[extropy-chat] Hype or tripe?

[Mike Lorrey]

http://blogs.siliconvalley.com/gmsv/2005/07/why_bother_with.html#comments

"Of course if you leave the company, the thumb stays here...
Why bother with a USB thumbdrive, when you can store data in your thumb
itself -- the fingernail, specifically. Researchers at the University
of Tokushima have developed a means of storing data on the human
fingernail by burning microscopic dots into its surface. At present,
the amount of data stored via the method is negligible -- just some
tiny numbers, but researchers say a single fingernail could someday
accommodate 800 kilobytes of data or so. Not quite the capacity (or
flexibility) of a thumbdrive, but enough to store some basic
identification information."

Why not paint magnetic or optical material onto the nails? Ought to be
able to fit 5-10 megs easy on a 10mm x 10mm space on one's thumbnail
with the right technology. Probably healthier than drilling a bunch of
holes in the nail itself, where dermatophytes could easily infect, and
re-writable as well.



--- Adrian Tymes <wingcat at pacbell.net> wrote:

> --- Eugen Leitl <eugen at leitl.org> wrote:
> > On Wed, Jul 20, 2005 at 09:52:37AM -0700, Adrian Tymes wrote:
> > > Hype.  Yes, data can be transmitted along the body - but that
> only
> > > extends to the limits of the body.  For long downloads (for
> > information
> > 
> > It's a feature, not a bug! You can actually limit the scope of your
> > datasphere
> > to direct touch. Unlike RFID, electrostatic coupling can't be
> picked
> > up
> > by a phased array antenna from a distance.
> 
> This is true.  This is also not the use that the article was
> specifically talking about.
> 
> "Downloading" almost always refers to obtaining data from some remote
> source.  Moving data between different points on your body is akin to
> routing it along the cables and circuits inside a single computer - a
> performance concern, and definitely something worth addressing, but
> to
> the end user the data is all locally present before the activity.
> 
> > The smartphone increasingly crystallizes as the personal
> > communicator.
> > The wearable is dead, long live the wearable. Bluetooth headsets
> are
> > already
> > widespread, and video headsets have been sighted as prototypes.
> 
> Aye.  There might be a dedicated bluetooth component to handle
> transmission to and from the body - but as far as the user's
> concerned,
> that component itself is what is doing the downloading.
> 
> What might be more interesting, is to have body-monitoring sensors
> distributed through one's clothes, and rather than wearing wires
> woven
> into the clothes, using the body itself to transmit data.  That way,
> the sensors would merely occupy internally-facing pockets; clothes
> with
> said pockets would be quite modular with respect to the exact gadgets
> one uses.  Indeed, cargo pants and a vest might even qualify, if the
> sensors can do their duties and transmit through the layer of fabric
> lining the pockets.
> 
> Or possibly: bigger antenna = possibly more reliable/higher bandwidth
> signal, ya?  Would an antenna riding in the depression on the back
> made
> by one's spinal column be able to work that close to the human body,
> especially if a unit at its base then used the body to communicate
> with
> any devices wanting to use said antenna?  (In most cases, this would
> probably not create any noticable bulge if the antenna was thin
> enough,
> immediately eliminating the "obvious geek" factor that has impeded
> widespread use of these systems.)
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Mike Lorrey
Vice-Chair, 2nd District, Libertarian Party of NH
"Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom.
It is the argument of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves."
                                      -William Pitt (1759-1806) 
Blog: http://intlib.blogspot.com


		
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