E-Wallet Penetration
The information on the use of mobile phone technology to represent a mobile and secure wallet for their user has seen the link to RFID (RadioWare -the nickname for Radio Frequency Identification - contact-less payment) for contact-less application. In Japan the technology has made major inroads NTT DOCOMO and Sony, jointly created Felica in 2004, the company that runs the EDY system. It was reported that the operation has paid $7million invested in China with Just-In-Mobile, a local phone provider, who has been supported to develop a version of the core technology in China. With an expected 97.5 million Chinese subscribers by 2008 to this proposed Chinese e-wallet system, Felica has over 10 million subscribers in Japan, using their own version.

In America Motorola, the major phone service supplier announced the development of their own system. Called M-Wallet (mobile-wallet), the system is designed to be cross platform supported able to run on a slew of other systems such as activated PDA’s and mobile phones from other manufacturers. As reported previously in the Stinger, phones in Japan with e-Wallet features have been used in phones for the financial transaction for rail tickets, retail items and vending products, and it is expected the M-Wallet will be deployed in America to fit this need.

Recently announced by Coca-Cola Japan, the vending operation of the beverage manufacturer will upgrade over 200,000 of their vending machines to accept payment from RadioWare wallet phones - mobile phones enabled to carry payment charges like an active credit card, by 2008. This was under the ‘Cmode2’ vending machine which is an advance and fully connected vending system offering full telemetry and payment support, Japan having 170,000 systems in operation, and expecting that the platform will be come the full industry standard before the end of the year.

RadioWare Expanding Entertainment
The gaming industry has been known to be heavily investing in the future of technology enabled gaming systems. Recent reports from the gaming capital Las Vegas, and in particular the most advanced and costly facility, shows a path currently invested in. The Wynn Casino Resort represents a $2.7 billion investment in achieving the impossible. The facility has become the first casino to migrate to a full implementation of non- coin-operated systems - removing the use of coin or token from the game machines at the site. Additional technological implementation has seen the first use of RFID in the security of the facilities gaming. RadioWare has been embedded in the poker chips of the site so that their movement. This tracking has also been applied to the playing cards used at the facility, in a controversial tracking of their movement on the tables through an optical reader. The automation of the tables through a ‘ShuffleMaster’ and ‘TableMaster’ systems that allow 24-hour gaming in a site that does not need croupiers or dealers.

Meanwhile, the Vegas casinos have taken the first step to secure government regulatory approval for Mobile Casino Gambling. The idea is that guests will not have to be on the slot floor to gamble. Instead, guests will be issued mobile devices, or could perhaps use their own mobile communications equipment, to log onto some sort of casino-specific closed circuit gaming system and gamble from poolside, from the resort’s golf course, from their hotel rooms, from the hallway, from the casino’s own restaurants, etc. Application is some years away but this vision is a logical outgrowth of current trends in mobile communications.

Moving from the casino to the theme park; Kid Vending moves from cardboard barcode swipe systems to state-of-the-art IC Cards. Announced in Japan, Takara toy and consumer game publisher, manufacturer, and legendary arcade and consumer games factory Capcom have inked an agreement to create the ‘NaviLink’ System. Players are now able to acquire a special IC Card that stores the data of their players’ characters, and use this card to play their character in other games on other platforms. The GameBoy, electronic toy and arcade kid vending system are the first platforms to support the NaviLink architecture. The use of special smart card technology negates the collection of cards, though a number of games will be needed to accrue points and features to customize their characters.

The increase of RadioWare in the theme park development has already been charted by TSR, but another new derivation was recently announced. The UK based theme park operation Alton Towers revealed that they would be operating RFID equipped guest systems that will capture 30-minutes of DVD footage of guests riding key attractions. The technology will take video footage of Parks sold RadioWare units automatically creating a complete DVD take away at the end of the guest visit. This video-capture system is a new means to generate revenue, building off of the previous flash ride photo capture systems conventionally deployed in parks. This is just one more aspect of the ‘personalization’ of the guest experience to entertainment venues, hoping to maximize revenue generation.

