DigiMarc Is Physical World Connection Player

Digimarc Corporation announced today the launch of a digital watermarking pilot in Japan that will allow customers of one of the country's popular "Amusement Cafe Maid in Japan" cafes to use their camera phones to interact with digitally-watermarked print materials and connect to online information such as a theme-oriented city guide and mobile phone wallpaper featuring favorite characters.



Machine-readable digital codes placed in printed marketing materials such as magazines, catalogs and fliers turn each printed page into a hyper link to web content.

Digital watermarks offer brand-sensitive companies an elegant, inobtrusive alternative to industrial-style barcodes and QR codes, allowing companies to easily extend their print campaigns to the mobile world without having to use visible marks that detract from the their brand.

See their mobile catalog

Google Vision.. What Do They See?

I don't know if people will want to carry another device around, when this will be done with a camera phone eventually.

The concept of a image recognition search engine and information tool would be a killer app.

From the Cool Hunter GOOGLE VISION Point and Aim



Well, yet another bright young designer from the U.K is developing a system that will have tag and name exactly what your staring at.

Google Vision is a conceptual product developed by Callum Peden, for the world's favorite search engine. The product provides the user with a truly unique information hub by combining GPS, OLED technology and advanced image recognition in the form of a retractable screen device.

Won't most mobile phones have these same features?

The Global Positioning System will see the end of wondering the streets asking for directions and the small roller ball will allow for easy navigation of the flexible screen. Brilliant for identifying landmarks whilst on holidays, Google vision acts as a personal; tour guide.

As well as this, advanced image recognition will mean Google Vision can target well known landmarks. Then using the increased coverage of wireless internet, provide the user with information on their surroundings wherever they may be

I like the retractable screen though. That would be a nice feature to have on a mobile phone.

IBM Japan Develops Invisible 2D Barcode

Unless you know where to look for the code, what other applications will this be useful for besides authentication.

IBM Japan and Connect Technology have developed an invisible, two dimensional bar-code which can be be read by camera phones.

From JapanCorp IBM Japan and Connect Technology Use Invisible 2D Barcodes

IBM Japan in collaboration with Connect Technology has developed an electronic clipping system, which uses invisible 2D barcodes printed on paper to integrate information from paper and digital data such as information provided on Internet sites.



The new system adds an invisible digital layer to printed materials, enabling the printed materials to be used like a portable site.

Invisible 2D barcodes which store digital data are printed on paper using invisible ink. The barcodes are then extracted from the paper by an image processing application. Since invisible ink is used, 2D barcodes can be printed over paper prints, not restricted by original print designs and layouts.

Invisible barcodes can be printed on each magazine or paper article, allowing users to clip and buy articles instead of magazines and papers

Tessera Acquires Digital Optics

From Photonics Tessera completes Digital Optics acquisition

Tessera Technologies Inc. of San Jose, Calif., announced this week it has completed the acquisition of Digital Optics Corp. for $59.5 million in cash for all outstanding Digital Optics equity.

Tessera Technologies, through its subsidiaries Tessera Inc. and Tessera Israel, is a provider of miniaturization technologies for the electronics industry.

Digital Optics was launched 15 years ago by a University of North Carolina (UNC) Charlotte team of experts in micro-optics led by UNC Charlotte faculty member Michael Feldman.

It provides miniaturization technology for camera-phone manufacturers and others in the electronics industry,technology is used in semiconductor optics, communications and photonics.

Micro-optics, which use microscopic structures to shape and influence light, are used in bar code-scanning and semiconductor manufacturing.

MediaSeek Introduces Barcode Reader For Camera Phones

From JCN Network Mediaseek intros camera phone barcode reader

MediaSeek has introduce barcode decoder software NW-7 Reader for camera phones. The NW-7 is a barcode used for applications including parcel delivery, library card and membership card management, and blood management for blood banks.


Since camera phones are portable, they enable users to use them for other applications including tracing products and accessing campaign sites without having to enter URLs.

