RFID orders continue to surge, reports E-Week, with the United States leading the way. It’s closely followed by the United Kingdom, China and Japan, with RFID sales outpacing the economy.

Global sales of RFID technology are expected to grow 5 percent to $5.56 billion in 2009, according to IDTechEx, the surge in sales will be accomplished despite the world’s largest RFID project — the $6 billion China National ID card scheme — being completed a year earlier.

The United States heads the list of RFID projects, including a $428 million contract issued by the U.S. Army for the RFID III program. Currently, RFID tags are attached to approximately 125,000 shipments of U.S. military supplies each week.

Another major contract was Transcore’s $63 million deal with Florida for an electronic toll system. In other significant RFID deals, CSC and IBM landed an order for $570 million to upgrade the United Kingdom’s e-passport applications and enrollment system.

The Chinese are putting RFID throughout its factories and supply chain in order to underpin the nation’s manufacturing.

Hong Kong is particularly active in RFID while Japan continues to buy more than 90 percent of the world’s RFID-enabled mobile phones. They can be used to buy access to public transport as well as goods in many retail shops.

Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN) — the so-called third generation active RFID — are being offered by a large number of companies. WSN, otherwise known as Ubiquitous Sensor Networks (USN) will be used to automatically monitor building occupancy and climate control, oil and gas pumping, forest fires, avalanches and other uses over wide areas in the coming years using technology like ZigBee a low-ppower, mesh-networking specification.

Craig Settles writes:

I have an online survey running that indicates there are worried concerns about this phase of the broadband stimulus.

NTIA/RUS said we’d get 30 days to sort out the rules for applying for grants, and then a healthy time period to submit proposals. What we got is about 45 days to do it all, with just 30 days to complete the NOFA app.

My new blog post laying out why a 30-day overall delay, or an option for people to get a 30-day extension to the deadline, makes sense includes a poll. So far, most people feel they only have a 50-50 chance of completing their app, or their chances are “between slim and none, and Slim just left town.” A majority indicate they’ll benefit from an extension.

Settles says various discussion boards, even established companies and project teams that started planning their broadband efforts early, tell him they’re hard pressed to make this deadline.

Gizmodo says that at today’s Mobilebeat 2009 Conference, Google VP of Engineering Vic Gundotra spoke about mobile platforms and what enables success.

Google believes the future of the computers lies in the browser, with data and apps stored in the cloud. But Gundotra isn’t part of the Android team. He seemed to be talking about Chrome OS, says Gizmodo.

Chrome OS was designed for Netbooks. But mobile phones may be next. The new Borg.

Sony has just announced new mobile phone featuring an ultra-compact design, slider form factor, large keypad and font size which would certainly please those who loves sending SMS, MMS and email. the phone allows you to review conversation history as well.  If that don’t really get you excited how about if we tell you the this phone would also feature a smart desktop feature with direct reminder of appointments, notes and special animation. The Sony Ericsson T715 also supports 3G network connectivity which would make mobile web browsing on its diminutive 2.2″ display a pleasant experience for you.  It’s 3.2 megapixel camera is good enough for taking snapshots that would be displayed on the high resolution screen in great detail. It even has a Photo light feature which enhances the quality of the image that you will be taking.

Other features of the Sony Ericsson T715 include Bluetooth, media player, music tones, video calling using the phone’s front camera, IM support, Torch functionality, 3D games, FM Radio with RDS, video streaming and viewing, YouTube support, and other personal information management tool such as calendar, notes, phone book and more. In addition, the Sony Ericsson T712 also features a 90MB internal memory,

The Sony Ericsson T715 is a GSM/GPRS/EDGE 850/900/1800/1900- UMTS/HSPA 2100 phone. Unfortunately no words yet on the phone’s release date and pricing.

So, after T-Mobile announced the second Google Android phone, the myTouch 3G it went ahead and revealed the third one – the HTC Hero. Interestingly, HTC Hero has a new feature which didn’t made it through with myTouch 3G, what HTC calls as the Sense. HTC Sense is a new approach to smartphone functionality – Make it Mine, Stay Close and Discover the UnexpectedMake it Mine is a facility for personalizing the HTC Hero’s menus and interface through widgets that would push online contents to the phone including personalization of contents on different phone profiles. Stay Close on the other hand would make it easier for you to stay in touch with friends and family through various communication channels including calls, photo sharing, social networking status updates and phone apps. And finally we have Discover would facilitate sharing of experiences through the mobile phones.

Design-wise, the HTC Hero is all sleek and dandy with bevelled edges and angled bottom. It was designed with contours that would fit comfortable in the palm of your hands. Other design features include anti-fingerprint screen coating and Teflon coating with durable white surface.

As for its technical features, the HTC Hero boasts of a 3.2-inch HVGA display, optimized web browsing, aGPS, digital compass, gravity sensor, 3.5mm stereo headset jack, 5MP autofocus camera, expandable microSD memory card slot, and a dedicated search button.

Key technical aspects are as follows:

• Qualcomm MSM7200A, 528 MHz processor
• Google Android Platform
• 512MB RAM
• 1.35g weight
• 3.2-inch TFT LCD touch-sensitive screen with 320×480 HVGA resolution
• HSPA/WCDMA 900/2100 MHz network capability
• up to 2Mbps up-link and 7.2 Mbps dowlink speeds
• Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE: 850/900/1800/1900MHz frequency
• Bluetooth, WiFi, 3.5mm audio jack

Intomobile reports on the first iPhone application marketing book (actually it’s an ebook) called “Secrets Of iPhone App Marketing: How To Get Your App Noticed & Increase Your Sales.”

iZendev

From the press release:

The purpose of the eBook is to teach App Developers the importance of a strong marketing strategy and how to create one for their application. Developers will learn the best websites for iPhone App reviews, step-by-step instructions for how to prepare and submit their app to each site, how to write an effective press release, and tips on how to keep the public’s attention. Over 1000 hours of research have been condensed into an eBook, which is on sale now, and for a limited time is priced at $49.

Using a mobile phone with limited vision can be a daunting task. AT&T and the American Foundation for the Blind have announced that AT&T is holding its first national training sessions to help users with vision loss use wireless phones more effectivel. Phonemag reports.

The training sessions are a public service initiative and an offshoot of the popular AT&T training sessions for senior citizens. Participants in the program bring their own mobile phones and anyone can attend regardless of what carrier they use.

AT&T will offer demonstrations for those who don’t won a mobile phone as well. The session will reportedly cover phone basics like checking voice mail, storing numbers, controlling volume, and using software to magnify the screen and provides verbal instructions for users.

Still think there’s no good reason to have a Twitter account? Here’s a good one: iPhone app-review site 148Apps has a Twitter feed that notifies you when an app’s price drops–to zero.

Developers frequently run temporary promotions in which they give their apps away. Of course, it’s all too easy to miss these freebies because you didn’t know about them.

[Cnet Reviews]