I’m the kind of person who loves his gadgets and while I might draw the line at forking out $400 to be first in line for the latest iPhone, I’m certainly one of the first on the waiting list to get one.  Like many geeks (my wife refers to me as a goober), I’m about as organized as a whirlwind in a pile of index cards but fortunately for me, my long-suffering beloved is far more disciplined than I’ll ever be.  For the center of my universe – my iPhone – I’m very grateful I married the right woman!

Occasionally I’ll come home to find the house is in the throes of being turned upside down as my little lady embarks on a major cataloging and arranging exercise with the household.  My collection of gadgets and techno “must haves” has been spread over the family room more than a few times in our marriage, prompting some gnashing of teeth on my part.

So it was that I returned home to find my angel intent on slapping a personalized label onto all of our “mobile” personal items.  The bicycles, the video camera, both the kids digital cameras bought as Mickey Mouse Christmas presents, baggage, my old rucksack I use for my hiking trips – in short, if it was capable of being moved it had a small, identity label affixed to it.

Now I love my iPhone and I am a self-confessed MacHead; I love the Apple design flare and when it came to making a decision to buy a smart phone it was a real no-brainer for me.  It just had to be an iPhone – the same iPhone I was using to talk to my kid brother as I walked into the house, only to have the phone taken from me and get the “identification” treatment from “She who must be obeyed”.

By now I know not to argue – it took only a few seconds for a very small label to get tagged onto my iPhone towards the lower end where it doesn’t interfere with the phone’s operation or its looks.  After a snatched “Hi” with my younger brother, my little angel gave me the iPhone back and waved me away as she went on to whatever the next target of her labeling interest happened to catch her eye.

By now, you may think I’m a guy who lives under the thumb, however there are times when you should just let your woman sort things out for you.  In some things, women just have a better sense and judgment about things than mere men…certainly this mere man.

Three short weeks later on a trip to New York City, I was riding the subway to downtown Manhattan for a brief meeting and then a cab ride over to Brooklyn.  Another meeting and then a cab ride to Penn Station for the train back home.  It’s at this point that I’m fumbling around for my iPhone which has become noticeable by its silence.  Sure enough it’s gone, but the problem is I had no idea where I lost it and almost immediately I’m thinking about all the numbers and contacts I have in there, all the texts, emails and IM’s I have saved and a host of other data.

Crestfallen, I return home wondering whether I should break the news of my devastating loss only to be greeted by Madam with a knowing grin on her face.  My iPhone had been found by a Good Samaritan on the subway who called the number on the id tag and my wife had arranged for it to be shipped down to me for the next day.

Panic over for me, but humble pie time as the little lady now casts her labeling eye over virtually every possession in the house though I’m drawing the line at having one fixed to me personally!

Related articles by Zemanta

• Top 10 iPhone Knockoffs (toptenz.net)
• Mobile Internet Impact on Trade Shows (worldoftradeshowdisplays.com)
• Is Tagging Your Asset a Theft Deterrent? (easyorderassettags.com)
• RFID Application in Parking Permits Saves Hoboken $8 Million a Year (easyorderparkingpermits.com)

Part of my job requires that I travel frequently for business. And, I have gotten into the habit of reading quite heavily while on these business trips. Reading helps to pass the time on flights, in airports, taxis, and so on – as well as to help me catch-up on industry trends and analysis.

Carrying around multiple magazines or books can be quite a hassle, however. So, I recently purchased a Kindle (digital e-book reader). It is an amazing piece of technology and affords me the luxury of storing dozens of books and magazines for review at any time – without the bulk and inconvenience of transporting the printed versions.

My Kindle has become a valuable asset in my business and personal travels. I take it with me everywhere now and it is an essential piece of my carry-on luggage. As a matter of fact, my Kindle has replaced my laptop as the first thing I break out, after the airline pilot gives word that it is okay to use personal electronic devices.

Well, on a recent Alaska Airlines flight, you can imagine my surprise as I realized my Kindle was missing. After de-boarding the plane and walking to the waiting lounge for my connecting flight, I reached into my carry-on bag to take out my trusty e-book reader. But it wasn’t there. After thinking back, I remembered using it and then putting it in the seat pocket in front of me as I got up to stretch my legs before landing.

There was no time to go back to the first gate to ask if anyone had turned in the device before my connecting flight. So, I feared the worst… My Kindle may be gone for good. Just then, my cell phone rang from a number that I did not recognize. I answered the phone and, to my amazement, it was an Alaska Airlines customer service agent. She stated that they had found my Kindle in the seat pocket of my first flight and that she noticed the ID My Stuff label on the back with my name and cell phone number. She asked if I was still in the airport and said she would do her best to get it to me right away.

