Exchange Email Addresses With A Handshake

Eye of the Frog writes "Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp. and its subsidiary NTT DoCoMo Inc. have developed a device that attaches to your PDA which uses the body's conductivity to transmit data at an amazing 10 megabits per second."

Comments

How about people with pace makers?

[LowAmmoWarning]

How about the people with pace makers? Are they going to have a warning label on the product or even try testing the product with them? Also, how about any other medical conditions that might present themselves due to this technology?

Re:How about people with pace makers?

[red5]

This is an urban myth. Pacemakers are generally unaffected by cellphones, microwaves, etc.

Another common misconception about pacemakers this the notion that if they go out of commission the person would have an immediate heart attack. Not true. A pacemaker on kicks in when the subjects heartrate falls out the healthy range. It spends most of it's time watching the heart and waiting.

I know this because my cousin has one.

Here's what I don't get...

[BTWR]

If you're close enough to TOUCH the person... why not just give a business card or TALK to the person???

Re:Shades of "The Belonging Kind"

[bovril]

That was a great story, but it should've been called something like "Alcoholic Mutants Find Love". ;)

Since we're going down the sci-fi path... This article reminded me more of the IR palm implants in Greg Egan's "Quarantine". Great book for the neural mods and other tech gadgets.

But exchanging email addresses with a handshake sounds more like someone's trying to create an evil, networking, Tony Robbins fueled, cyborg-spammer from hell. Like Skynet, but with free university degrees and penis enlarging creams...

Sounds familiar, but with more applications...

[Ian Peon]

A friend of mine had told me (a few years ago) about how his company was working on ways to use body conductivity and the electical fields surrounding our bodies to pass data. This article sounds very familiar.

Passing data from one person to another was one of the uses, but the other I found much more interesting.

Imagine a personal device "cloud" where your PDA, watch, and cell phone all pass data back and forth. Your watch acts as a small display for your cell and/or your PDA and receives time updates via the cell. Your PDA uses the cell for data calls. Your cell uses your PDA to look up names and numbers. All (theoretically ;) seamlessly.

Take it a step further, and create small modules that plug into this personal network. Maybe a keychain of functions all accessable through your watch or PDA. Maybe carry a Quake quarter in your pocket.

Nokia make a lot of press with putting a camera in a cell phone. I haven't looked at the spec, but I'd imagine that like many multi-function devices, it doesn't do either well. Imagine your (dedicated to task) camera taking pics, and storing them on another device (is that smart card in your wallet or are you just happy to see me?), previewing the pics on your phone and sending them from there. You could easily give them to someone else with a handshake.

Quite a lot of possibility. I had often thought that the business card exchange application was the least exciting...

Obligatory Sir Arthur C. Clarke ref

[Quila]

3001 -- exchanging personal information by touch of the palm.

Has he thought of everything?

Re:Interesting, but...

[RAMMS EIN]

``What's to stop crackers...''
Don't use the technology. Same thing with all those password managers today. If you are concerned about their security, just say no.

---
It is impossible to travel faster than light, and certainly not
desirable, as one's hat keeps blowing off.
-- Woody Allen