DVD Rental Kiosk

Husband and I are quite selective when it comes to the types of movies that we watch. So instead of subscribing to cables to watch movies, we usually rent DVDs from a nearby Blockbuster store.

Yesterday I rented three movies on DVD from BlockbusterExpress.com. The interesting thing is that I did not get the DVDs from a typical movie rental store. Instead, I
1. logged in on the web site after creating an online account,
2. select movie titles that are available at a kiosk that dispenses the DVDs,
3. pay for the rental ($1.00 per title) via a credit/debit card,
4. go to the kiosk (in our case it's located in a gas station about 2 minutes drive from our place) and pick up the DVDs.

The white area in the DVD shown in the image above is the Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tag. When I need to return the DVDs, I just go to the same kiosk in the gas station and pop them in the same slot that dispenses them. No fuss, no worries.

When I was working at the National Library Board of Singapore, I learned about the RFID technology and how it is used to allow patrons return books at any branch libraries in Singapore. It is an amazing technology and I was impressed by the NLB for implementing this all over Singapore.

Here is how RFID works according to HowStuffWorks.com:

• Data­ stored within an RFID tag's microchip waits to be read.
• The tag's antenna receives electromagnetic energy from an RFID reader's antenna.
• Using power from its internal battery or power harvested from the reader's electromagnetic field, the tag sends radio waves back to the reader.
• ­The reader picks up the tag's radio waves and interprets the frequencies as meaningful