The wonderful Alaska Airlines agent borrowed an airport golf cart and was able to get my Kindle back to me before my next flight departed. I was thrilled to have my Kindle back in-hand, truly before I could even really miss it. The ID My Stuff label had absolutely saved the day! Without that ID label, it most likely would have been weeks before I got the device back – if even at all.

Any air traveler understands the joys of checking-in luggage and the frequently frustrated expectation which goes with trying to retrieve it at the other end of the journey.  Jokes abound of how luggage handlers all seem to wear the same boot size, (size 16) because this is the imprint seen on luggage no matter where it comes from or gets to!  In addition, there is the real problem with ensuring that luggage gets on the same aircraft as the passenger and is not left behind, or worse and yet still quite common, ends up on a completely different aircraft and engages in a round the world trip on its own.

By tagging luggage with RFID technology, the luggage handling process can be streamlined and made more reliable.  At the same time, luggage which is equipped with an RFID tag at check-in can be associated with a particular passenger and tracked through the chain which takes the luggage from passenger to air side, to aircraft and then disembarkation at destination and finally, back to the passenger.

The implications for airline security and enhanced customs control are all too apparent.  The benefits for frustrated passengers seeking to reunited with their luggage are equally apparent.  With an RFID tag, the luggage is capable of being tracked much more effectively and identified and associated with security procedures at check-in and throughout the trip.  In addition, using the check-in data, it will be possible to aggregate the luggage cargo to ensure further items, which may obviate check-in and security procedures, cannot be added to the aircraft manifest, such as a bomb for instance.

Biometric passports are also evolving, however they are the source of many social and adoption problems.  The privacy concerns in particular are causing many Western governments to question the necessity for the second generation of biometric passports which are being proposed.  Such has the furore been over privacy and concerns over data theft from biometric passports, that one leading political party in the UK has threatened to abolish them if elected.

The threat may be electioneering, however it has some grass roots support in the wake of a Mossad secret service operation carried out by Israel in the Middle East.  Mossad agents carried out an assassination of an Arab target in the Middle East using forged biometric passports which had been copied from British, Irish and French tourists to Israel.  The data collected by Israeli border control was then used to forge “new” biometric passports for their secret service agents who entered an Arab country to carry out the hit.  Despite the claims that biometric passports are harder to forge, in this instance a glaring weakness has been exposed and how a foreign country can seriously misuse the information it collects as a consequence of the biometric component.

This affair is likely to have an impact on US homeland security – foreign travelers are required to have a biometric passport to enter the country, however if the rest of the world seeks to slow down or halt implementation of biometrics, this will have a severe impact on travel to America.

Medical ID tags, no matter what form they take, are looked for as part of standard practice by emergency responders and medical personnel.  By alerting doctors and first responders to conditions such as allergy sensitivity, blood group and medications being taken, much time can be saved and there is no doubt that lives have been saved because of the information contained on such identification tags.

Medical identification tags are suitable for many more people than those with an allergy or a condition such as diabetes, in fact there are many more instances where medical personnel need to be alerted and can be easily enough.

If a patient has any of the following, a medical identification tag will assist in identifying both the patient and more importantly, the condition which they suffer from:

• Alzheimer’s Disease
• Atrial Fibrillation
• Diabetes (type 1 and 2)
• Angina
• Low Blood Pressure
• Arrhythmias
• Pacemakers
• Surgical issues e.g. heart surgery, cancer treatment
• Transplant
• Epilepsy
• Medicine Use (especially where multiple prescriptions are being taken)
• High Blood Pressure
• Benign Intracranial Hypertension
• Hypertension
• Low Blood Pressure
• Allergy information

Once a medical responder understands you suffer from a set of conditions or are taking a particular type of medication, treatment options can be much more rapidly assessed.  Vitally, avoiding some treatment regimes is essential for certain types of patient – if a patient is recovering or taking medication as a consequence of a heart condition, then certain standard drugs for pain control must be avoided or else there is serious risk to life.

Medical identification tags are also becoming more “intelligent” – the obvious development with tags was to include patient identifiers such as name, address and next of kin, but with advances in technology, a new generation of smart tags are under development.  Using microchips, much more information can be stored and indeed, there is no practical or theoretical limit to the amount of information which can be stored in this way.

