Transfer labels
Some clothing providers started printing the labels a while back, but this trend seems to have fallen by the wayside.
Maybe it just wasn't providing enough employment for young children's hands in the far east?
RFID wants to TRACK my TODGER, so I am going to CUT it OFF
There’s something I’d like to show you in my underpants. Come along, now, don’t be shy. Take a good look. See how it dangles there getting in the way? And yet, conversely, it’s a little bit stiff, isn’t it? This makes wearing tight underpants pretty uncomfortable, I can tell you. Pass me those scissors and I’ll cut the damned …
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Saturday 19th September 2015 16:12 GMT Fraggle850
Re: All absolutely true.
Perhaps there was a licensing option that you missed when you purchased said item? Pay a little extra for extended support to enable the icons? I suspect the icon with the person removing the label for you requires some top level after sales support package, maybe that would also enable those washing icons too?
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Saturday 19th September 2015 07:54 GMT Steve Davies 3
The 'Nuke it' option?
It seems that some makes of cothing are starting to get embedded RFID tags. You can't remove the tag without virtually destroying the garment.
So aside from not buying the thing in the first place, the next option to stop being tracked when out wearing it is to nuke the tag.
1) Wash newly purchased item of clothing
2) Take we clothes, stick in Microswave
3) Nuke it for 30 seconds
Obviously clothes with any form of metal should not be put in a microwave.
As for phones, the first thing I do when entering a shopping mall is to put my phone on Flight Mode or turn it off. Having an advert follow me around a Mall (in the USA) was a tad frightening. When I disabled my phone it stopped nagging me.
The even more worrying thing was that I'd never been to that state before let alone that Mall yet the ad was for something similar to what I'd bought at least 500 miles away two weeks before.
Ironically, it was for something that was not on sale at the Mall.
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Saturday 19th September 2015 09:48 GMT DropBear
Re: The 'Nuke it' option?
"clothes with any form of metal should not be put in a microwave"
Although I have a strong suspicion that dunking most of the cloth (including the metal parts) in a bowl of water, submerged, with mostly just the RFID label sticking out would be perfectly fine... try at you own risk though.
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Sunday 20th September 2015 08:46 GMT Pascal Monett
Yes, it's all fun and games until the anti-terrorist brigade bursts through the doors shouting at you and pointing their bloody big guns every which way and you get cuffed and rushed off to a dark cell where a blinding light is shown in your face and you have to answer all manner of crazy questions for 48 hours before they are satisfied that you a) did not actually have a bomb, b) do not have a copy of the Terrorist handbook or How To Make A Bomb In Your Basement and c) don't have an actual beard, it's just stubble from 48 hours of not having shaved.
Then, with luck, they let you out with a stern warning and directions for the nearest hospital to treat the bullet you took through the foot when they manhandled you.
If you're not lucky, you get one last bullet and the newspapers get to headline the death of an ISIS terrorist at the hands of swift, citizenry-protecting police forces.
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Sunday 20th September 2015 08:53 GMT Any mouse Cow turd
Re: The 'Nuke it' option?
So they track you through the mall, track you across the country, track what you buy, then bombard you with adverts for the things you have already purchased.
So much effort has gone in to the tracking tech, bugger all thought has gone into the advertising tech.
"We see you bought a microwave 2 weeks ago, do you want to buy another one?"
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Sunday 20th September 2015 10:51 GMT glen waverley
Re: The 'Nuke it'they track you ...
Agree with AmCt.
Yrs truly once spent an afternoon comparing prices of car tyres for the chariot. Then went out and purchased same, fitted to vehicle. For next month or more, I got ads for tyres on every web site.
Now accept that I let the system down by not ordering tyres via interweb, paying via paypal and having the rubber donuts delivered by amazon drone. How were targetting adverts meant to know i was no longer indulging in my hobby of checking car tyre prices?
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Saturday 19th September 2015 08:05 GMT Anonymous Custard
Pairing socks?
At least there is one upside - you could have self-pairing socks, or at least an app to identify where the missing twin of the lonely item you have in your hand has gone. Presuming of course that both were equally tagged, and neither had been consumed by the Eater-of-Socks
Or maybe even a Gok Wan or Trinny&Suzeanna (showing my age there) style app, which alerts you if you're pairing mismatched or clashing items of clothing together, or even just wearing something that's so last week's fashion...
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Saturday 19th September 2015 08:24 GMT Boris the Cockroach
Re: Pairing socks?
