Digital tour guide

Downtown strollers looking for directions, store guides or historical tidbits will be able to get an earful without talking to anyone - thanks to 1,200 computer chips embedded around Tokyo's Ginza shopping district. The information can be heard through earphones that pick up signals from chips stuck in cement, lampposts and subway-station ceilings. University of Tokyo professor Ken Sakamura says the effort gives a glimpse into the future, when such chips will become so widespread that government offices and private businesses will use them to zap information to passers-by. During a tour, reporters wearing the earphones and a portable media player strolled around the shopping district. The player, which is worn around the neck, also features a small video screen.

Source: physorg.comAdded: 23 March 2007