getting paid to sit around scanning barcodes, but
hey, that's technology for you.
How on Earth Does It Work?
Believe it or not, RFID tags contain tiny antennas, allowing
them to transmit small amounts of data by radio. The majority of
tags in use today do not have their own power supply (a power
supply makes the tag larger and more expensive), which means
that they must rely on power they receive through the air by
radio. This is such a tiny amount of power that it is only just
enough to transmit an ID number. This does work, however, from
as much as five metres away.
For shopping use, tags that send numbers are sufficient -- a
barcode is just a number in the form of lines, after all. These
tags are now as cheap as 40 cents, and mass production means the
price is only going to come down -- RFID is likely to become
widespread in the next decade. The smallest RFID tags are
already thin enough to be almost invisible.
Privacy and Other Uses of
RFID
There are privacy concerns around the use of RFID, simply
because it makes it so quick and easy to tag just about anything
-- and the tags can be scanned without any human interaction.
This, however, is also what makes the system very useful.
Pets are already implanted with RFID tags so that they can be
identified if found, and the idea of humans being made to have
RFID implants as a replacement for identity cards isn't as
science fiction as it sounds -- it is possible today. As long
ago as 1998, a professor was able to implant a tag in his arm.
The technology is being considered for used on prisoners. In
countries that already have ID cards or that will have them
soon, RFID tracking probably won't be far behind.
If RFID shopping tags are left on things, then people could
leave tags on their clothes or other products without realising
it. This has all sorts of implications -- someone might be able
to point an RFID scanner at your house and get a list of
everything in it that still has a tag, for example.
RFID is already widely used in many industries. Warehouses use
them to track pallets of goods, some libraries put them in books
and airlines use them to track baggage. Usage is particularly
common in building access control (the ID cards for employees
that open the door automatically).
Travel is another growth area: many parts of the USA have the
option of using RFID cards to pay at toll booth's, and the
London Underground now uses RFID payment cards known as Oyster
cards. There are even RFID car keys that can open the door while
they're still in your pocket, without you doing a thing.
Environmental Concerns
As a footnote to all this, many people are concerned about the
environmental impact RFID could have. Although they are small,
using computer chips as a replacement for barcodes could lead to
the equivalent of many thousands of computers being thrown away
every year.
About the author:
Original Source: Articles-Galore.com
Information supplied and written by Lee Asher of CyberTech SoftShop
Suppliers of the DeadEasy
Ebook Maker and Publishing Wizard.
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