Wondering what to actually DO with the tikitag RFID thing. Launching webpages with tags is fun, but only for a short while.
1 year, 3 months ago.
29 comments so far
Yeah, that thought crossed my mind in the weekend as well. There's what the Nabaztag guy said at Reboot: have your Nabaztag or Chumby tell you what the weatherforecast is when you hold your umbrella in front of the RFID reader. Or you could do stuff with sensing which objects pass which location. But the Tikitag reader is hardly suitable for that, isn't it?
interesting discussion. can think of some commercial uses (like storing preferences), but all of them require "customers". no "internet zero"-like ideas?
The thing is: RFID readers are only useful in an environment with many tags. On Picnic, everyone had (or could get) a tag linked to their social profile. In such an environment, it's not too hard to come up with nice ideas. However, at home or in the office, with not as many tagged objects, it's harder to come up with useful scenario's. I have some tags, but to tag my own umbrella, to have my pc read the wetter seems silly.
Off course there is a chicken and egg issue regarding tags and tag readers, so I'm still happy with the reader, now only wishing for more useful eggs...
Yes, discussed this with @elmine as well yday. The chicken and egg things is both in the RFID tags as well as the readers.
Tags: I wouldn't mind tagging lots of objects in my house over time. But there are a lot of objects entering my house each day without tags. (Groceries for one) And I would not like to need a 'check-point' at the door to tag all stuff entering. My house is not an airport after all :)
Scanners: If I have to schlepp stuff to a tag reader that is next to my laptop, that seems not very useful to me all the time. So I would like to have readers near 'transition' points in my house. (At doors, staircase, in the kitchen to scan empty stuff e.g.) Those readers should be able to send info to a more central point (roomware server?) where actions can be performed.
Perhaps we can come up with a list of useful categories of applications?
Like:
1) track and trace (as in "my tv remote is upstairs")
2) sensors and actuators (sensory data leading to action: if I leave my house my heating system goes into 'low energy' mode or something)
3) .....
Look, finding your remote across the house is a lost case. Forget about it :-) As for sensors and actuators, I think a technology like Zigbee is way more suited for that. It is a low cost, low power wireless networking standard in the IEEE 802.15 family. Ideally positioned for home automation, among other things.
i was thinking of getting a tikitag reader to create a simple automated system for tracking who was in the coworking office. tikitag reader still needs a pc though i think? basically i need a reader with a wifi connection that can post the read id to a url on it's own. Webhooks for physical objects easy style.
how about using tags to relate to other objects (and keeing track of the relations). e.g. to disassemble the clutch I need nr 10 and nr 13 wrench and the cluch dissasembly tool. or finding all the pasta making implements.
@ecphaff still seems contrived though, when would you really want to use such a system? technically there is no reason not to do it though. active rfid tags and a scanner that reads multiple items in each 'room' would be enough for an itemized list of object per location.
@ralphm You have a point there, that some simple wireless tech would suit a lot of possible applications better. Internet0 still comes to mind. Especially as I am firstly more interested in measurement (sensing first, than the actuation part)
Tijs you could build that quite easily with the tikitag, but it would need a PC. Don't know how hackable the Nabztag is, that might also be an option (and a cuter one than the tikitag :))
@panman using a pc is not an option. guess it could be built with an arduino wifi board. but i'm not in a hurry. this product is bound to show up in 4-6 months :)
@dmos chumby boards! how cool. most rfid readers act as a simple serial device like a mouse. so granted this board allows you enough freedom to setup an internet connection and read out values from the usb port it wouldn't be that hard. not sure how the titktag reader functions though. plain jane rfid reader might work better.
@dmos the standard chumby programming toolset isn't that interesting as far as i can see so i'm not sure thats a good idea. All i can find is widgets. What you want is a lively open source community so you don't have to do all the work yourself. Probably Arduino or Phidgets are still the closest to that even though it's far from plug an play.
@ecphaff now -thats- a solution a lot of people will appreciate. students everywhere will rejoice ;)
@thijs ahem, my first contact with flash was in 2002 and i rather build interactive prototypes with indesign.. far from knowing flash, just wanna hack around a bit without any deadline pressure
@PanMan i would be really interested in a location aware device. after outfitting your chumby with a rfid reader you can tag a couple of locations in the house and use the tags to switch between modes for the dining table, sofa armrest, bathub, etc..
log into your computer with a toy tagged with your password as the id
log bad habits like tv watching by tagging the objects involved i.e remote
create a mood log by tagging object representing moods and making each post a different mood on twitter or whatever
tag reminder object so you can quickly send yourself notes for reminders that recur often; little milk bottle for get milk, little cat for get cat food, littel plant for water plants
do 4 but have the reminders send to your spouse, partner, whatever
see i was thinking practical there for a minute and i came up with 5 brilliant ideas ;)
29 comments so far
Yeah, that thought crossed my mind in the weekend as well. There's what the Nabaztag guy said at Reboot: have your Nabaztag or Chumby tell you what the weatherforecast is when you hold your umbrella in front of the RFID reader. Or you could do stuff with sensing which objects pass which location. But the Tikitag reader is hardly suitable for that, isn't it?
1 year, 3 months ago by tonzylstra
interesting discussion. can think of some commercial uses (like storing preferences), but all of them require "customers". no "internet zero"-like ideas?
1 year, 3 months ago by ecphaff
The thing is: RFID readers are only useful in an environment with many tags. On Picnic, everyone had (or could get) a tag linked to their social profile. In such an environment, it's not too hard to come up with nice ideas. However, at home or in the office, with not as many tagged objects, it's harder to come up with useful scenario's. I have some tags, but to tag my own umbrella, to have my pc read the wetter seems silly. Off course there is a chicken and egg issue regarding tags and tag readers, so I'm still happy with the reader, now only wishing for more useful eggs...