MediaSeek holds the largest share in the mobile phone barcode decoder market.
With "CamReader" technology, MEDIASEEK provides a special decoding engine designed for small cellular handset, which reads both single (1D) and multi-dimensional (2D) barcode captured by electronic camera module implanted into the cellular handset.

The decoding engine has been installed as default application into more than 50% of cellular handsets shipped in Japanese market with software-driven implanted optic module as digital camera or video functions

IronMan European Championship

The pondering will be light for a little bit as I travel to Europe to compete in the IronMan European Championship.

The race is held Sunday July 23 in Frankfurt Germany and is considered the largest single sporting event in Europe.

I get the chance to compete with 2100 of the top triathletes in the World. The race will be televised in Europe and athletes can be tracked during the race at Ironman Live

If any PP readers are at the race, give a shout out, my bib number is 2077.

After the race I will be spending some time doing the tourist thing through Europe.

The UN Recognizes Physical World Connection

I can't decide if this is a good thing or not. Does this mean they recognize it, but won't do anything about it? :)

"Internet of things", Phase 2, Physical World Connection, and even Physical World Web 2.0 it will change, create many multi-billion dollar industries.

From the BBC UN predicts "Internet of Things"

Changes brought about by the internet will be dwarfed by those prompted by the networking of everyday objects, says a report by a UN body.

The study looks at how the use of electronic tags and sensors could create an "internet of things".

The so-called Internet of Things is predicted to offer new business opportunities for all, from manufacturers to the telecoms industry, and create entirely new markets.

Radio Frequency Identification (RFID), sensors, robotics and nanotechnology will make processing power increasingly available in smaller and smaller packages so that networked computing dissolves into the fabric of things around us.

Which Came First Chicken Or The Egg?...Or Was It A Stem Cell?

It looks like 2d codes will be adopted first for Physical World Connection.

By the time camera phones can resolve a 1d code (barcode) they will be even harder to resolve.

At this rate, RFID tags (various forms) seem more likely as the universal physical world hyperlink to get adopted before 1d codes (barcodes).

The camera phone wasn't designed to read a barcode. New can't resolve old.

PWC companies are trying to get the mobile phone to resolve 1d code (barcode).

Mobile phone manufacturers are designing new phones to read the new forms of physical world hyperlinks (RFID tags).
New is being designed to resolve new.

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Which came first, the chicken or the egg? What if the answer is a stem cell?

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These barcodes don't look any easier to read using a camera phone.

From Australian IT Clever codes tag retail revamp

SUPPLY chain standards body GS1 has announced a global date of January 2010 for the adoption, across all industries, of barcodes that are smaller and store more information.

Point-of-sale (POS) equipment will need to be compatible with the Reduced Space Symbology (RSS) barcodes.

RSS-14 is capable of encoding up to 20,000,000,000,000 (20 trillion) values. There are actually 15 characters that make up the barcode, but only 14 characters are encoded.

Designed by GS1's experts, the RSS barcodes pack more information into half the space of the standard EAN/EPC barcodes used for retail point-of-sale scanning at present.

GS1 said RSS would be a stepping stone for organisations planning to access more advanced data but that were not ready for radio frequency identification.

Motricity Buys GoldPocket Wireless

The mobile marketing space is heating up and the biggies are being selective in what companies they purchase.

In my opinion, this is a big acquisition for the mobile marketing space because it combines a mobile "portal" and content with the TV.

How fitting that Motricity buys a MM company with strong relationships in the TV industry. Your mobile phone will eventually be your universal remote control .


From Click Z Motricity pockets mobile marketing firm GoldPocket

Aiming to expand its content distribution capabilities, mobile marketplace management firm Motricity has snapped up mobile marketing firm GoldPocket Wireless .

The deal gives Motricity access to GoldPocket's big entertainment media clients like ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, TBS and Bravo, enhancing Motricity's existing customer base which includes Cingular, Alltel, Sprint, Leap and BET.

Together, Motricity and Goldpocket, power the largest, end-to-end, pure-play, mobile content solutions in the media and entertainment market.

