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Tokyo's Akihabara District to Test Electronic Guides
posted on by Egan Loo
Akihabara, Tokyo's shopping district for electronics and popular culture, will test a new electronic guide system that uses free IC (integrated circuit) cards and street-mounted data terminals starting October 19. Akiba Wonder, a t project of Ubiquitious Authentication & Agent, Osaka University, and Hitachi, will give away 10,000 cards in and near Akihabara. The cards have unique RFID (radio frequency identification) chips that allow s to get customized shopping, dining, and event information from the streetside terminals. The service will also host a bulletin board system — accessible from the terminals, personal computers, or mobile phones — for s to provide each other tips.
The project has installed five experimental terminals in the Akiba UDX building, the Asobit Game City store, the Ishimaru Denki Soft 2 store, and other locations in Akihabara. The pilot test will run from October 19 to October 28, and again from November 16 to November 30.
Source: Daily Yomiuri, Akiba Keizai Shimbun
Image © 2007 Ubiquitious Authentication & Agent