Imagine a scenario where an unconscious individual is admitted to an ER facility, and while the patient is as yet unknown, the medical identification tag contains a chip which holds a copy of the patient’s medical records.  By using the appropriate reader, medical responders can access the entire medical history of the individual including such ancillary information as insurance coverage so they know the bill will be settled prior to treatment being provided!  It has not been unknown for essential treatment to be withheld or delivered after considerable delay while such administrative issues have waited to be resolved – cold comfort to you if you are the patient in this instance.

Development of medical identification tags is flowing into other identification and tracking areas.  RFID technology for instance, has been used for some time to track moveable assets, but the application to people has been discouraged in many instances because of the threat to civil liberties. So far, application has been restricted to those prisoners who are sentenced to house arrest but there are obvious medical applications for those who suffer from dementia for instance.

One thing is clear, the days of a simple metal tag with a blood group imprinted upon it have become numbered – the days of the smart medical tag are almost upon us.

Lasers are needed to take the images used in constructing he hologram – in fact two laser beams are used in conjunction with a photographic plate – these combined images are then viewable as a hologram using normal light.  One laser beam hits the object from the side while the other hits the object from the front – the photographic plate collects both reflected images so the image collected is actually a dual-image on one photographic plate – this creates the holographic effect.

If this seems complicated, it’s because it is – and this is why hologram stickers are such an excellent security device – they are so very difficult to reproduce by counterfeiters.  If you wish to instill confidence in your customers that the products you are supplying to market are in fact made by you and covered by your warranties and guarantees, then a hologram sticker with your logo and brand stamped on them are an excellent way to do this.

So secure are hologram stickers that they are incorporated into credit and debit cards as well as formal identification cards used by companies and government agencies.  While hologram stickers are more expensive to produce and source than ordinary labels and stickers, the costs is still not prohibitive because modern print technology is capable of rendering the pieces at a very cost-effective price.  You can order hologram stickers in relatively small print runs but you will benefit from much greater cost efficiencies if you order larger print runs for the stickers.

Other hologram sticker applications include:

• Quality control marks on items which contain intellectual or performance property such as software, film and audio;
• Asset tracking labels to demonstrate ownership and equipment information (especially when combined with barcode tags);
• Tamper proof evidence by preventing sensitive items such as medication or baby foods from being opened or if they are opened, the end-user will have visual evidence of tampering;
• Vehicle registration and parking rights;
• Concert and event ticket anti-counterfeiting measures;
• Confidential document protection;
• Clothing hang tags;
• Original equipment manufacturer marks (OEM) for use in a wide range of applications including car and aircraft parts as well as widely used in software packaging; and
• Lottery ticket scratch cards.

Hologram labels lend themselves to a wide range of creative uses so it is simple to incorporate your brand name and logo or other customized design into the finished product.  Using hologram labels in connection with your branding lends a degree of unique differentiation to help your company products be more readily identifiable in the minds of the buying public and to get the most out of hologram labels you should consult with a print and design partner who is experienced in designing and producing them.

OK, I know currently you have the choice with your advertising medium – plaster your brand name all over the place, hit the potential prospect with a high impact assault on their senses, gain attention, generate interest leading to making a decision and then getting them to act on it.  Except no billboard hoarding is going to be able to do that as the prospect is driving along at 60 mph and how many people do you see stopping alongside a billboard with pen and paper in hand taking the advertisers contact information from the ad?

Not many if indeed, any!

In Japan they have been experimenting and innovating 2D barcodes and cell phones equipped with a reader or more usually, just the ability to send a Multimedia Messaging text (known as MS as opposed to SMS).  The system is known as Jagtag and the 2D barcode labels at the center of this concept is able to store music, audio, picture and video information as well as gain access to marketing collateral stored online.

The neat part of Jagtag is that it is able to deliver information both ways – not only is the 2D tag able to give you immediate information, but it can also be integrated with an online back-end you can hook into with your cell phone giving the website your personal preferences or your location so the marketing response to your request for information is highly contextual.

Imagine you see a an ad, you like what you see so you text the Jagtag code (by scanning it with your cell phone) to the text number provided, the code is processed and the appropriate message is then returned to the user’s cell phone which is then used on the cell phone as and when they wish. There are no API’s to download and no fuss while the advertiser is updated in real-time with the response to their marketing efforts.

The US version simply requires you to subscribe to either Verizon or AT&T networks and some big names have signed up for the concept including Nike who have been trailing the system with Nike 6.0.

There are a wealth of internet sites offering personalization services for wine for special occasions such as weddings and holiday celebrations but what is also remarkably ignored, are the services available to personalize any bottle and not just a fancy wine bottle either – think soda for instance!

