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Please scan my towel

jerrygamblin.com

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Re: Please scan my towel

#91

Post by sliverstorm »

roel_v wrote: post #12

RFID is one of those things that seem cool until you start playing with it and then it turns out that the only uses for it are really boring. Like, you can't use it to locate stuff because the range is too short; you can't rely on stuff to have chips (food, or clothes or whatever) and it's a major time sink if you'd have to start tagging stuff yourself; it's cumbersome to install readers everywhere and not being able…

It's naturally a volume solution. RFID makes close-range identification just a little faster & easier for a lot of hassle. So it's been worthwhile anywhere you need to identify a lot of things at close range. Ski passes, cows, library books, boxes in a warehouse... and anything volume tends not to be very "the future!" exciting.

Re: Please scan my towel

#92

Post by gkya »

Raphmedia wrote: post #51
Splines wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A button at floor level that you can press with your foot is probably more practical.

I think we already solved this issue ages ago... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sliding_door_operator#Triggeri... :)

He could also leave his stuff on the ground and open the door in most if not all cases, I think. Why create problems to solutions that come with their own problems (installation, maintenance...)?

Re: Please scan my towel

#93

Post by tjohns »

Animats wrote: post #90

OK, the RSA conference failed here. They're supposed to be a security conference, yet they didn't use an RFID tag that's challenge/encrypt/response, so you can't clone it by passive listening. RSA itself used to make such things. That tag is about the right level of security for towel inventory. The big win in this is managing outsourced laundry costs. Knowing how many items went to the laundry, and how many came bac…

That might not have been an oversight.

Having designed the RFID tag system for a conference before, there's a real cost difference between crypto-capable NFC tags and ordinary ones, once you factor in the number of badges you need to print.

Then consider that (a) the conference probably has very little budget for an RFID implementation, and (b) the NFC tag isn't used for anything that's security-sensitive -- mostly checking in at vendor booths, attendance tracking, etc.

Given that, I can totally understand why RSA didn't use something more secure.

The BIG fail here is that the towel manufacturers didn't toggle the read-only fuse in the tags, which allows them to be overwritten by anyone with an Android smartphone.

Re: Please scan my towel

#95

Post by tjohns »

roel_v wrote: post #12

RFID is one of those things that seem cool until you start playing with it and then it turns out that the only uses for it are really boring. Like, you can't use it to locate stuff because the range is too short; you can't rely on stuff to have chips (food, or clothes or whatever) and it's a major time sink if you'd have to start tagging stuff yourself; it's cumbersome to install readers everywhere and not being able…

As someone who frequently goes skiing, the recent deployment of RFID scanners at larger resorts is nothing short of amazing:

You can reload the passes online, the lift attendants can check everyone's pass just by waving a scanner across a crowd (no more having to precisely line up a barcode), you get online stats and achievements at the end of the day, and if you have photos taken on the hill they automatically show up in your online account.

So ya, definitely some really cool stuff you can do with them. :)

Re: Please scan my towel

#96

Post by yakult »

roel_v wrote: post #12

RFID is one of those things that seem cool until you start playing with it and then it turns out that the only uses for it are really boring. Like, you can't use it to locate stuff because the range is too short; you can't rely on stuff to have chips (food, or clothes or whatever) and it's a major time sink if you'd have to start tagging stuff yourself; it's cumbersome to install readers everywhere and not being able…

The butt-chip. It's like the punchline of a joke. Still... Put a reader in your chair so that when you sit down somewhere, things turn on and log in? Butt-thentication, if you will.

Might be cool in a car.

...maybe that's how the batmobile works.

Re: Please scan my towel

#97

Post by thesimon »

TheLarch wrote: post #81
krzrak wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How do they prevent theft, exactly?

The local Gold's Gym has a theft prevention style detector around the front door which will complain if you try and leave with a towel. The towels themselves have an obvious bump in one corner, about the size of a jellybean.

And they are using NFC for that?

Re: Please scan my towel

#98

Post by Laaw »

novaleaf wrote: post #36
Sidnicious wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One interesting use: https://vimeo.com/157990864 This library lets visitors rearrange the books organically (if you pull out multiple books on a topic, you're encouraged to put them back on the shelf together instead of finding their old homes). The books are tracked with RFID so that they remain easy to find individually.

I'm a frequent library user, and this may be fine for certain types of collections (where you look for very specific books) but is terrible for general use, as you are removing the ability to search by topic.

How? One of the search terms could easily be topic...

Re: Please scan my towel

#99

Post by ams6110 »

roel_v wrote: post #82
chatmasta wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wait, sorry... what?! You had an RFID chip implanted in your hand??? I think that story deserves a little elaboration. EDIT: Wow, this is apparently a thing. [0] [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microchip_implant_(human)#Hobb...

Not much to it, really. It became feasible around 2007-2008 ish or so, when you could buy glass ampules with rfid tags in them and simple readers retail online (my timing might be a few years off). There were several forums about it at the time, most of them gone now it seems; I suspect because people found out the same thing I did, that it's just not that useful and that the novelty wears off after the first 5 times…

Compared to using a biometric such as a fingerprint it makes some sense. Fingerprints can in theory be stolen and reproduced, and you can't change them if that happens. You could replace an implanted RFID tag if that were ever to become necessary, but otherwise it's something you always have like your fingerprint.

Re: Please scan my towel

#100

Post by Godel_unicode »

roel_v wrote: post #33
imgabe wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Couldn't you just put a push button switch there with the same effect? Something like the large square handicap accessible switches for powered doors in public buildings.

The rfid tag also acts as an authentication/authorization token. Not a very good one, but not worse than a key either.

Slight quibble: the token is just authentication. The authorization is done by the pad. Granted, the current scheme grants the access authorization to any authenticated tag, but that could change if butt-thentication took off.
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