From Guardian Unlimited (UK; 05/10/07; Fitzpatrick, Michael)

An experiment in ubiquitous computing is being undertaken in Tokyo to address the problems inherent in a bustling metropolis that has no street names. “Just as we built up roads, the next step in civilization is to build a total information network that will form part of the fabric of things around us,” says Tokyo University professor Ken Sakamura, who is leading the Tokyo Ubiquitous Network Project to provide an interactive landscape that aids people in their everyday dealings. The Japanese government is investing in the project, whose potential advantages include better guidance for the visually impaired, interactive guidance for tourists, and navigation around hostile areas for foreign journalists and salarymen. The system enables total user control through a combination of electronically tagged objects–never people–and handheld communication devices that are read/write only and thus do not expose private information. Given the system’s massive infrastructure construction and maintenance costs, the participation of commerce in the enterprise is vital, according to Sakamura. A pilot project revealed technical and security challenges, including cross-interference from outlawed radio transmitters and problems with the prototype reader; Sakamura says the mobile phone will eventually assume the role of reader, via the employment of a remote server. He envisions a world in which microcomputers that provide people with location-specific information are embedded in all physical objects. “They will operate in a concerted manner, processing, exchanging information with each other within the ubiquitous computing architecture,” he explains.