Ben Preiss
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 Surf and Surf at Ocean City, New Jersey No need to bring your wallet, just wear your municipal wristband and your account will be debited for beach access, food, parking and souvenirs. When you tire of surfing the waves take a beak and surf the net. All this will be made possible by a combination of RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) like they use in department stores to foil shoplifters and a Wi-Fi network. The system will monitor the number of people at the beach and can notify parents if one of their kids has left the beach area. Even the garbage cans will email workers when they are full. As an old Jersey boy and a tech-head, my heart swells with pride. So far, no device to prevent the overweight from wearing inappropriately small bathing suits.  And people won't even think about trying to sneak in: Beach checkers could scan the sands with handheld devices and instantly know who didn't pay.
The $3 million project is expected to be finished by next summer.
Beach badges, those plastic or cloth scourges of the Jersey shore could become a thing of the past. The beach access fees — $5 per day, $10 for a week, or $20 for the entire summer — will remain.
"This is the future," said Karen Kinloch, a summer resident. "It's where we're at right now. It's probably overdue. It's kind of antiquated to take a piece of plastic and pin it to your swimsuit."
(news.yahoo)References: ocnj.us, news.yahoo Comment: on Networked Beaches |
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