For those of you who have been waiting patiently for the Apple product launch event at the Yerba Buena Center in San Fran to hear about the new “iPad 3,” I would like to apologize for holding your breath because it was a pretty big disappointment.

First, there is no iPad 3, or iPad HD or iPad 2S – whatever you thought it would be named. It’s just called the new iPad, that’s it. There was some mention of calling it the third generation iPad, but there was no official name for it as far as I could tell.

So what is new? Not much really for those who have the iPad2. All it really is is a high definition iPad. It does have a faster processor (dubbed the A5X), a 9.7-inch display screen with a “retina display” (2047 by 1536 pixels), and a 5-megapixel camera. It will also run on 4G networks and will cost anywhere from $499 to $829 depending on the storage capacity you want. Plus a monthly fee for the 4G.

These “enhancements” were not necessary in my opinion. The display resolution I can understand, but the faster processor doesn’t make sense and neither does the camera upgrade.  Think of how much faster you’ll be able to post pictures of your lunch on Twitter and messages about how bored you are on Facebook! Amazing. Who is going to go on vacation and snap photos with their gigantic 1.5 pound iPad? That thing is bigger than the old school camera that my Dad used back in the 90′s. Instead of calling it the “new iPad” they should call it the not-so-new iPad.

Is this the latest iScam? I think so.

There are so many rules when it comes to doing laundry. You have to separate your colors and whites, towels and linens, make a dry cleaning pile, and then there’s our personal preferences for separation – everyone has their own rules. But beyond that, we have to decide what we are going to put in the dryer, what temperature the water should be, what kind of detergent to use, which cycle we should choose etc. The politics of doing laundry can make anyone crazy, not to mention that none of us really know exactly how to wash clothes anyway without taking an advanced textiles class.

A wonderfabric has yet to be invented where clothes wash themselves, but the next best thing has been introduced: a Smart Washing Machine, AKA a washing machine equipped with RFID and NFC. Last week at the Embedded World Show in Germany, NXP presented this wonderful invention. This machinery combines a perfect marriage of two RFID technologies- item level tagging (where every single item is tagged) and RFID sensors. These machines are designed to read the RFID tags on every single article of clothing and know what washing cycle it needs. These RFID tags carry information about that piece of clothing like the fabric and the color so that the washing machine knows how that item should be washed. Another advanced feature is that it can also know how to wash the clothes based on the detergent that you use. Now you’ll never have to worry about turning all your t-shirts and socks pink or getting bleach spots on your favorite sweats or turning your previously black clothes grey ever again. The NFC technology is designed for detecting problems with the washing machine. When there is an error or a malfunction with the actual machine, the software communicates with the manufacturer to notify them of the problem. Then the technician can remotely fix the error and update the firmware.

Kelly Ripa already told us about her “smart”  stove with the 30 second water boiler (I still don’t believe it), so naturally all the other home appliances are sure to follow in this smart trend. Next thing you know your dishwasher will just randomly start doing dishes for you. If only.

I think it’s obvious to any consumer that when you go shopping you are more likely to stay in a store that is playing music that you like. Clearly, everyone has different taste in music; my mother would steer clear from Abercrombie because of the loud blaring club music, but would be inclined to enter Bloomingdale’s because of its’ softer classical soundtrack. I however am more likely to linger around a store that has music that I like, and therefore am more likely to browse around and eventually make a purchase (or five?).

Retailers call this “sensory branding,” which is based on the idea that brands can establish a stronger emotional connection with consumers if they engage all of their senses. Studies show that groups exposed to multi-sensory environments always spend more than those in single-sensory environments.

A new concept called ‘musical dressing rooms’ has been introduced to a bunch of stores in Singapore. Every item of clothing has a price tag embedded with an RFID chip, and the dressing rooms are equipped with RFID readers.  Every time someone enters the fitting room, the reader picks up what item of clothing is being tried on and changes the music track based on the type  of clothing. So if you are trying on a glitter tube top, chances are David Guetta or LMFAO will come on. If you are trying on pleated khakis, you’ll probably hear Moody Blues or Creedence Clearwater. Acid wash jeans? Billy Idol.  The point is, the assortment of 10,000 songs is selected by genre based on the garments demographic – gender, age, trendy, plain, and so on.

The technology also automatically sends you a text message with the name and artist of the song, and links you to the hub where you can download it. They noted that 84% of those who received the texts downloaded the songs.

