The system's developer says that three U.S. hospitals will soon deploy the technology, testing its ability to track surgical items and ensure they don't remain in the patient, or get lost.

Shortages in RFID components and silicon are increasing order times for RFID readers, printers and tags by up to 14 weeks.

Spectrum Health picks Awarepoint system to track assets; Awarepoint expands to Australia; William Frick & Co. unveils new UHF tags for warehousing, distribution; Intelleflex, Lockheed Martin develop perimeter-monitoring security system; IDTronic intros UHF RFID key fob; ETRI joins RFID Consortium.

Coca-Cola Village is using an RFID system to link teenage visitors to their Facebook pages, giving them a way to automatically share details of their fun.

Geisinger Medical Center is using an RFID-enabled robot to securely transport certain drugs throughout its facility, and to provide a real-time view into who sent and received each item.

The Argentine pharmaceutical distributor can track the buying and selling price of its medicines, as well as expiration dates, ensuring the drugs are properly billed, and that no expired products are shipped to customers.

The Nottinghamshire Police Department has deployed RFID-enabled cabinets to track the condition and usage of Tasers, as well as ensure that only authorized officers can access them.

NXP selected to secure new German national identity card; Precyse Technologies closes $11 million in private funding; SPC joins Dash7 Alliance; Infinite Power Systems receives $20 million in venture capital funding; SimplexGrinnell, GuardRFID team up on distribution for RTLS, security solutions; Legic, Shanghai United Sea Trading partner on RFID locking systems; Raftar offers free RFID trial for medical device companies.

A real-time locating system has provided the U.S. General Services Administration with visibility into the location of each tagged carton, envelope or pallet.

Visitors are issued plastic cards embedded with a passive 13.56 MHz RFID tag, used to activate more than 75 exhibits, and to enable a more personalized experience.

Magnor Plant is using RFID tags on safety and lifting equipment at British construction sites to expedite the inspection process, providing results in a matter of hours rather than weeks.

Beginning with Perth Airport, Qantas' frequent flyers will be provided with new RFID-enabled loyalty cards that will serve as a permanent boarding passes.

Peltz Shoes has developed its own item-level RFID system to track the 30,000 pairs of shoes at each of its Tampa-area stores, improving inventory accuracy and reducing inventory-related labor costs.

The retailer has shifted its focus from tagging all pallets and cases to working with suppliers to tag items in categories where the company and its partners will see the biggest benefits.

Najran University is deploying active and passive RFID tags to track the locations of 23,000 assets at its many campuses, with a goal of reducing theft and increasing asset-management accuracy.

A. Harvey is tagging its containers, as well as some vessels and trucks, to increase the visibility of its operations providing equipment, tools and food to offshore oil rigs.

William Frick & Co. announces three new rugged tags for oil and gas; French government funds five RFID projects; Czech tag maker intros UHF label for metal; MTI Wireless Edge announces new small UHF circular outdoor antenna; Cupertino, Calif., schools to try RFID to encourage walking, biking; TowerJazz licenses Kilopass' one-time programmable nonvolatile memory IP.

Martela attaches EPC Gen 2 tags to the desks, chairs and other office furnishings it manufactures, to streamline its ability to take inventory for customers that request it, as well as to provide other services.

At TLC Care Center, dementia patients wear wristbands with active tags that trigger alerts and lock doors if they approach an exit.

The Aberdeen Group finds that 57 percent of retailers using or planning to deploy RFID prefer to employ the technology at the item level, and that many are utilizing the technology to improve inventory accuracy, as well as for a range of other applications.