God no!!
last thing I want is matching socks (I never wear pairs, they bring the sort of bad luck such as being caught out in the rain, getting fired, having a car accident and major heart failure).
Anyway, good hint about using the microwave, but I feel a touch unnessasary because , being techies, I thought we all used the microwave for drying clothes....
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Saturday 19th September 2015 14:40 GMT Fraggle850
Re: Pairing socks?
Superstitious weirdo! I'm a tad obsessive about wearing matching socks to the point where I only buy one type (HJ Commandos - the only socks you'll ever need). Despite the fact that all of my socks are ostensibly the same and only exist in two colours I still try to match pairs based on worn-ness, overall length, hue and the health of the elastic at the top.
Come to think of it maybe I'm the weirdo? LOL.
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Sunday 20th September 2015 11:31 GMT Fraggle850
@x 7 Re: Pairing socks?
No, no, no, they aren't some weird everlasting sock, they just have an optimal blend of wool and man made fibres (65-35 wool to man made IIRC) to give a good blend of robustness and comfort. They also have a looped sole for extra cushioning and thermal properties. I wear them in my smart work shoes and in my boots when hiking, rough camping and riding my motorcycle and they perform admirably in all areas. Wool retains good thermal properties even when wet.
I suspect that if they did lead to excessive cheesiness I would have been alerted to the fact by my significant other. They will wash at 60 degrees so that should be enough to take out any malodorous bacteria. It is possible that my feet are less cheesy than other people's though, I seem to recall reading that mosquitoes (and possibly gnats?) are attracted by cheese-like aromas and I don't seem to be as attractive a target for these critters as others seem to be.
Sincere apologies for this post but I am a tad obsessive about these socks.
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Sunday 20th September 2015 12:51 GMT x 7
Re: @x 7 Pairing socks?
"they aren't some weird everlasting sock,"
they are....they even used to be advertised as such. I had a few pairs as school socks years ago and they were the horriblest hosiery I ever had to wear. Thick, sweaty, cheesy, uncomfortable due to the thickness and lack of stretch.....the mesh used to leave impressions on the feet.
All that, together with them being advertised as the everlasting wonder sock that would last a lifetime....yeurgh!
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Thursday 24th September 2015 15:41 GMT Sarah Balfour
Re: Pairing socks?
I used to think I was weird for wearing odd socks, until I saw an interview with the inestimable Mr. William Connelly. I can't recall who was conducting the interview but, at one point, the interviewer asked if it was true he always went on stage wearing odd socks, at which point he rolled up his trousers to reveal one neon pink & green striped sock, and one purple sock with neon orange spots.
He said he'd been running late for a gig, and couldn't find a pair, so he grabbed the first two that came to hand; the show was an absolute blinder, and he attributed it to the socks, so he's worn odd ones ever since.
I have to buy guy's socks, because evidently girls don't want socks in funky colours. All the ladies' socks I've ever found have been grey, black, white or brown (or variants thereof) and/or covered in stupid twee patterns (Hello Kitty, or hearts, or puppies, summat like that). I want my socks plain - and loud! I used to buy them in M&S, because their smallest men's size is (was…? Not bought any for ages) summat like 6-8/8.5, but I wanted to replace a favourite set - and I found they'd gone BORING (unless I wanted stripes or spots, or harlequin, which I didn't)!
I have size 5.5 feet (yep, 5.5 weird feet. The only shoes I can buy are trainers, 5.5 doesn't exist in 'normal' shoes, and especially not when you need shoes that are flat, give good ankle support and have laces (I need to be able to pull 'em tight to help support my ankles). I had a wonderful pair of little black ankle boots, in a very soft leather, I think I bought in Clark's, and I wore them until they were practically falling apart. That's the other thing, soft leather, so they mould to my feet. They have, to dat, proved irreplaceable. I'm not ashamed to say I almost cried when they became so worn even Timpson's couldn't patch 'em up…)), so they were a tad on the big side, but I've never been one for doing things quietly.
Apparently girls want brightly coloured tights, though. I don't wear tights, I wear socks and leggings (I can't wear kecks, either, because one side of me is larger than the other, and leggings obviously stretch.
And DON'T get me started on bras, I was HOPING I'd shrink enough to get away without, but the fucking things are STILL too huge - and I average a 27" chest. I can't wear wires - and guys, quit moaning about labels - we girlies have to endure not only itchy labels, but chafing bra bands! If mine were around a half-cup smaller, I could buy M&S teen bras but, stubbornly, they ain't! I want 'em GORN! I've got no use for 'em, they're just irritating bags o' flab!