First RadioWare Pusher Push!
It has become all too obvious that RadioWare will be a fundamental factor in modern interaction with entertainment. The first applications have been seen with RFID player cards and payment systems; now the area of ‘Smart Plush’ has been implemented in Asia. SEGA launched following a AOU preview their latest UFO Catcher ‘Dream Palace 3’, the UFO catcher (unidentified fury object), the ultimate crane system that sits over a vast four station crane cluster, a major investment in real-estate. The unique SEGA catching system incorporates RFID inserted within prizes themselves, the player after catching a prize has a video screen depicting of their captured plush and information that can be personalized, with guest photo captured, receiving a printed certificate.

Augmented Reality
Wireless communications technology, taken to its logical conclusion, could mean that the entertainment industry does not have to build a dedicated facility in order for customers to participate in immersion-style simulations and related interactive experiences. Though not an original idea a number of Korean and Japanese technology companies have developed ‘Augmented Reality’ systems.

Augmented Reality means the use of technology to increase the information and perception of real world environments by the use of special systems. To date this has seen see-through Head Mounted Displays overlaying computer imagery into the wearer’s vision - information such as directions, or surrounding facts, the personal equivalent of the fighter jets Head-Up-Display.

In the entertainment scene this technology is being used in some interesting directions - already covered in the Stinger the Spanish ‘BreakOut’ LBE used PDA’s and RadioWare to supply information on their surroundings. In Japan a number of mobile phone providers have used the latest 3G technology to allow users to enter into games running around their area collecting imaginary items using their phone to represent the virtual surroundings. Another system based originally on toys, sees the dating profile of the phone owner broadcast secretly to other users that match their requirements - virtually instigating blind dates in real time.

The possibility that Augmented Reality could be used as a fully-fledged game played within the locality rather than a specific venue was seen with a hobby project set in New York City. A giant real life version of Pac-Man was staged with players using cell phones, GPRS positioning, and the street grid of the city in a game avoiding players as Ghosts. The use of these systems offers a tantalizing glimpse of what could be the virtual stadium, with players taking part in physical gaming on machines, while others rush around playing in virtual games; this concept has not been lost on the retail sector thinking of utilizing their mall and department store venues for entertainment application.

RadioWare Security Concerns
Not all is rosy with RadioWare - the concerns regarding the technology’s application and impact in the civil rights of users have again been raised. It was reported in the national media in the UK, that Police were using the Oyster travel card system (an implemented smartcard, contact-less payment system), as a tool in law-enforcement. It was revealed by certain media coverage that local police forces in London have tracked suspected criminals movement via the use of their individually tagged Oyster card. It is estimated that over 5 million Londoners use their Oyster card to travel on the train, tube and bus services of the capital, and police asked for travel records of over 200 users. The systems operator (Transport for London) refuted that the information on travel data was being stored for any other purpose than correlating the best travel service to match usage. In Japan it was already revealed that RFID was used to catch underage purchasers of cigarettes from vending systems, the ability to track and monitor vital to modern policing.

Security exercise to prove that a computer virus could be circulated via RadioWare tags on commercial products; a medium level computer virus was created and incorporated in a ‘smart barcode’ that is RadioWare, that then was passed from system to system that read and tracked the item. Described as a wake-up call for the RFID industry to build secure systems, this experiment represented the same action as was attempted back in 2003 with the then new Bluetooth communication standard (see Stinger #328), and which sadly was ignored.

How far RadioWare is allowed to monitor its users and share un-restricted information is a question that is just now being asked, especially as the technology pervades our lives completely.

Also, given the health concerns about cancer-causing cell phones and police getting cancer from using radar guns, it may just be a matter of time before similar medical concerns are raised in regards to certain forms RadioWare, particularly those that are embedded in items kept close to the human body.