I just found the Squirt 2 infrared beacon/active tag device that Rich DeVaul gave me two weeks ago when I was visiting the Lab. I had stashed it in a Silly Putty egg I found in a junk pile.

There are 50 or so Squirt beacons scattered around the third floor of the lab. Each beacon, which can be powered by a coin cell battery for 15 days, 5 volt AC adapter or solar cell, broadcasts a unique ID number using the same protocols in home electronics remotes. A device called IR-suck can read these numbers and feed the information in real time to a wearable computer.

Since these things cost about $10 each to make, you could, for example, plant one in every office in a building. A cell phone or PDA with an infrared port could detect the unique ID in a given room and bring up relevant information about the occupant of the office. If your mobile device is on a network, the fact that you are in a specific office could be known by a server-side application. With this information, your calendar software could send a message to the keeper of your next appointment to let her know if you are running late. And, um, this kind of technology would also make it possible for your boss or others to track your movements, so privacy would have to be managed in a respectful way.

- mike lee - baltimore - and baby likes the rattling sound of the squirt bouncing around in the silly putty egg