Things are getting very weird very fast in the “do you know where your XYZ is” front.

There are lots of strange applications already out there that combine the satellite based global positioning system with radios or cell phones. You can track your dog, track you children, or track your criminals today.

While people still have some right to privacy things don’t. There is a fever pitch of activity around “radio frequency id tags” or RFID. These are small chips that respond to (and are powered by) a radio transponder and report back some identity info. Most people have encountered these in garage passes, or turnpike toll devices. They are used to track cattle, and I’m actually surprised they aren’t installed in every car already.

Since RFID chips are just integrated circuits they are getting cheaper really fast. Very soon they will be a nickle a peice. Before the decade is out they should be practically free. At that point stores like Walmart say will start putting them into everything they sell – just to reduce the cost of doing inventory. The Europeans have indicated they will put them into their currency

I have a fantasy that we will put a transponder on the cat. As he wanders the house he will take inventory and when he wanders past the computer that inventory will get uploaded. No more lost socks?