Personalizing your own custom wine label does require a good idea of what will work and what does not – personalization is a double edged sword which can easily lead to a presentation disaster no matter how good the wine inside actually is.  The wine label for many is a certain symbol of the quality of the bottle which is why wine producers and distributors spend so much time and effort on creating a good looking bottle and label in the first place.

Check out the printing service offered and ensure that they provide help with the label design before you plunge into the personalization process.  Many internet suppliers do little more than provide templates which are bland and uninspiring and certainly nothing in the form of custom designs to suit your own particular requirements; this results in many wine and champagne bottles looking like cast off prizes from a cheap fairground instead of the bespoke and customized entertaining experience that a good label will produce.

You should also look for help in selecting your wines; this is where the really good wine label suppliers will stand out from those who are simply dabbling in the market – personalization means putting something of yourself into the end product and this creates an opportunity to demonstrate taste and something unique however, it is also an opportunity to get it completely wrong which will equally reflect upon you.

Make sure you select a supplier who is able to help you at all stages of the personalization and design process including helping you with your wine selection too.

Cheap labels now allow you to organize everything from your garage and tool shed, through to your home possessions for security purposes as well as the more traditional uses such as marking school books and sports kit so the kids do not permanently lose stuff when they forget it.

Across the board, every type of label has fallen dramatically in price.

Heavy duty all-weather Nalgene laminated tags now cost as little as their indoor equivalents used to mark items in your kitchen; marking up personal possessions with a permanent adhesive tag is one of the best ways of ensuring you get your possessions returned if they are stolen and this will cost a few dollars at most to do; marking your belongings no matter what or where they are is a mark of your ownership and possession so things do not get permanently mislaid and the only real investment you have to make is a little time to get the job of labeling done; in dollar terms it is a few bucks and no more.

You can find cheap label suppliers across the internet but with low cost you must be careful of the quality you are receiving.  Many low cost labels are produced in the Far East and particularly China, where highly toxic inks and manufacturing processes destroy the environment while the quality of the label material itself may leave a lot to be desired.  This said, there is no shortage of homegrown label producers right here in the US where standards are higher and despite producing cheap products you can easily afford, buying US labels keeps US jobs right here at home.

Typical waterproof labels will be able to resist the effects of water for several days, weeks or indeed permanently depending on the adhesive used and how well it has been applied.  In fact, most waterproof labels will be able to withstand the impact of water long after the ink has faded on the label so in practice it becomes a moot issue.

If you are looking for waterproof labels to mark the kids sports kit then a standard label is going to be able to do the job, but it is probably better if you use a heat activated iron-on label or even better for extra durability, a sew on label which will be unaffected by water.

The ink used to mark the label will be the next consideration and indeed, it is likely that the water or weather is going to affect the ink on the label far sooner than they will affect the adhesive or fixing material.  Most ink used is water soluble, in fact if you are looking to ensure minimal impact upon the environment, a water soluble ink will be recommended due to the toxicity of traditional durable inks and their manufacturing process.

There are two main methods for water and weatherproofing a label – the use of special microfiber material which traps the water -soluble ink applied and the use of a laminate coating to protect the label image after it has been applied.  Microfiber printing material acts in a similar fashion to your cotton shirt when you spill orange juice on it – the fibers trap the juice and it is difficult to remove without a thorough clean.  The ink is trapped by the microfiber and this retains the image applied despite the presence of water, however over time the image will fade and deteriorate so this method is not recommended for heavy exposure.

Laminating the image after it has been applied provides all round protection both for the ink and the material making up the tag; a coating such as Nalgene will ensure that the label is preserved for as long as is necessary and how heavy the application will determine whether the tag becomes weatherproof as opposed to simply waterproof.

A barcode is an optical machine readable representation of information that originally used simple parallel lines with the width of the lines and spacing in between determining the information being carried.  A rapid development was the introduction of other geometric shapes (triangles, squares, rectangles and other polygonals) to represent data and these are also known as barcodes.

A barcode costs a fraction of a cent (approximately $0.005) to produce and implement which competes very well with more recent systems such as RFID tags which are capable of greater functionality (such as real time tracking of inventory) however, they do cost substantially more (around $0.07 to $0.30 per tag).

Today barcodes are used to carry much more detailed information for users and the information is also now capable of being read by the product’s end user as an aid to the selection and usage of the purchase.  Barcode readers are equally simple and cheap to operate and many retail outlets are providing customers with handheld readers for self-scanning of their purchases and also to provide the customer with greater information that is tailored to the marketing aims of the retailers rather than the manufacturer.

The universal applicability and cost effectiveness will ensure that the barcode will remain with us for many years to come and no doubt its life expectancy will continue to be extended as the simplicity lends itself to greater application in the technology led world.