ThingsAmongMany

RFID is one of those brilliant pieces of technology that no one seems to have integrated into mass market usage. Rather, let me qualify: RFID is used all the time in our everyday lives, BUT most people couldn’t readily explain or even name where it is they come across these little gems out in the world.

tikitag is looking to change that. With a recent, invitation-only launch this week – to be followed by a public beta launch on October 1 – tikitag is aiming to bring near field communications (a big brother to RFID technology) into the mainstream consciousness. Their starter kit will include a USB-based reader as well as a selection of tags that can be programmed to a variety of actions. While simple actions can be programed easily via the starter kit, tikitag is also encouraging programmers to flex their mind muscles to create new and interesting uses for the system. In short: tikitags are NFC enabled tags that interact with either a mobile device or a USB reader tethered to computer. They allow physical objects to control digital actions to further integrate the physical and digital worlds.

The technology is promising (proven?), and it’ll be interesting to see how a more mainstream market embraces the technology. The obvious weak link in the system is need for the USB reader (and subsequent computer), but tikitags will also work with NFC-enabled mobile devices, a technology that some claim will generate as much as $75 BILLION in sales over the next five years! This type of physical/digital interaction is going to change the way we lead our lives very, very shortly.

Want to learn more? tikitag has an intro video on their site that explains the system (not embeddable?? come on guys!).