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Saturday 19th September 2015 18:22 GMT Number6
Re: Pairing socks?
a homing instinct that leads them to hibernate in my good lady's wardrobe so I can never find one when I want one.
Surely you just go look in her wardrobe. After taking suitable precautions, naturally.
As for pairing socks, I just buy a dozen identical pairs so that it doesn't matter too much which two I pick up.
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Monday 21st September 2015 12:38 GMT Kubla Cant
Re: Pairing socks?
Ever notice that socks disappear, but clothes hangers multiply?
Wire and plastic hangers multiply. Wooden clothes hangers seem to time-travel. One day you take a jacket out and find that the hanger seems to have originated from a tailor in pre-war Budapest (an era and location with which I have no known connection).
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Monday 21st September 2015 03:50 GMT Anonymous Coward
Re: Using the microwave
Found out the hard way about that, although more keystrokes than maggies. On the plus side, the doc only promised 20/100.Got 20/15.Now if I could only get him for the other eye which got marginally less exposure to X-rays. [Now i'm waiting for explanations on shin growths.
Back on topic, they aren't called Commandos here, but they make up half the drawer. The other half lighter weight white gym socks. I do match for wear and tear. And of course it's pretty hard to pick mismatch by color or feel. Thankfully. Occasionally people (okay, female relatives) gift me with "fashionable socks. Roll them, toss to back of drawer. Store them when crowding occurs.
Neither my commando-like, nor white gym socks, have RFID. However, when they do, they'll meet my soldering iron. If required, I'm more than willing to go butane. Working on a ground-based drone, it'd come in handy. Hey, the light bulb just lit here.
Given that a collective set of RFID chips in one's clothes, wallet, phone signature even if MAC randomized creates a fairly unique signature, you can target all kind of things at individuals. Varying grades of evil. Which explains the proliferation of tags on individual items? Nawww.
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Saturday 19th September 2015 08:43 GMT Fred Flintstone
So tech companies, a new item is needed
Someone is going to make a killing with a detect & kill tool for RFID. The problem is that thieves will too, because ALL of the detection is now based on RFID tags, creating a classical "all eggs in one basket" issue.
Having said that, I am not actually sure it's legal to stick a tracker on people without their permission.
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Saturday 19th September 2015 16:16 GMT Anonymous Coward
Re: So tech companies, a new item is needed
You already own it, it is called a microwave. If they ever start sewing the RFID tags into the waistband or collar, so you can't get at them by removing the tags, this is only way of destroying them without destroying the clothing (modulo possible burn marks - might need to do some testing to see what percentage of full power is required to destroy the tag with a minimum of of fireworks)
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Saturday 19th September 2015 08:50 GMT Dan 55
Hate RFID T-shirt passports
You can't wear the T-shirt with them on and if you cut them off you don't know how to wash the damn thing if it requires anything a bit special doing to it so it shrinks to the size of doll clothes.
Well I can't, of course SWMBO can.
I haven't tested washing them with the wrong programme with the passport attached, I'm sure the indestructible passport wouldn't shrink.
Stop this madness now.
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Saturday 19th September 2015 14:04 GMT GBE
Re: Hate RFID T-shirt passports
"You can't wear the T-shirt with them on and if you cut them off you don't know how to wash the damn thing if it requires anything a bit special..."
Really? The Reg readers wear T-shirts that require some special method of washing? And if they did own such an item of clothing (presumably it was a gift from an overly optimistic friend/relative), they woud read the laundering instructions and follow them?
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Saturday 19th September 2015 16:24 GMT Anonymous Coward
Re: Hate RFID T-shirt passports
If you have a quality washing machine, and buy a good detergent made for cold washing, you can wash everything in cold on either permanent press (for towels, jeans, underwear and socks) or gentle cycle (everything else) and not have to worry about this. No need to sort colors (though I still wash blacks separately because I want to dry them separately) and everything lasts longer this way.
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Sunday 20th September 2015 21:16 GMT Jan 0
Re: Hate RFID T-shirt passports
@Rich 11
> No point wasting energy on heating high latent heat capacity water when lower latent heat capacity air will do the job.
You're confusing heat capacity with latent heat.
Your tumble dryer's hot air supplies the latent heat required to evaporate the water in your wet clothes. If you're one of us, then you'll be using a condensing tumble drier to recover some of that latent heat.
Wherther heating the washing machine drum, clothes and water to 60 C uses more energy than the tumble drier does in removing the residual water on the clothes, is left as an exercise for the reader.
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Biting the hand that feeds IT
