Transmit data through your skin with Firmo

Juniper Foo | May 06, 2008

Science just got weirder. And we're not talking about that mid-1980s flick Weird Science where two teenaged boys use a computer to design the perfect woman; not surprisingly a Frankensteinish sex kitten (Kelly LeBrock in the skin). The buzzword here is "skin" since this one's rooted to your derma. Grown right out of a Japanese petri dish, Firmo is NTT's idea of a device that transforms the human body into its own truly personal area network (PAN), allowing users to communicate with devices just by touching them. The Japanese telco giant, however, prefers to call this HAN or human area network.

The gadget in question is a card-sized transmitter that cloaks the body with a weak AC field so that when this comes into contact with a compatible receiver, it is translated into signals that can be read by the device. The potential applications are far-reaching, from making payments (putting paid to contactless payments?) to activating your music player with a single touch. Frankly, the idea of being constantly charged up raises goose bumps on what this might do to our organs in the long run.

For the cutting-edge snobs, Firmo is not cheap. A set of five transmitters and one receiver goes for 800,000 yen (US$7,620). So much like the placards you see on retail shelves showcasing breakables, it's see but no touch, at least for now.

Via RBB Today | Photo credit: NTT

Filed under: Future Tech
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