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Programmable Tattoos

english.ohmynews.com — Can't decide on a tattoo? How about one you can change to whatever, whenever.

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  • Mortiferous, on 10/12/2007, -2/+11might be great for .....tests....
    • npiv, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7Is that dude showing the weather forecast on his face?

      I'm all for the advancement of technology, but that seems a little steep. Its a little naive when the futurists lose track of the social and emotional impact of tech.

      And then we could allow them to show their feelings by means of a big smiley on their face?!?

      Yes, I can't wait for the day, when we don't even have to smile or frown anymore. Just let those facial muscles decay, put on your poker face, and let the smiley on your face do the work.

      You don't even have to laugh no more, Save your energy, and let a big flashing LOL stream across your forehead.
    • badminus, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Isn't it all a bit William Gibson?
  • spling, on 10/12/2007, -12/+367 digs in 3.5h... 0 comments.... front page.. Will the Digg Formula ever be solved?

    There's actually something really neat going on here too... on the front page of digg, the "comments" link goes to a broken URL: http://digg.com/links/_rnProgrammable_Tattoos
    but, the digg RSS feed goes to the working url: http://digg.com/links/_%09rnProgrammable_Tattoos

    Ah Digg, we love you despite all your flaws.
    • Mortiferous, on 10/12/2007, -2/+12Its an interesting story atleast. Beats owning a piece of australia.
    • SoAnIs, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3It seems to be based not just on diggs, but on WHO diggs. The more people have you as a friend the more your digg counts.

      OFC I'm not sure about that, but it seems to fit the facts.
    • sinembarg0, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I'm thinking its not how many people you have as friends, but more your ranking on the site and how many people have you as a friend.
  • spling, on 10/12/2007, -0/+9Oh yeah, TFA... It's good. Imagine having these as a business person.

    In your spare time you can have your tattoos "on", and in important meetings and the like, have them "off."

    This is very very interesting technology. Forget e-paper, we got e-skin.
    • rasterbator, on 10/12/2007, -6/+1Oh yeah, because in an important business meeting, your tattoos are going to be visible. Get real. Unless you are someone who has tattoos on each finger, your comment is faulty at best.
    • Brutal, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2rasterbator: Actually, a lot of people have tattoos on their neck, which are visible even with a high collar shirt.
  • draebor, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1By GOD... think of all the potential space for advertizing!!
    • rasterbator, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5SO if you are a boxer, you could have a tattoo on your back that says GoldenPalace.com between rounds, and during the fight flash the Hooters logo across your back.
  • widgets, on 10/12/2007, -0/+14I can't wait until you see someone walking around with 0wn3d h4x0r on their face
    • Buttercup, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5aha! yeah! almost reminds me of GITS.
      that'd be great to hack someone's tattoo and put a big picture of goatse on their face :-D they wouldn't even notice it until they looked in a mirror!
    • JetwingX, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6It would suck if someone "h4x0r3d" you face tat.
    • AlphaPrime, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1That could lead to alot of problems.
  • BlackHatFerret, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6ROFL, You know how great this would be for school make a damn cheat sheet on your forearm when you start the test the teacher looks around sees no one cheating says okay and proceeds back to her desk, you then tap your forearm and your cheat sheet displays, A+ w00t!
  • mwstratton, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5my god, sign me up. I'll be test bunny #1. just the thought of having the roflcopter emblazoned on my skin and animated is worth the price of admission alone.
  • WaterDragon, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3A guy who trades stocks could get the stock market ticker running across his wife's forehead.

    And a person could get their entire face to change, to look like someone else.
    Instead of downloading ringtones for your cellphone, kids will be downloading new faces to wear.
    ...the possiblties are endless.

    OMG RSS tats!
  • dw2005, on 10/12/2007, -2/+2Prison Break 0_o
  • stephaniegrace, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Sweet. So now, you can get all of those trendy tattoos you've always wanted and when they go out of fashion a few summers from now, you'll be able to change them to whatever's clever at that time.

    Awesome-o. I think I'll go get a Koi fish across my lower back right now!

  • brhad56, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1I have absolutely no desire for a tattoo of any kind.
    • AlphaPrime, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4So get one that says that, and hide it every other day just to confuse people. Oh the fun you could have.
  • dhughes, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6 I'd hate to be hacked and have a "Grow a big penis naturally!" advertisement on my facial display.
  • tds5016, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3I'm very surprised that no one has discussed the milistaristic rammifications. Consider having a map attached to your arm, and upon capture being able to have it removed. Talk about plausible deniablility? This would be indispensible for transporting and using information that cannot be lost or be had in hard copy, and the practical applications are nearly endless. Ignore the use for "personal expression" and the tattoo serves a useful purpose that it previously didn't have. Not to mention if we managed to get a little more advanced technology in terrain sensing, then this could also be extended to include capabilities of forming an instant "perfect" representation fo camoflauge.

    Another application would be in the medical field as the article said... realtime information in terms of health that is output on your arm rather than in a file would be GREAT. Given this could be done with RFID, I still think it would be better to have the visual because it would be quickly read and understood by a medical technician without the use of an RFID reader.

    I think the practical applications and what it could do should not be oversighted by how it would affect social trends, but even take into account young people who want tattoos, their choice could EASILY change in the future, and the capability to have it removed would be a huge benefit to the individuals whereas a tattoo is permanent, and requires a skin colored tattoo that can be easily distinguished as previously housing a tattoo when your skin pigment changes slightly.

    So, not to chastize anyone, but I feel as though the real applications of this product are being ignored.
    • AlphaPrime, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I really like the instant cammo idea, now you just need color and you could blend in with whatever's behind you.

      BTW, how much would one of those removable ones cost with the 3 layers of whatever? I can't imagine that they would last long enough for the price and where would they get the power? But nice comment though tds5016.
  • jedimasta, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Wasn't there something similar to these talked about a few years ago, specifically being developed by the military? It wasn't under the skin, but rather a painted on external polymer that when connected to a dataport of sorts it could display any image onto whatever shape this polymer canvas was. I recall an image of the stuff being painted onto a wall and connected to a conventional pc to display rudimentary images, even animated.

    Granted, it wouldn't be wireless, but thats never stopped the military.
  • Mortiferous, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I think ill wait for the high definition ones to come out. Now that tattoos are in the technology cycle they'll all be outdated in a week.
  • tylerni7, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Mirror... http://english.ohmynews.com.nyud.net:8090/articleview/article_view.asp?no=296497&rel_no=1 the site seems to have crashed already for me...

    And damn, this looks awesome. As long as the nanobots can't like harm you by being under your skin or anything...
  • ralphc, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0If these puppies are updated wirelessly, I'm building an overamped transmitter and everyone within a 50 foot radius is going to have a "I'M A DORK" tattoo on them.
  • VeganG, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3I am SO ready to be a ***** cyborg.
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