Seattle-based Impinj, the radio frequency identification (RFID) company, said today it has formed a partnership with Coca-Cola to provide RFID tags and readers for Coke’s new Freestyle drink dispensers. This contraption will give customers a choice of more than 100 flavors of sodas and other drinks, and will track and monitor dispenser operations, as well as customer preferences and other business analytics, in real time. Coke is testing the machines in California, Utah, and Georgia. (Bellevue, WA-based Bsquare is also collaborating with Coke on the Freestyle dispenser, serving as the lead systems integrator.)
Author: Gregory T. Huang
Greg is a veteran journalist who has covered a wide range of science, technology, and business. As former editor in chief, he overaw daily news, features, and events across Xconomy's national network. Before joining Xconomy, he was a features editor at New Scientist magazine, where he edited and wrote articles on physics, technology, and neuroscience. Previously he was senior writer at Technology Review, where he reported on emerging technologies, R&D, and advances in computing, robotics, and applied physics. His writing has also appeared in Wired, Nature, and The Atlantic Monthly’s website. He was named a New York Times professional fellow in 2003.
Greg is the co-author of Guanxi (Simon & Schuster, 2006), about Microsoft in China and the global competition for talent and technology. Before becoming a journalist, he did research at MIT’s Artificial Intelligence Lab. He has published 20 papers in scientific journals and conferences and spoken on innovation at Adobe, Amazon, eBay, Google, HP, Microsoft, Yahoo, and other organizations. He has a Master’s and Ph.D. in electrical engineering and computer science from MIT, and a B.S. in electrical engineering from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.
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