Let’s talk, for a moment, about tattoos. It wasn’t so long ago that ‘tats’ were not so ubiquitous. They were the mainstay of sailors, bikers and that one Uncle who spent a few years in prison for disorderly conduct. In recent years, however, even your straight-laced friends are likely to have at least one tattoo. The world certainly has changed, but the tattoo really hasn’t. Where is the wearable tech for tattoos? They are not only wearable, after all, but permanently so. Don’t worry your ship’s anchor or fearsome skull about it. Tattoo tech is coming up fast.
Here is one that is absolutely invisible to the naked eye. That’s right. You can have this tattoo, in all of its glory, and still interview for a boring desk job in the finance industry. What’s the magic? The tattoo is only visible via smartphone, using the magic of RFID technology. An artist named Anthony Antonellis recently underwent the procedure, which involves implanting a small chip underneath the skin. The tattoo can then be viewed using a smartphone. The best part? The chip’s data is swappable so you can have a different tattoo for each day of the week. Now you’ll never have to choose just one! All of your stupid ideas can be fully realized with reckless abandon.
While Antonellis is using this for artistic purposes, it’s easy to see this as the beginning of a cyberpunk dystopia. After all, the implanted chip holds 1KB of storage and there are no rules saying that storage has to be used to house an image to be used in a tattoo. Quick, everyone, lets all implant ourselves with vital security information!
