A few weeks back, I fawned over what I saw as an important trend: RFIDs (radio frequency identification tags) in the supermarket. Since then, a variety of readers have pointed me towards breaking RFID news, the most exciting of which includes:

Wal-mart has begun testing RFIDs in a pilot program at the Tulsa, Oklahoma Sam’s Club (the pilot covers all Bounty paper towels, Mach 3 razors and cases of Coca Cola sold through the store). The company is using the tags to track everything from supply chain inventory and shipping, to on-shelf product availability and check out. As the prices of tags drop, Wal-mart hopes to quickly scale up throughout the entire firm.

To help push down those prices, Alien Technologies has created a new process for building RFID tags: fluidic self-assembly creates very small RFIDs (as tiny as a millimeter square) for a fraction of the cost of current tags (under 5 cents, versus today’s 50 cents).

Demonstrating another of RFIDs many potential uses, Invensys, which builds the controls for GE, Maytag and Whirlpool appliances, has begun testing the use of RFIDs in lieu of washing instruction labels in clothing. A ‘smart’ washing machine could read the tags of all the laundry in the load, then optimize water temperature and spin cycle for the best possible wash.