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Skin-Based Display Screens From Nanotech Tattoos

Posted by timothy on Mon Apr 20, 2009 04:13 AM
from the your-epidermis-is-showing-a-movie dept.
Displays Technology
destinyland writes "Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in New York is developing flexible nanotubes inserted under the skin to create a handheld display — inside your hand. They wirelessly receive data and display reminders and text messages, and the concept has also been broadened to suggest endlessly programmable digital tattoos, while Netherlands-based Royal Philips Electronics is also exploring the concept of the body as 'a platform for electronics and interactive skin technologies'." That middle link is quite old, but is still loaded with interesting links.
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Submission: Skin-based display screens from nanotech "tatt by destinyland (578448)
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  • Allright!! (Score:4, Funny)

    by SalaSSin (1414849) on Monday April 20 2009, @04:16AM (#27643049) Homepage Journal
    Finally a way to change my tattoo every time i feel like it, and get rid of my gf's complaints that she doesn't want me to have more tattoos.
    • It's typical, really. I just [i]got[/i] my first tattoo, and then they tell me about this.
      • Damn you, bbcode.

        The one time I forget to preview...

          • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

            by xouumalperxe (815707)

            I guess it helps that you can just blindly reject everything in the original post that resembles html, and then only generate the html you explicitly allow from the BBCode. That way you're preventing some funky attacks. Of course, implementations might or might not produce further errors...

          • Well, [ & ] can be hit with a single key, whereas < & > require the shit key to be hit as well.

            The one thing I hate about typing (especially when programming), is how many times I have to hit that god damn shit key. My left little finger starts to hurt a lot when I've been programming for a while.

            • Well, [ & ] can be hit with a single key, whereas require the shit key to be hit as well.

              Well, my keyboard doesn't have a shit key. I understand that you wouldn't want to touch that quite often. Maybe you should get one with a shift key instead. :-)

              BTW, I never understood what problems people have with pressing shift. I don't have any problems with it (not even when writing German, where there are a lot of upper case letters). OTOH, on German keyboards, the [ and ] characters are some of the hardest ch

      • Re:Allright!! (Score:5, Funny)

        by AlecC (512609) <aleccawley@gmail.com> on Monday April 20 2009, @05:47AM (#27643471) Homepage

        The possibilities for hacking other people's tattoos are frightening. You can hardly go around keeping a continuous watch on them, especially on your back. Imagine going to work at school labelled "Crack $5/bag".

        • Re:Allright!! (Score:4, Funny)

          by cayenne8 (626475) on Monday April 20 2009, @06:33AM (#27643673) Homepage Journal
          I wonder if these palm electronic 'tatoos', could be federally mandated to look like a 'crystal', and change color every 7 years of your life. At 21, it could blink when you are on lastday, before you have to turn yourself in for sleep.

          Hmm....shoot, I'll be we could transform the DEA into a group called sandmen, you know, just in case you decided to 'run' and not turn yourself in for sleep.

            • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

              by cayenne8 (626475)
              "as someone who went to MANY many birthday parties for 30 year olds at lazertag centers- it was 30 for renewal, not 21"

              Not in the book....it was 21.

              I'd highly recommend the book..is a short read, but, quite a lot better than the movie. The way the 'gun' works in the book is so cool, and worth the read alone. Hehehe...you never want a 'homer' fired at you....

        • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

          by kannibal_klown (531544)

          The possibilities for hacking other people's tattoos are frightening. You can hardly go around keeping a continuous watch on them, especially on your back. Imagine going to work at school labelled "Crack $5/bag".

          This reminds me of a book: The Diamond Age

          In it, a character describes how some people get their eyes cyber-ized so they can have HUDs and such for information, aiming etc.

          However one guy he knew had his HUD hacked so that it would always show him catfood commercials, even when his eyes were closed while he tried to sleep, and he couldn't get anyone to remove the code. It eventually drove him to suicide.

          This is the reason why the character used older-model goggles.

      • Seriously? It's just an anus, I can understand being shocked by it, but some people talk about goatse like it killed their puppy. You shouldn't have to "unsee' anything, just get over it.

  • Ohhh... can you imagine the hack possibilities (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Opportunist (166417) on Monday April 20 2009, @04:20AM (#27643079)

    If you thought fun with programmable road signs was something, wait 'til tatoo hacks become the new fad!