I think this is a brilliant marketing method, and I know that I would probably totally fall for it without even realizing it. Who doesn’t want to hear good music when they are trying on clothes? And maybe do a little dance? This technology will probably be launched in the U.S. pretty soon, especially because half of retailers are already adopting item-level RFID technology, and the rest will follow in about 5 years. So get ready to teach yourself the dougie while you’re trying on your jeans.

Your office’s lounge area probably consists of a vending machine, a soda machine, a microwave and if you’re lucky, maybe some couches and a TV.  The lucky employees at the Boston headquarters of Arnold Worldwide have it much better than all of us do. Way better. They have a vending machine outfitted with an RFID reader that serves BEER. Yeah, you know, the alcoholic kind.

You are probably wondering how this all happened and are probably crafting some kind of scheme in your head to convince your boss to implement the same thing.  You may have not heard of Arnold Worldwide, but you definitely know of their concepts. They are an ad agency that creates ads for companies all over the world. They thought up the Progressive/Flo commercial, and VW’s “Driver’s Wanted” tag. They encourage their staff to come up with really creative ideas, and they spend about a hundred grand a year towards creating a more thought-provoking work environment, one that inspires added imagination. So being that they are extremely into creativity, a group of employees came up with the idea to install a vending machine equipped with beer, and by using RFID they would be able to track and limit how much beer each person consumes, and called it “Barnold.” Barleycorn’s Craft Brew supplies Barnold with six different kinds of beer and they even made a special brew just for the vending machine titled “the Arnold” with “12ish” ounces of beer per bottle. The employees at Arnold are so fond of the machine that they now call him Arnie and he even has his own website, Facebook and Twitter page.

RFID tags are embedded into key FOBs and are given to all employees over the age of 21. Each employee is given a certain number of beers per month from the machine, so when you walk up to it, Arnie reads the FOB, and a touch screen displays your picture, a personalized greeting (What’s good, Diva?), and the number of beers that you’ve had already that month. If you haven’t reached your beer quota for the month, Arnie shows the beers he has in stock, you choose the one you want, and before you know it you are sippin’ on a cold one at the office. If you’re really good, your manager can authorize Arnie’s system to allow you to have a few extra beers.

Arnie’s last tweet was “Just one person wanted a beer in the last half hour. I am a lonely robot. Come to Arnie.” Now if only I can get my boss to get us a margarita maker robot that serves drinks every hour…

Disclaimer: this post will make any die-hard Call of Duty fan very envious, not mention angry for not knowing about or attending this event.

Anyone who has ever owned this game, or has a boyfriend that owns this game knows that it consumes your (or their) lives. I have never been a COD fan, I prefer Halo, but either way, it is a known fact that people are seriously obsessed; Black Ops sold 25 million copies, MW2 sold 22 million copies, and MW3 sold 6.5 million copies, and it has only been out for about ten minutes. Everyone, including Activision, has been gearing up for the latest release in the Call of Duty series, the successor to Black Ops, Modern Warfare 3.

Activision launched an incredible two day event where for only $150 gamers were able to experience two levels (the Pit and Scrapyard) of Modern Warfare in live real-time action. That price is crazy to me, because I know people who would give up limbs and kidneys for that. Anyways, an RFID system was designed for the event where attendees would have an RFID wristband that would do all sorts of magical things. It would enable and verify entry into the live gaming area, it would track their performance, track images of the players that were taken on the courses and post them to their Facebook pages. Then at the end of the event they would use their RFID wristbands to pick up their free event swag bag – which included Modern Warfare 3.

When a person would preorder a ticket, they would bring their ticket print-out to registration, where they would get their wristband that was embedded with a passive RFID tag. Each tag carried information such as the person’s name, registration information, and their Facebook profile – if they chose to give that information, which 85% of players did.

When the player would enter the gaming area, which was staged as a converted airplane hangar, RFID monitors would pick up the signals from the RFID wristbands and a robot would inform them that their “access [is] granted,” (or not, if they didn’t have a valid registration). They would then move on to the different gaming areas. The Pit was made into a timed obstacle course where players would have a paintball gun that they would use to shoot at moving pop-up targets.  The Scrapyard was a multiplayer paintball battle between two teams of 16. Whenever a player would pass by a “Cube” (or a fancy RFID reader) the software would read their wristband and update their Facebook page with stats, check-ins, scores and photos.

