RFID and GPS CF cards under Linux (was: Re: [Gllug] pda/subnotebook recommendations)

[Richard Jones]

I'm particularly interested in people who've got RFID card readers
working under Linux.  Such as these ones:

http://www.skyetek.com/readers.html
http://www.cfcompany.co.jp/product/fujii/rfid_cf_reader.html

I know RFID is the Big Bad Wolf, but actually there are some very
useful applications for it.

One which we've thought of (which I'll post here to provide a bit of
verified prior art and avoid some idiot patenting it):

Slap RFID tags around public places such as tube stations.  Each RFID
tag "emits" a unique number, identifying the location.

Blind people can carry simple iPod-like technology containing an RFID
reader.  When the reader comes close to an RFID tag at a particular
location, this triggers an audio message to be read to them, telling
them their location and where they can go to (eg. "You are in the
hallway at Tottenham Ct Rd tube station.  Walk away from the escalator
and on the left you will find the Northern Line northbound platform").

The audio messages are stored in a big database on the iPod itself.  A
top-end iPod can carry about 100,000 such messages, enough to cover
the whole of a big city like London.

Update over the Internet.

The advantage here is that it's very simple and cheap to "upgrade" the
accessibility of a particular location.  RFID tags cost next to
nothing, and recording the audio messages can be done via a simple web
interface.  The real cost is bourne by the users (the blind people) in
small chunks - a typical reader device probably wouldn't cost more
than twice the cost of an iPod.

There's another application that we're consulting on at the moment
which also involves putting the RFID tags on locations, rather than on
things.

Rich.

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