Point-of-sale activation of consumer electronics

1. A method of activating a device, the method comprising:

receiving an instruction encoded with a password from a wireless communication device embedded within the device, wherein the password is a mathematical function of a first product identifier and a second product identifier attached to the device;

decoding the instruction using the password; and

activating an activation circuit in the device by permanently changing the state of the activation circuit from an off state to an on state.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising performing the activation and sending the instruction at a point of sale terminal.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising storing the first and second product identifiers at the same time as the electronic device is activated.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising storing and managing activation passwords.

5. A machine-implemented method comprising:

scanning a first tag, the first tag being an RFID product label containing first identification information associated with an item at a point-of-sale terminal;

scanning a second tag, the second tag comprising a bar code containing second identification information associated with the item at a point-of sale terminal;

comparing the first identification information with the second identification information;

if the first and second identification information is consistent:

retrieving a password from a data store, wherein the password is a mathematical function of both the RFID product label and the bar code; and

transmitting the password to the item, with an activation command; and

issuing a warning that at least one of the tags is not authentic when the first and second identification information is inconsistent.

6. A machine-implemented method comprising:

scanning a first tag, the first tag being an RFID tag containing identification information associated with an item at a point-of-sale, wherein the identification information comprises a first product code;

scanning a second tag, the second tag comprising a bar code containing identification information associated with the item at a point-of sale, wherein the identification information comprises a second product code;

comparing the identification information contained by the first tag with the identification information contained by the second tag;

confirming a mutual authenticity of the identification information contained by the first and second product codes; and

sending an activation password by a wireless medium to an activation circuit contained within the item, wherein the password is a mathematical function of the first and second product codes.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein the item is an electronics product.

8. The method of claim 6 wherein sending said activation password is performed once and is permanent.