GoldPocket's technology allows its clients, most of which are entertainment content providers, to build mobile campaigns for particular shows involving things like fan clubs, sweepstakes or alerts.

GoldPocket's campaigns include TV Guide, The Biggest Loser, The Apprentice, Big Brother, Food Network's The Love Crawl.

BeeTagg Links The Physical World With Camera Phone

It is becoming quite clear the 2d code is being adopted faster than the 1d code (barcode). The PWC players that are making their code scanning software compatible with the largest number of mobile phones, have the best shot of taking the lead in this enormous space.

BeeTagg is a great example of how the physical world will get connected using a 2d code and a camera phone.

Put the codes in the hands of the users and let them determine what objects they want hyperlinked.

There is more to PWC than mobile marketing, and mobile marketing companies need to realize this.

These guys have both a unique code, free software, ability to generate your own code and a wide variety of mobile phones. Great job guys.

Add BeeTagg to the Physical World Connection list

Decode a BeeTagg (2D-Code) with your mobile phone and immediately retrieve information and content from the internet. No matter whether it is pictures, websites, contacts or videos – achieve your aims quickly, like never before

The BeeTagg Generator Basic gives you the opportunity to link up to 20 BeeTaggs to content in the internet

See all of the currently supported mobile phones



Download the free software by going to http://get.beetagg.com

There are two ways to read a BeeTagg, realtime and non-realtime.

Once a BeeTagg is correctly identified, click the fire button (realtime version) or the '5' button (non-realtime version) to get access to the content on the internet. The browser will open automatically. Have fun!

The BeeTagg infrastructure:

Ipsh! Launches New Mobile Marketing Division

The mobile marketing firm that is doing everything right, launches a full-service mobile marketing division. There's a reason Omnicom Group gobbled them up


From Adotas Ipsh! launches new division

Mobile marketing agency ipsh! has launched FullServ-ipsh!, a new division that provides media strategy, planning, buying and creative expertise for mobile advertising and marketing.

ipsh! boasts that it has implemented more than 550 mobile marketing campaigns in its five-year existence.

ipsh! claims its planning can be as targeted as handset, carrier, area code, Zip code, basic demographic, income level, gender, and in some instances, location.

Medical Instruments Get Hyperlinked

Eventually every medical instrument will be wirelessly connected.

From AZom.com RFID chips track medical instruments

The same technology that prevents thefts in clothing stores could also help surgeons keep track of instruments and gauze sponges during medical procedures according to a preliminary study at the Stanford University School of Medicine.
In the study, researchers used tiny chips called radio frequency ID tags attached to surgical sponges to locate the sponges in the body before the operation ended.

The sponges I can see, because they are disposable. The midical instruments might be a different problem though. I think they might have a problem when they sterilize the medical instrument though with this specific tag.

For the study, Macario used sponges developed by ClearCount Medical Solutions Inc. in Pittsburgh that were rigged with a 20mm diameter radio-frequency ID chip.

Macario said that in the future he thinks RFID tags will track all surgical items and supplies throughout a surgery as they enter and leave a patient's body.

Anyone know what kind of RFID tag would work well in this situation?

Hewlett Packard Unveils Physical World Hyperlink Chip

Better than a barcode, more powerful than an RFID tag, it's "Memory Spot".

This is big news for Physical World Connection, or for the Internet of Things. A major semiconductor company introduces a very versatile physical world hyperlink.

From Tech Whack HP unveils revolutionary wireless chip that links digital and physical world

If these chips are going to link to the Internet, who will handle the database registry, Verisign? Or is Hewlett Packard going to create a new revenue stream?

HP Unveils Revolutionary Wireless Chip That Links the Digital and Physical Worlds;

Grain-Sized Chip Could Be Attached to Almost Any Object, Making Information More Ubiquitous. Vice President of HP Labs says ""We have built a device that allows us to bridge the physical and digital world,"

With no equal in terms of its combination of size, memory capacity and data access speed, the tiny chip could be stuck on or embedded in almost any object and make available information and content now found mostly on electronic devices or the Internet.

