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Impinj, an RFID chip maker with a provocative name has developed a new chip that requires very little energy to be activated by a remote reader. (Image: from the Impinj website.)

The chip, called Monza, has a read range 40 percent greater than most currently used to track people and consumer goods

In other words, Monza chips can be read at distances beyond forty feet, conceivably making it easier for spies with handheld readers to hide around corners, or distances up to a quarter of a block away from their targets.

Low-cost RFIDs are called passive, because they draw power from the “read” signal from a reader device.

Impinj says the chips, which overcome water, metal and other RF-disrupting materials, are suitable for tagging individual store items. That will turn a can of Coke, a pack of smokes, into a tracking device.

RFID Journal - - RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) Technology News & Features
March 27, 2008—With an eye toward supporting the tagging of products at the item level and at the point of manufacture, RFID chipmaker Impinj unveiled today a new version of its Monza chip made for passive UHF, EPC Gen 2 tags. Called the Monza 3, the chip is significantly more sensitive to radio frequency signals than leading Gen 2 chips from other manufacturers, as well as the currently available Monza 2 chip, which Impinj released in 2006, says Impinj president and CEO Bill Colleran, adding that this increase in sensitivity should translate into better-performing RFID tags.