Hologram Industry News

IN ABOUT four months from now,new vehicles rolling on to the Capital’s roads will have special number plates. The new tamper-proof high security registration plates (HSRP) will make duplication difficult,and act as a deterrent against theft.

Beyond proposal Senior Delhi government officials said a draft proposal has already been prepared. “We are about to hire a consultant.The consultant will suggest how we can actually implement it,” said a senior Delhi government official not authorised to speak to the media.

The new plates will initially come only with new vehicles. Later, old vehicles will also have to replace conventional number plates with these.

Tobe fixed onto the vehicle’s body with special snap locks, the new plates will have a special code — unique for each vehicle — embossed on them along with the registration, engine and chassis numbers.

Made of aluminium, each plate will be protected against counterfeiting by the application of a chromium-based hologram. Any attempt to remove the number plate will break the snap lock, making it impossible to replace by anyone other than the authorised agency.

Introduction of these plates was first mooted about a decade ago. The project, however, was delayed due to lack of prepa ration at various levels. The Supreme Court, in its order in May 2009, has also extended the deadline for all states to implement these plates by another three months.
Source:www.hindustantimes.com

Mobile phone interfaces have been a source of debate for a while now. First there was the Palm Pilot, with its stylus, then there was the iPhone with its game changing touch screen. RIM also has had a go with the Blackberry Storm’s touch-screen. The latter provided tangible feedback, but if one goes by the reviews, it is almost a non-starter.

A recent design that features holographic technology poses yet another option and is a nice evolution of interface technology for the mobile phone segment. The Trou Hologram Mobile Phone does away with traditional mobile phone displays and instead utilizes 3D hologram projection to display images. The design, compliments of Mac Funamizu, was a submission for a future mobile design competition that asked contestants to “design the mobile phone of 2020.” The phone is just a design at this point, but recent advances in holographic technology point towards the realization of this type of interface in the next few years.
Source: http://www.psfk.com

C S Jeena, homai.org, 11 June 2009

De la Rue Identity Systems has won the tender to produce the UK’s new biometric passports in a 10-year £400m contract. The company announced today that it has been selected as the preferred bidder to design and produce the UK passport for the Identity and Passport Service (IPS), part of the Home Office.

James Hussey, chief executive of De La Rue, said: “As a British company, producing passports and identity documents for more than 50 governments, De La Rue is proud to be selected to bring its expertise to this project.

“This contract further reinforces De La Rue’s strong growth in the identity sector.”

However, the news will come as a blow to the incumbent passport printer 3M Security Printing Systems (SPSL), a division of 3M, which had already been producing biometric passports.

In July last year, 3000 passports were stolen from a delivery van sent out from SPSL..

A spokesman for 3M said: “We remain focused on the current contract, which will continue until 4 October 2010. During this transition period we will continue to provide excellent service and quality to IPS, as we have over many years.”

De La Rue has a long history of passport production having produced its first passport in 1915. Its Identity Systems division has now implemented more than 50 national schemes across the globe.