Category Archives: Science

How the heck?

To Label-Expo, will demonstate our RFID embedding machine with Bad Tag rejection

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I’m headed to Label-Expo next week, where we will reveal Worldlabel Holding’s xTrack v5 RFID smart label converting machine to the USA. Its very exciting, as the machine is state of the art and has the most advanced features in the industry. It is quite innovative, and the bad tag rejection online is especially cool. Other machines cannot do it, as they embed bad tags into the labels and then mark that label with a ink pen as bad.

xTrack V5 is able to inspect and embed only Readable & Writable RFID tags during the RFID label conversion process. All rejected RFID tags are reeled back and will not be dispensed. The machine is flexible enough to accommodate a variety of label sizes and all types/brands of RFID inlays to be accurately embedded in the label and any where in the label you want. Xtrack v5 machine will produce a roll of RFID Smart labels 99.999% readable, whereas others produce only 80% readable. It can make almost any size smart label, and the turn-around time is quick. Even those RFID baggage tags you will be seeing at an international airport near you soon, can be made with xTrack V5.

Of course, as RFID becomes more relevant in our daily lives, some social issues and definitely serious privacy concerns will become real. We will have to address them. The privacy issues are complicated, but with passive, semi-passive and active tags, only certain types of these tags/chips could become an issue. So how does one address all the privacy concerns? What can you do to protect your privacy from a RFID invasion? Not much at the moment!

One thing you can do now, if you know there is a RFID tag/chip in the item you just purchased, is to ask the merchant to deactivate it.

One solution – one I hope the RFID system integrators and sensor manufacturers can work on, so that privacy fears will diminish – is to develop sensors which read the tag on exit once and then automatically delete/damage the tag.

Disclaimer: The postings on this site are my own and do not necessarily represent Worldlabel Holding PTE LTD positions, strategies or opinions.

Endangered Species Listings Reversed

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White-tailed Prairie DogOnce more, this presidential administration has proven itself inept, pompous, and contentious. According to CNN, The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on Tuesday reversed seven rulings that denied endangered species increased protection, after an investigation found the actions were tainted by political pressure from Julie MacDonald, a former senior Interior Department official.

MacDonald resigned in May after the Interior Department’s inspector general “rebuked her for pressuring wildfire agency scientists to alter their findings about endangered species and for leaking information about species decisions to industry officials.” She also was involved in delisting the Sacramento splittail, a fish found only in California’s Central Valley where MacDonald owned an 80-acre farm on which the fish live. In that link, you’ll learn that the fish was on the ‘threatened’ list in 1999, was removed from that list in 2000, and was moved to a species of concern list after it was found that the species currently is declining.

Hawaiian Picture-Wing FlyFrancesca Grifo of the Union of Concerned Scientists said the acknowledgment of seven instances of wrongdoing “does not begin to plumb the depths of what’s wrong” at the wildlife agency and its implementation of the Endangered Species Act.

Problems were found in seven of the eight cases, taken up for review after MacDonald’s resignation, although there are at least 30 cases where there’s evidence of tampering over the last seven years. Some animals that will receive more attention are the white-tailed prairie dog (pictured above), the Canada lynx, Hawaiian picture-wing fly (pictured here), and Arroyo toad.

Coin Stacking Fanatic

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Coin TowerTalk about some fanatics! Page after page of stacked coins. Coins used to build castles, towers (like the one built by Sweden’s John Sterling shown here), and more.

It takes an incredible amount of patience, let alone a large amount of coinage to create some of these sculptures. But you can learn how to make simple sculptures like the “Nickel Spiral,” the “Penny Bridge,” the “Two Span Penny Bridge,” and more at Coin Stacking for Fun.

While you’re at this site, you can also visit the coin stacking “Picture of the Week,” and peruse over twenty-six pages of photos focused on coin stacking creations.

The site belongs to Mitch Fincher, and these pages were created from a talk he gave while a Civil Engineering student at Texas Tech University. The basic patterns were used to show how to create basic patterns for cantilever structures. Unlike structures, no glue (as in cement) is used to hold these sculptures together.

Yes, Solar Powered Cars and Racing

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Solar Powered CarA solar car is an electric vehicle powered by solar energy obtained from solar panels on the surface of the car. Photovoltaic (PV) cells convert the sun’s energy directly into electrical energy. Solar cars are not practical day-to-day transportation devices at present, but are primarily used as demonstration vehicles and in engineering exercises.

Solar Powered Car racing? Interested? The Stanford Solar Car Project has a large group of fanatics involved and they race their car every year. Its an international challenge. They always looking for help and you can sponsor a cell on their car.

Solar Powered Car