Hackit: Consumer RFID

posted Mar 2nd 2009 3:15pm by Nick Caiello
filed under: HackIt, wireless hacks

Touchatag

RFID seems to have invaded every part of our lives. Sure, the technology has been primarily used in government and industry, but that doesn’t mean that it doesn’t have consumer applications. Recently, we posted about [max's] RFID dorm room lock, that he built to provide a safe, convenient way to access his room. A while back, we talked about an RFID spatially aware address book that used a combination of rfid tags and post-it notes to control the NFC enabled Nokia 3220 cell phone. Both of these projects highlight unique applications where RFID is used. We bash on RFID from time to time, mostly due to its security (or lack there of). That said, there is an interesting consumer solution out there for people who want to voluntarily use RFID called Touchatag (formerly known as Tikitag). The cool thing about Touchatag is that it uses a combination of RFID and QR (2-D barcode) tags to trigger applications on the Touchatag website. The starter kit, which includes 10 tags and a USB RFID reader, goes for about $40; a decent price considering the hacking potential for the RFID reader. In addition to using the reader, you can also use any NFC enabled phone to read the tags. While NFC enabled phones are currently few and far between, the technology will likely be implemented in many of the new phones released in the coming year.

We’re curious, what do you think is next for consumer RFID? What kind of innovative project ideas do you have?

Comments [29]

tagged: HackIt, qr, rfid, tag, tikitag, touchatag, usb rfid reader

Reader Comments

Cool write up, Nick. Thanks.

–Ted

Ted Haeger
Manager, Touchatag Developer Network

Posted at 3:58 pm on Mar 2nd, 2009 by Ted Haeger

My school uses RFID… would this $40 thing be able to clone it, so I can put a spare on my keychain?

Posted at 4:37 pm on Mar 2nd, 2009 by Avaviel

btw: the rfid readers from touchatag are (or at least were) ACS ACR 122.

Posted at 4:41 pm on Mar 2nd, 2009 by Flo

@avaviel
My college uses rfids too. I’ve always wanted to scan my ID card and see what info is on the rfid but have wondered if you need to unencrypt the bitstream to get meaningful data out of it. Are the ones and zeroes just ascii code?

Posted at 7:48 pm on Mar 2nd, 2009 by Zorink

@zorink: you have a few different types, with different storage capacities and levels of crypto. So it depends.

@avaviel: It wouldn’t with the touchatag software. No write capability there.

Posted at 8:36 pm on Mar 2nd, 2009 by Ted Haeger

@Zorink
depends on what type of card they’re using.
couple of common ones are Mifare cards which have some space to store data.
the EM cards are also sometimes used for door access. the EM cards have a unique id on each card with no write capability.
I’d say unless they store value on the card that it would use the EM cards.

Posted at 3:16 am on Mar 3rd, 2009 by iduno

Sweet. Just what I needed.

Pre-ordered a kit to play with.

Posted at 3:34 am on Mar 3rd, 2009 by Pascal

1 inch range of the reader isn’t a lot I must say.

Posted at 4:45 am on Mar 3rd, 2009 by Wwhat

RFID went consumer the day you could get a rfid reader and tags from Radioshack.

Paralalax rfid kit is in the parts bins at Rat-shack. Blew my mind.

But, Rfid at home will not become useful until the tags drop to $0.01 each and/or groceries come with them already. I would KILL to be able to put a reader in my fridge and pantry and pull up a inventory in the home server. That would be the killer rfid app for consumers.

Posted at 5:40 am on Mar 3rd, 2009 by fartface

What ‘d like is an affordable RFID EMP blaster on the market, one that you don’t have to make yourself tuned to each RFID.
Not just for me but for the freedom of the people.

Posted at 7:20 am on Mar 3rd, 2009 by Wwhat

@wwhat: That’s why this type of RFID technology is called “Near Field Communication.” It’s designed for close-proximity, contactless applications.

Posted at 8:24 am on Mar 3rd, 2009 by Ted Haeger

does anyone know of a reasonably priced RFID reader with a range of maybe 10 ft or so? My car has RFID tags to monitor tire pressure, but it just tells you if something has gone wrong, not the actual number. I’d like to be able to read that and display it on the dash somewhere.

Posted at 8:39 am on Mar 3rd, 2009 by jweller

For those of you who don’t know – there are no tags that don’t use batteries that are writeable. The tags that don’t need an external power source use the energy from the radio waves to read the data from their memory and send it back.

I have done some work with rfid, and this is what I found out. If you want to copy the classic, no-power-source cards or chips, I would think you need do so at production time. E.g., put a memory chip on it which has already had data written to it. — Ah, found it. Protocol is called EM4102.