The best part of this event? Aside from the awesomeness of playing modern warfare in real life without actually being killed or killing anybody, seamlessly posting bragging rights on your FB page, a FREE COPY of MW3, and mingling with other devoted COD enthusiasts? All proceeds from the event went towards The Call of Duty Endowment, a nonprofit organization that helps U.S. soldiers transition from deployment to civilian careers.

My favorite store has come quite a long way over the years.  The original Bloomingdale’s store was a few attached townhouses on East 60th street which still bear the legend “Bloomingdale Brothers.” (Actually, the very first original store was on East 56th street, but I digress.) Today, it is a complex of attached buildings that carry some of the most beautiful and exclusive apparel that can be found nationwide.

Several years ago they were acquired by Federated Department Stores, and now they’re owned by Macy’s, Inc., but didn’t want to change their name to Macy’s #2. (Imagine their slogan being something like, “There’s no other store like it in the world…except the other one.”) So now they are located on 59^th and Lexington, and are among my most favorite stores in the world. And the largest. With a store that enormous (over 25,400 square feet), there are so many pieces of clothing and bags and shoes and accessories (I’m trying not to get too carried away), that it becomes hard to track.

In order to solve this problem, Macy’s Inc. is going to begin using radio frequency identification (RFID) technology in all Macy’s and Bloomingdale’s stores all over the country by late 2012 to manage store merchandise and to keep track of restocked inventory for both stores and warehouses.  They began a pilot project two years ago at select Macy’s and Bloomingdale’s stores as well as at some distribution centers to track inventory and stock through RFID based on style, color and size. The project was so successful, that Macy’s officially made the decision that they will use RFID technology and item-level tagging in all its stores.

The initial use of RFID technology will be for size-intensive replenishment categories such as men’s shoes, intimate apparel, men’s pants, and women’s shoes. According to Macy’s, RFID will allow the company to count item-level inventory more precisely and frequently with complete accuracy so merchandise can be further readily available for customers.

So now when you come across that perfect dress randomly strewn on a rack and need to find your size, you can go up to an employee who can scan it and tell you if they have it and exactly where you can find it, along with the matching shoes. Problem solved.

A detailed analysis of the results from the recent RFID survey carried out by CYBRA Corporation showed that 67% of organizations are already in the process of implementing RFID technology, while an additional 23% are in the pilot phase. In comparison to an almost identical survey conducted by CYBRA in 2008, only 28% of respondents claimed that they were using or piloting RFID.

Other highlights from the analysis included:

• Change is in the air, as most respondents are currently either already using or creating plans to implement RFID in the near future (80%).
  While most organizations (regardless of their industry) were either implementing RFID or evaluating the use of RFID, most agree that they will do it not only for EPC compliance, but because they realize they will maximize their profits. 
• Efficiency and EPC Compliance remain the top two business objectives that determine RFID adoption.
  The top key benefits of RFID adoption are improved inventory accuracy (29%), profits would increase (26%), and overall increase efficiency (24%).

• The payback period, or ROI, of RFID investment was less than two years (44%).
  Respondents assert that the reason for this time frame was because RFID helped reduce labor costs, software, tags, and hardware were less expensive than expected, and inventory accuracy was greatly improved.

• For RFID Users, the OS/400 and i5/OS remains the preferred computing platform (72%).
  When asked to measure their satisfaction with the platform, 56% stated that they are completely satisfied with OS/400 and i5/OS.

• IBM System i remains the prevalent software platform (84%).
  Respondents prefer the System i. Most respondents used it alone or simultaneously with Windows. 58% of OS/400 and i5/OS users are in the manufacturing industry. When asked what they will be using two years from now, responses demonstrated that there will be an increased use of OS/400 and i5/OS alone or simultaneously with Windows.

• CYBRA’s EdgeMagic and MarkMagic Software remain the preferred Software platform for RFID application (59%).
  CYBRA Software users preferred the software to use for inventory and tracking purposes.

• Only 8% of respondents answered that they will not be using RFID at all. These respondents state that their reasons are that they are worried about high costs and that there isn’t enough evidence of ROI.
  This is down from 2008, where 15% of respondents answered that they are not using RFID, and will not be using RFID in the future.

