Poken: Tiny RFID thingies that share all your personal data with others

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I was on the SXSW Meatbus last night and I met a charming young lady from England, Renate, who introduced me to the Poken. Poken is a tiny USB key with an embedded RFID reader/transmitter. When you press a little button on the dongle and place it next to another Poken it passes all of your pertinent information to between Pokens – Pokenii? You then plug the Poken into a laptop and connect to your online manager and you can then “add” that person to your contact list.

The contact information includes all of your social media contact information including Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and all those weird ones they use Europe.

There is a great audience for these little guys – kids. They’re collectible, they’re high tech, and they only transmit information when you press the button, ensuring relative privacy.

I could also see this appearing in phones. When asked, Renata explained that this could end up as a standalone solution in six to eight months but if someone doesn’t get to this first.

It works quite seamlessly and registration was entirely online.

Right now the product is mainly European but you can pick them up online from the UK. It’s a great little toy.

Finally, some gadget news to report at SXSW.

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