  • Ray Bradbury will be delighted (Score:3, Insightful)

    by kubitus (927806) on Monday April 20 2009, @04:22AM (#27643081)
    The Illustrated Man coming alive!

    • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

      by MichaelSmith (789609)
      Camouflage for the skin. Couple it with a camera to get an idea of background textures.

      Incidently the audio on one of those pages was creeping me out. I'm sitting here listening to Neil Young and suddenly I get these creepy sound effects over the top. I had to hunt around through workspaces and tabs to find the source.
    • And here I was thinking Rorschach. :-D

  • Camouflage (Score:5, Interesting)

    by sakdoctor (1087155) on Monday April 20 2009, @04:23AM (#27643085)

    Implant this under all exposed skin and a solider could have camouflage patterns turned on/off and changed for the terrain.

    • Re:Camouflage (Score:5, Insightful)

      by blargfellow (948805) on Monday April 20 2009, @04:26AM (#27643099)
      Or the enemy sends you a virus, and you end up with a bullseye on your forehead.

    • Re:Camouflage (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Tom (822) on Monday April 20 2009, @07:12AM (#27643873) Homepage Journal

      Because in war it's such a bright idea to have much skin exposed?

      Sorry, some camouflage make-up applied to the parts of the face you can't hide seems like a lot simpler, cheaper, more reliable and simply superior in all other aspects.

      • Re:Camouflage (Score:5, Insightful)

        by bentcd (690786) <bcd@pvv.org> on Monday April 20 2009, @06:25AM (#27643635) Homepage

        What's the point in that? He'd either have to carry both desert and urban camo (for middle-east incursions at least), and swap half way through, or they'd have to be butt-naked all the time.

        If they can put this in skin they can probably put it in clothes too.

  • This nice sounds nice (Score:5, Funny)

    by Norsefire (1494323) * on Monday April 20 2009, @04:26AM (#27643103) Homepage Journal
    but most Geeks don't have a high pain threshold.

  • well........ (Score:5, Funny)

    by tatermonkey (1199435) on Monday April 20 2009, @04:27AM (#27643105)
    Its only a matter of time before someone figures out how to get porn on it.

    • Re: (Score:2, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward
      What would be the use of that if it's on the inside of your palm?

  • Should we... (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 20 2009, @04:36AM (#27643145)

    Without reading the article, should we assume this kind of technology can be used to help college student cheat on tests?

  • A Cautionary Note (Score:5, Funny)

    by hyades1 (1149581) <hyades1@hotmail.com> on Monday April 20 2009, @04:39AM (#27643155)

    If programmable digital tattoos catch on, it might be a good idea if the data feed in your "handheld display" was used to ensure that the name in your tattoo matches the name of the person you're with.

  • OCtattoos ! (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Macka (9388) on Monday April 20 2009, @04:50AM (#27643213)

    This reminds my of the futuristic OCtattoos (Organic Circuitry tattoos) that Peter Hamilton makes use of in his Commonwealth Saga [wikipedia.org] stories.

    They're described in the Wiki as:

    OCTattoos (Organic Circuitry Tattoos) are also a major technological device. These are tattooed on the skin and resemble colourful, often metallic tattoos, and serve hundreds of purposes from transferring credits to serving as sensors. Their main function is to act as processors for other implants (which may function at reduced capacity if an OCTattoo is damaged).

    Would be really neat to have this in our lifetime.

    • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

      by newcastlejon (1483695)
      Just give me a shout when I can have a watch like Wu's.

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by zrq (794138)

      Would be really neat to have this in our lifetime.

      Therin lies a problem ... the human lifetime as compared to the rate IT technology is changing. Whatever you got implanted today would be out of date within a year. You either have to continually upgrade (which would probably involve more surgery, because the latest implants would not be backwards compatible with yours), or you get stuck with the equivalent of a 800x600 display tattooed into your arm when everyone else has 1920x1200 HD and surround sound.

  • Hands-on (Score:3, Funny)

    by Mr. Moose (124255) on Monday April 20 2009, @04:55AM (#27643229)

    Where can I get some hands-on experience with this technology?

  • wristwatch without the watch, for a long time now.