Everyone loves to eat, and according to everyone the higher the calories, the better the taste. The obvious problem is that consuming high amounts of calories is horrible for you, no matter how delicious your delectable treat is. People also tend to be completely oblivious as to how many calories their food contains, but even if they had a clue it would be pretty much impossible to memorize the nutrition content of everything in their fridge and pantry.

I had mentioned edible RFID tags that are used in the medical industry, but there’s a whole new edible RFID system that is going to be used in the food industry. NutriSmart Technology System, developed by Hannes Harms, is creating a food tracking system which embeds RFID tags directly onto food so that it can monitor just about everything. With a RFID reader on your fridge door, anything that goes in and out of that fridge can pass on information – it will let you know if something has expired, if you are running low on milk or eggs or whatever, as well as telling you how long that item can stay out of the fridge without going bad.

The best part of this technology is called the Smart Plate, which will act as your boot camp instructor/annoying wife who won’t let you eat what you want. When you place your food on the RFID reader plate, it will read the amount of calories and fat that your meal has and add the information to your computer or your cell via Bluetooth so you can keep track of exactly how much calories and fat you are consuming. It also will be able to figure out the ingredients of the items and will notify you if there is anything you are allergic to on the plate.

So what happens to the tags after you’ve eaten them? I haven’t figured that out yet, but I have an idea. Stop giggling.

Last year Kimberly Phillips, a hotel housekeeper, sued the Kentucky hotel where she worked because when she unlocked the door to the room where she was supposed to tidy up, two dogs tackled her and ripped into her leg. Argelia Rico, a hotel maid employed in Scottsdale, was sexually harassed by the room’s older male occupant while attempting to turn down his sheets at the hotel where she worked. Recently, the former head of the International Monetary Fund, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, was charged with criminal sexual assault, attempted rape and sexual abuse for his actions against a hotel maid at the Sofitel Hotel.

After these highly publicized articles came out, labor groups revealed that in reality hotel housekeepers lead dangerous lives because of their jobs and that there have been over ten reported cases similar in nature in the past few years. In light of these issues, hotel supervisors should work harder to make their personnel feel safe when they come to work. CYBRA, a software company located in Yonkers, NY, has a seamless solution for this issue.

Every staff member will have a suitable sized badge attached to their uniform. In time of distress the staff member will be able to press a button on the badge alerting security, or whoever the designated party may be, noting the exact location of the staff member and who the staff member is, assuring that help is on the way and eliminating any fear.

This solution could be implemented within four weeks of signing an agreement. Housekeeping staff will be able to work comfortably while having peace of mind knowing that they are safe, and hotel supervisors no longer have to worry about their staff’s safety.

The New York Stock Exchange is no stranger to fraud. Ponzi schemes, insider trading, pumping and dumping are all synonymous with The Stock Exchange. Stock fraud happens, and it happens more often than we all think, and millions (if not billions) of dollars are lost every year as a result.

To help reduce the problem and tighten security, the New York Stock Exchange will be partnering up with AeroScout to create a real-time locating system (RTLS) that will track RFID embedded handheld computers. By doing this, traders will not be able to pass from one trading floor to another with their handheld computers, and therefore will not be able to make unauthorized transactions.

Every tablet will have an RFID tag on it, which has a unique ID number associated with the trader who is using that specific tablet. It will include data such as the trader’s name and where that tablet is permitted to be used, or rather what floor it is allowed to be on. Every time and anywhere that tablet moves, a signal is emitted and picked up by RFID readers that are placed all over the facility. That way it will be noted if the trader is in an unauthorized area, when, for how long, and what data was being exchanged during that process.

The NYSE will be giving traders a Fujitsu tablet computer that will let them conduct trading, communicate with others who are another floor, as well as searching for information on the internet. Regulations require that traders cannot carry these tablets from one floor to another, where they can attain non-public information about certain companies that could be used to unfairly make sales transactions and therefore would have an effect on stock value.

Another benefit of this is that it will eliminate the need for security guards on the NYSE’s floor who are hired to prevent computers from being passed from one floor to the next. This does save money, but a huge part of it is that there’s always room for human error, as well as corrupted security guards who may take a payoff in exchange for keeping their mouths shut. I’m not saying that this actually does happen, but it might, and we may not know about it.

This is a pretty good idea, and I’m curious to know if this new strategy angers traders that work at the New York Stock Exchange. It will definitely help fraud inside the actual facility, but there are plenty of other stock crimes that can take place outside of the facility. Let’s see what happens.