If pierced navels are beginning to seem old hat to you, how about a
programmable tatoo? Interval Research Corp., a lab in Palo Alto, Calif.,
started by a group that includes Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, was
recently issued a patent for just such a device. It is a small
liquid-crystal display that is implanted beneath a layer of skin on the
wrist -- close enough to the surface to be visible. The device would
contain a control chip and small battery charged by holding the wrist near
an external charger. Interval researcher Andrew Singer says there should be
no health risks associated with wearing the device.
The most obvious application is a watch you never lose -- the LCD screen
shows the tiem. But Interval has more serious uses in mind. If biosensors
are placed on the device, for example, it can monitor the temperature and
blood pressure of a wearer with heart disease.
Max More, Ph.D.
more@extropy.org
http://www.primenet.com/~maxmore
Author: The Augmented Animal (Forthcoming: HardWired, 1998)
President, Extropy Institute, Editor, Extropy
exi-info@extropy.org, http://www.extropy.org
(310) 398-0375
EXTRO 3 CONFERENCE on the future: http://www.extropy.org/extro3.htm