I got a chance yesterday to hook up the RFID proof-of-concept kit that was given to me at last month's MIT Media Lab sponsor workshop. I unpacked the tag reader device and AC adapter from the chinese takeout container, and plugged it into the network and a power ports by my desk at work (pics 1 & 2).

Then in a web browser I logged into a special demo area in the lab's Treehouse system to register my tag reader hardware, upload some images, and associate them with stick-on ID tags (pic 3). I affixed the tags to color laser printouts of the three photos I uploaded (pic 4), and placed each page into a sheet protector.

When I waved one of the tagged photos over the reader (pic 5), the device flashed an LED and emitted a beep in confirmation of successfully reading the ID number. Immediately, the captioned digital image stored in the asset repository of Treehouse was highlighted and zoomed larger on screen (pic 6). The demo worked as planned and I now have a tiny extension of the Media Lab on my desk.

Admittedly, affixing unique RFID tags to prints in a photo album is a stretch in terms of practicality. However, this concept demo does send my mind racing into future applications for inexpensively tracking the location of, and managing the metadata for physical objects via the Internet.

- mike lee - washington, dc