The chip has a 10 megabits-per-second data transfer rate — 10 times faster than Bluetooth(TM) wireless technology and comparable to Wi-Fi speeds — effectively giving users instant retrieval of information in audio, video, photo or document form.

About the same size as a shirt button but thinner.

With a storage capacity ranging from 256 kilobits to 4 megabits in working prototypes, it could store a very short video clip, several images or dozens of pages of text. Future versions could have larger capacities.

Information can be accessed by a read-write device that could be incorporated into a cell phone, PDA, camera, printer or other implement.

The readers rely on the same radio frequency employed by Bluetooth.

To access information, the read-write device is positioned closely over the chip, which is then powered so that the stored data is transferred instantly to the display of the phone, camera or PDA or printed out by the printer. Users could also add information to the chip using the various devices.

"The basic conception of Memory Spot is similar to RFID tags, but we have data rates that are orders of magnitude higher, and higher capacity," Taub said

It doesn't say how much this chip will cost, or some other key facts. Will these chips get ipV6 addresses? Do they have problems around liquid and metal?

When a major semiconductor builds a chip and says it's sole purpose is to connect the physical world with the electronic world, you know this space will be big.

Putting The "Eye" In The Internet

No mo Jane Doe.

Just in case you happen to leave your fingerprints at home, Xvista uses your iris as a physical world hyperlink for identification.


Remember a fingerprint and an iris are just a couple examples of a physical world hyperlink

From GizModo Xvista Portable Iris Scanner

Xvista has been hard at work improving iris scanning technology, having just developed the UK's first portable iris scanner.

Small enough to be fitted inside a cellphone, xvista's technology could conceivably be integrated into heavily trafficked areas, such as airports.

The iris data is captured and processed by a unique algorithm designed specifically to operate on low power computing devices such as a camera equipped mobile phone

Since iris scanning technology is quite accurate, with the odds of two irises matching being less than 1 in 7 billion, expect to see this technology make more inroads as time marches on.

The iris is a machine readabale identifier.

Physical World Happening Faster Than Most Realize

Some call it the "Internet of Things" and I have referred to it as Physical World Connection or Phase 2.

Either way, IDTechEx says it's happening faster than most realize.

Item level tagging is happening faster than most realize - 200 million tags will be used in 2006 for item level tagging alone - mainly apparel, books and drugs to name a few applications.

From 2007 it will be the world's largest RFID market by value, rising to a value of $11 billion for tags and all systems of a $26 billion RFID market in 2016.

To get a sense of how big and what this is, every time you see a hyperlink on your screen today, imagine if you had to type that long web address instead to get there.

We take hyperlinks for granted.

Now imagine that every physical object you see, can and will have a physical world hyperlink on it or in it, and provide a link to the Internet. There will be trillions of these unique hyperlinks, all that we need is a physical world browser .

Longer term, the technology to achieve item level tagging will most likely not be chip based.

To reach the critical low price points of the tag required for the item level tagging of the highest volume items - such as documents and most products, technologies such as printed thin film transistor circuits, printed electronics and Surface Acoustic Wave Devices (SAW) are all suitors.

Click here for the table of industries and spplications.

Carnival Of The Mobilists #36

Debi over at Mobile Jones hosts this week's Carnival of the Mobilists. She did a great job of summarizing all of the great posts that were submitted.

This week the majority of the Mobilists focused their efforts around SMS text messaging and the role it plays, and will play going forward.

BlackBerry Becomes A SmartPhone

From Gadgetell BlackBerry to get Wi-Fi, camera, GPS and more

RIM announced that the Blackberry will beef up on features in the coming months–presumably to combat the strong competition from the Treo 700w, 700p, Motorola Q, and other recent smartphones.

By the end of this year we should see the addition of Wi-Fi, a still camera, a video camera, memory expansion slots, GPS, and MP3 playback.


