NXP Semiconductors, the independent company founded by Philips, and Kestrel
Wireless today
joined forces on a solution to solve the problem of DVD theft throughout the
supply chain. Using NXP's leading RFID chip technology and Kestrel's RFA (Radio
Frequency Activation) solution it is possible to disable DVDs at the point of
manufacture and enable them at the point of sale, making goods stolen at any
point during the supply chain worthless, thus eliminating the incentive for
theft. The first application of NXP and Kestrel's RFA/RFID solution will be
integrated into optical media. The solution, however, is applicable to all
consumer electronics products, such as MP3 players, electric shavers,
toothbrushes, flat screen TVs, ink jet cartridges and flash memory. Of course,
we can already envision the complaints that are sure to arise from legitimate
buyers bringing home a coaster if the activation process happens to fail, but
apparently, both companies are already hard at work persuading studios to write
'em a check and get these things into stores.
In other news,
DigiTimes reports that OEM prices of CD-R and DVD+R/-R discs will rise in the third quarter of this year. Time to stock up?