This article in Time asks us to think about Radio-frequency identification (RFID) as the me-generation successor to the bar code.Bar codes identify a category of products but with RFID tags, each packet of a product could have its own unique Electronic Product Code (EPC) embedded in a microchip no bigger than a piece of glitter.An RFID reader emits a radio wave to scan the chip via an attached antenna. Unlike bar codes that have to be scanned one at a time, an RFID reader can theoretically scan every item in a shopping basket, case or pallet.Already RFID is the basis of 6,000 patents filed for services such as wireless payments, keyless entries, laundry tracking and patient monitoring. In Singapore and Helsinki DHL tested it in anticipation of tracking the 160 million packages it ships annually. And the world’s biggest retailer, Wal-Mart, is telling its top 100 suppliers to put it on all cases and pallets by 2005.The article points out that RFID is already pervasive in our lives and being used to track everything from pets to prisoners to products.

The See-It-All Chip