Balsillie said that one area that was starting to grow quickly was the market for BlackBerry peripherals. He said these included printers, bar-code scanners, RFID (radio-frequency identification) scanners.

Government Implements Physical World Connection For Drugs

The Government is actually expediting Physical World Connection.

This isn't scanning a barcode, it is scanning various types of RFID tags and connecting through the Internet. This is also referred to as the "Internet of Things".

From GovExec Wireless tracking technology interests senators

Senators are becoming increasingly interested in a technology that can track everything from prescription drugs to aircraft parts.

Scientists call the technology a step above bar codes because it can identify an individual product.

While the recent FDA barcode mandate will used to identify drugs, a key issue is drugs are being sold as counterfeits

Congress has pending legislation to require RFID devices on bottles of the 30 most counterfeited drugs. Pfizer is already using RFID for Viagra.

Could this be the ideal solution for the pharmaceutical industry?

Did you know that this chip can be scanned using a mobile phone too?

Google Introduces Mobile Marketing?

That's the last thing these guys want to hear, but they will soon.

--------You Can Only Find Our Website With One Search Engine----

Isn't that the dumbest marketing statement you ever heard?

That's whats happening with mobile.

Did you ever wonder what would happen if just ONE shortcode was used for text messaging info requests? That could happen very easily and it would be a real blow to some mobile marketing companies.

What happened to the search engine space will have to the shortcode space too.

Last week I posted Jessica Simpson's mobile marketing campaign and consumers were asked to text "JESS" to 33992.

Wouldn't the campaign get a much greater response if I could text JESS to GOOGL and get the same results? Why can't you?

Because Google hasn't started to offer mobile marketing....Yet.

I don't know what's harder, typing in a web address on my mobile or remembering each 5 (now 6) digit shortcode.

If you're the campaign manager, shouldn't you find a word that corresponds to that number to make it easier to remember? I am amazed at the lack of creativity these marketing companies have when it comes the most important part of the campaign, and what they are doing to entice customers.

Either these mobile marketing companies come out with innovative words for their shortcodes, or Google is just going take over this space. 4INFO realized this and look at their market dominance.

Wouldn't you like anyone to be able to text JESS to the biggest shortcode and get the same information? Doesn't that increase your response rate?

What did Pontiac show us about searching with their TV ads? They told viewers to go to "the" search engine (www.google.com) and type in "PONTIAC" for more information. They are using a "universal" search engine and relying on one keyword for results.

What I see is the number of shortcodes consolidating very rapidly to just one or two. Outside of GOOGL, 4INFO and YAHOO, can you think of any others?

Here's how Google becomes the mobile marketing company.

Google will sell the mobile marketing company the ability to direct traffic using the short code GOOGL with their specific keyword. Send "JESS" to GOOGL and get the same result. Google starts to sell mobile marketing keywords and then GOOGL becomes the standard for text messaging inquiries.

Google is entering into print and radio advertising. Wouldn't it be the perfect opportunity to introduce GOOGLE or GOOGL words? Talk about a combination advertising punch. The Toyota ad in Newsweek invites you to send TOYOTA to GOOGL. The crazy German Dr Z says send DRZ to GOOGLE for more information on their radio ad.

GOOGL and GOOGLE could be for different services.

After seeing the lack of creativity by mobile marketing companies and their text message campaigns so far, I am surprised Google hasn't started to implement this already.

SMS Price Comparison For Cars

Until Kelly's Blue Book offers an SMS service this will work. This price comparison application would have value.

To check the price of a car, users text the word 'price' and the license plate number to 80806.

Parker's then texts back exactly what model and year the car is, and what the going prices are if purchased new or second-hand, in good and in bad condition, plus what the trade price is



A revolutionary new service brought to you by Parker's; SMS PRICE CHECK is the quick and easy way of having the car pricing information you need - any place, any time.

Simply text the keyword PRICE to 80806 together with license plate and mileage details (if known)

Cost: £1.50 + your normal network charge.

See Springwise for other new business ideas.