Check out phidgets.com for a somewhat cheap rfid reader, with a complete API in C, C++, .NET and more.

Posted at 8:42 am on Mar 3rd, 2009 by IceDane

Hmm – I apologize. EM4102 is one of the many protocols for no power source readonly chips, but there are many others. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Securitag_Assembly_Group and search for em4102, that’s the only real resource I could find for it.

Posted at 8:44 am on Mar 3rd, 2009 by IceDane

Adam Laurie did a hacktastic talk on these devices at the blackhat conference. He got them when they were called tikitag at a 70% discount before they were rebranded to touchtag. See the video (mostly audio with slides) at https://media.blackhat.com/bh-dc-09/video/Laurie/blackhat-dc-09-Laurie-Satellite-Hacking.mov about 50 min into it. Apparently there’s an emulator mode in the nxp chip..

Posted at 11:17 am on Mar 3rd, 2009 by DigiHobo

Am more interested in the 2d bar code. Althogh both the rfid and the qr code can save typing a url, the qr code could also act as a fiducial.
ie, scan code, convert to url, pull app or 3d content from web, display 3d content on screen using qr code as fiducial akin to http://hackaday.com/?s=augmented+reality

Posted at 11:26 am on Mar 3rd, 2009 by DigiHobo

If they ever get market saturation with these things, like if someone comes up with the killer app for “the internet of things”, I can see this becoming a vector for shenanigans.
“Oh, a touchtag for free cappuccino” scan/url/pwned!

The same has been done in the past with thumb drives.

Posted at 11:54 am on Mar 3rd, 2009 by DigiHobo

Haven’t the Japanese been using rfid’s in cellphones for years now?

Posted at 12:19 pm on Mar 3rd, 2009 by blizzzarddemon

Japaneese and south Koreans have been using the QR codes for everything from booking tickets to getting coupons.

Would like to see a grassroots barter credit system using this rfid technology. Could become a counter culture digital cash system. Considering that the chips in nfc phones can read tags but also emulate tags, if some sort of authentication could be used to verify your e-wallet. A digital cash system using gsm already exists in Afrika http://webwereld.nl/internationaal-nieuws/55444/zain-launches-mobile-money-transfer-service-in-east-africa.html

Posted at 12:50 pm on Mar 3rd, 2009 by DigiHobo

The japanese have been using QR codes (or similar) through the phones for buying (metro and train tickets)for quite a lot but never heard about rfid.

Posted at 2:04 pm on Mar 3rd, 2009 by ghostDancer

What about using a hyperscan gaming system for rfid? it has a usb port and runs games on CDs which can be downloaded and burned. I have one of these and plan to experiment soon.

Posted at 7:04 pm on Mar 3rd, 2009 by Serge2386

Does anyone know of alternative software that could be used with this? To use it as intended, you install their software which listens for tags and sends the number to their servers awaiting instructions (what rfid = what “application” or URL). As of my last experience with my tikitag reader, there wasn’t a way to set a function on the tag LEAVING the read-area.. so I gave up on it.

If I could get this thing to work with truecrypt, using the RFID # as the password, and re-encrypting when I leave with my tag, I would feel very Bond.

Posted at 8:09 pm on Mar 3rd, 2009 by Rob

@rob

The swiss army app of rfid, namely rfidiot by Adam Laurie is here http://rfidiot.org/#Where
There are linux and windows versions.

Posted at 4:11 am on Mar 4th, 2009 by DigiHobo

I’m seeing smart cat doors querying much smaller collars.

Posted at 10:27 am on Mar 4th, 2009 by cmholm

As far as RFID consumer products… How about an RFID tag under a golf balls skin. True golf ball location up to 30ft, yes? Usually the little sucker is 3 feet away from you under a layer of grass and you never see it.

Posted at 7:04 pm on Mar 4th, 2009 by Laz....

RFID Cat Flap… kind of cool, espically as most at the moment are Magnetic so they have no distinction between them.

Espically as the animal tracking system uses RFID so a collar with it might not be nessecary, but there usually quite weak in power.

Posted at 3:35 pm on Mar 5th, 2009 by #YLS#

All the hacks people think up are a bit limited by the reader’s max range of one inch, they should really improve that, 5 inches would already be much much better.

(Don’t say that’s what she said dammit, this isn’t engadget >:|)

Posted at 6:30 am on Mar 7th, 2009 by Wwhat

leuk programa

Posted at 12:51 am on May 28th, 2009 by visje

hoe gaat het met jou

Posted at 12:52 am on May 28th, 2009 by visje

Hackit: Consumer RFID

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