1 year, 3 months ago by PanMan
Yes, discussed this with @elmine as well yday. The chicken and egg things is both in the RFID tags as well as the readers.
Tags: I wouldn't mind tagging lots of objects in my house over time. But there are a lot of objects entering my house each day without tags. (Groceries for one) And I would not like to need a 'check-point' at the door to tag all stuff entering. My house is not an airport after all :)
Scanners: If I have to schlepp stuff to a tag reader that is next to my laptop, that seems not very useful to me all the time. So I would like to have readers near 'transition' points in my house. (At doors, staircase, in the kitchen to scan empty stuff e.g.) Those readers should be able to send info to a more central point (roomware server?) where actions can be performed.
Perhaps we can come up with a list of useful categories of applications? Like: 1) track and trace (as in "my tv remote is upstairs") 2) sensors and actuators (sensory data leading to action: if I leave my house my heating system goes into 'low energy' mode or something) 3) .....
1 year, 3 months ago by tonzylstra
Look, finding your remote across the house is a lost case. Forget about it :-) As for sensors and actuators, I think a technology like Zigbee is way more suited for that. It is a low cost, low power wireless networking standard in the IEEE 802.15 family. Ideally positioned for home automation, among other things.
1 year, 3 months ago by ralphm
I do think the social interactions as partly seen on picnic can be quite interesting. Now let's ship a tag to all facebook users....
1 year, 3 months ago by PanMan
i was thinking of getting a tikitag reader to create a simple automated system for tracking who was in the coworking office. tikitag reader still needs a pc though i think? basically i need a reader with a wifi connection that can post the read id to a url on it's own. Webhooks for physical objects easy style.
1 year, 3 months ago by tijs
how about using tags to relate to other objects (and keeing track of the relations). e.g. to disassemble the clutch I need nr 10 and nr 13 wrench and the cluch dissasembly tool. or finding all the pasta making implements.
the house as a storage for objects?
1 year, 3 months ago by ecphaff
@ecphaff still seems contrived though, when would you really want to use such a system? technically there is no reason not to do it though. active rfid tags and a scanner that reads multiple items in each 'room' would be enough for an itemized list of object per location.
1 year, 3 months ago by tijs
I like @ecphaff thinking. A warning sounding when I am about to screw things up putting the wrong parts of some Ikea contraption together :)
1 year, 3 months ago by tonzylstra
@ralphm You have a point there, that some simple wireless tech would suit a lot of possible applications better. Internet0 still comes to mind. Especially as I am firstly more interested in measurement (sensing first, than the actuation part)
1 year, 3 months ago by tonzylstra
Tijs you could build that quite easily with the tikitag, but it would need a PC. Don't know how hackable the Nabztag is, that might also be an option (and a cuter one than the tikitag :))
1 year, 3 months ago by PanMan
I just read through this discussion and I'm saddened that I don't have a tikireader.
1 year, 3 months ago by alper
@panman using a pc is not an option. guess it could be built with an arduino wifi board. but i'm not in a hurry. this product is bound to show up in 4-6 months :)
1 year, 3 months ago by tijs
@alper they'r 'only' E35...
1 year, 3 months ago by PanMan
@PanMan I know. But from what I read here, only moderately useful? I think I'll get into this later.
1 year, 3 months ago by alper
what would be the limiting factors hacking the tikireader into a chumby? http://tinyurl.com/48ckev
1 year, 3 months ago by dmos
@dmos chumby boards! how cool. most rfid readers act as a simple serial device like a mouse. so granted this board allows you enough freedom to setup an internet connection and read out values from the usb port it wouldn't be that hard. not sure how the titktag reader functions though. plain jane rfid reader might work better.
1 year, 3 months ago by tijs
oh wait this is the "old" chumby, i thought they now sold the board separately or something.
1 year, 3 months ago by tijs
Looks like it comes down to order one and voiding the guarantee, tempted to give it a try.
1 year, 3 months ago by dmos
@tijs. I see your point. what are these tags used for in the first place. how is this better than barcode and edi?
how about keys? cannot open the beer fridge unless 3 tags are present :-)
1 year, 3 months ago by ecphaff
@dmos the standard chumby programming toolset isn't that interesting as far as i can see so i'm not sure thats a good idea. All i can find is widgets. What you want is a lively open source community so you don't have to do all the work yourself. Probably Arduino or Phidgets are still the closest to that even though it's far from plug an play.
@ecphaff now -thats- a solution a lot of people will appreciate. students everywhere will rejoice ;)
1 year, 3 months ago by tijs
@thijs very good point since I am not the most technical person. it would be a good reason to play more with flash making some cool widgets.
1 year, 3 months ago by dmos
@dmos ah i didn't realize you know flash. guess that makes more sense then.
1 year, 3 months ago by tijs
@thijs ahem, my first contact with flash was in 2002 and i rather build interactive prototypes with indesign.. far from knowing flash, just wanna hack around a bit without any deadline pressure
1 year, 3 months ago by dmos
@dmos hey don't let me hold you back ;)
1 year, 3 months ago by tijs
@PanMan i would be really interested in a location aware device. after outfitting your chumby with a rfid reader you can tag a couple of locations in the house and use the tags to switch between modes for the dining table, sofa armrest, bathub, etc..
1 year, 3 months ago by dmos
that sounds like an oke'ish idea. Not something I'd do with tikitag tho. And I don't have a chumby to begin with...
1 year, 3 months ago by PanMan
stuff you could do with your tikitag reader:
see i was thinking practical there for a minute and i came up with 5 brilliant ideas ;)
1 year, 3 months ago by tijs