  • Immunse systems do not like foreign objects. (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Jackie_Chan_Fan (730745) on Monday April 20 2009, @05:09AM (#27643313)

    This cant be healthy.

    • Re:Immunse systems do not like foreign objects. (Score:5, Interesting)

      by samurphy21 (193736) on Monday April 20 2009, @05:48AM (#27643477) Homepage

      There are many biologically neutral materials that are safely implanted into the body all the time. Titanium pins for repairing bones. Pacemakers. Composite plates for skull injuries. These are just medical examples. You get into the "body modification" crowd and you start seeing stainless steel, neobium, and nylon implants and piercings.

      I suspect that rejection or attack by white blood cells are not an insurmountable issue here, but I'm not a doctor.

      • I suspect that rejection or attack by white blood cells are not an insurmountable issue here, but I'm not a doctor.

        I suspect that rejection or attack by your mother would be the issue here.

  • So how do I sign up? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by guyminuslife (1349809) on Monday April 20 2009, @05:22AM (#27643363)

    I can be a very willing guinea pig, lab rat, et cetera. Just tell me where to sign!

    Yes, the prospect of long-term, irreparable skin damage is nothing next to the coolness of having the dermatological equivalent of animated GIFs. And I mean that sincerely.

  • Good luck at the airport (Score:5, Insightful)

    by KlaymenDK (713149) on Monday April 20 2009, @05:38AM (#27643437) Journal

    Good luck with that the next time you're at the security check at the airport. Pacemakers they know about, but with people getting withheld due to t-shirts with *images* of electronics, this thing is just asking for trouble.

  • I'll wait... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Capt James McCarthy (860294) on Monday April 20 2009, @05:41AM (#27643449) Journal

    It all sounds cool...for a movie or a fad. The next thing you know you have to keep your virus defs up to date or your tatoo will be throwing up all kinds of unwanted pop-ups. If it can be 'reprogrammed,' that is just a freq that manipulates the nano devices, then it can be maliciously altered as well. I still don't understand the fascination with putting electronics in the body (medical reasons notwithstanding). And there is already an issue with people being tracked and watched. They tie the screen to your vitals and it will glow green if you are telling the truth or red if you are lying. It will tell folks your current medical status. _IF_ that is what you want.

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by Aladrin (926209)

      "I still don't understand the fascination with putting electronics in the body (medical reasons notwithstanding). And there is already an issue with people being tracked and watched."

      Not everyone is as paranoid about the government spying on them as you. Don't get me wrong, your paranoia helps the rest of us by keeping the government straight... But we don't also need to be paranoid for that to work.

        • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

          by Aqualung812 (959532)
          Why not? I've noticed I've seen fewer ads for things that I won't EVER buy for myself (Tampons, etc), and more for things I will buy (cycling gear, xbox games).
          Can you let me know what the problem is?

  • Obligatory (Score:3, Funny)

    by IceCreamGuy (904648) on Monday April 20 2009, @06:15AM (#27643581) Homepage
    "I can't wait until the tattoos on Amy's butt hear about this!"

  • Police Documentation (Score:5, Interesting)

    by KneelBeforeZod (1527235) on Monday April 20 2009, @06:43AM (#27643723)
    Hypothetically, if this were to become common. It'd force police to rethink how they document and identify distinguishing marks on the body. Or a gang member being some kind of double agent and switching inks from one gang to another. Its the stuff of scifi. Makes me think of The Illustrated Man of Ray Bradbury.

  • Voice command? (Score:5, Funny)

    by Millennium (2451) on Monday April 20 2009, @06:54AM (#27643783) Homepage

    If they could figure out a voice-command interface to this, "Talk to the hand" could get a whole new meaning.

  • Ni-Go-Zeero-Ichi (Score:5, Funny)

    by Drakkenmensch (1255800) on Monday April 20 2009, @07:13AM (#27643879)
    One step closer to Ghost in the Shell's brain hacking becoming an everyday reality!

    • of the possibilities the porn industry could come up with.

      So, you're going to project a naked body on a naked body?

      Or are you going to render certain acts on certain patches of skin to simulate the experience? But it would be only possible by brutally handled and have a sheet of this material inserted on that patch of skin. As I suspect, that part of the sheet should be flexible as well if you would want to try to simulate a certain experience..

      What lenghts teen nerds go to simulate a certain experience. In

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