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Secure Data Storage... On Your Fingernails
opticsorg writes "Secure optical data storage could soon literally be at your fingertips thanks to work being carried out in Japan. Yoshio Hayasaki and his colleagues have discovered that data can be written into a human fingernail by irradiating it with femtosecond laser pulses. Capacities are said to be up to 5 mega bits and the stored data lasts for 6 months - the length of time it takes a fingernail to be completely replaced."
Ironic that this comes up at the same time as a poll about "least favourite finger" - now they can all be useful again.
I say we take off and nuke it from orbit. It's the only way to be sure...
You bite your fingernails?
Secure optical data storage could soon literally be at your fingertips thanks to work being carried out in Japan. Yoshio Hayasaki and his colleagues have discovered that data can be written into a human fingernail by irradiating it with femtosecond laser pulses. Capacities are said to be up to 5 mega bits and the stored data lasts for 6 months - the length of time it takes a fingernail to be completely replaced. (Optics Express 13 4560)
Fingernail storage
"I don't like carrying around a large number of cards, money and papers," Hayasaki from Tokushima University told Optics.org. "I think that a key application will be personal authentication. Data stored in a fingernail can be used with biometrics, such as fingerprint authentication and intravenous authentication of the finger."
The team's approach is simple: use a femtosecond laser system to write the data into the nail and a fluorescence microscope to read it out. The key to reading the data out is that the nail's fluorescence increases at the point irradiated by the femtosecond pulses.
Initial experiments were carried out on a small piece of human fingernail measuring 2 x 2 x 0.4 mm3. The writing system comprises a Ti:Sapphire oscillator and Ti: Sapphire amplifier. Pulses of less than 100 fs at 800 nm are then passed through a microscope and focused to three set depths (40, 60 and 80 microns) using an objective lens.
Each "bit" of information has a diameter of 3.1 microns and is written by a single femtosecond pulse. A motorised stage moves the nail to create a bit spacing of 5 microns across the nail and a depth of 20 microns between recording layers.
An optical microscope containing a filtered xenon arc lamp excites the fluorescence and reads out the data stored at the various depths. "We regulate the focus with the movement of the microscope objective," explained Hayasaki. "The distance between the planes is set to prevent cross-talk between data stored at different depths."
Hayasaki adds that the same fluorescence signal is seen 172 days after recording.
Although the initial experiments have concentrated on small pieces of nail, the team is now developing a system that can write data to a fingernail which is still attached to a finger. "We will develop a femtosecond laser processing system that can record the data at the desired points with compensation for the movement of a finger," said Hayasaki.
Author Jacqueline Hewett is technology editor on Optics.org and Opto & Laser Europe magazine.
Don't anthropomorphize computers: they hate that.
but I bite my nails...
I've already got optical data storage on my fingernails.
It generally tells me I've been rolling around in the dirt, scratching myself, and have had an inability to touch anyone of the opposite sex.
Imagine losing your data when you hit your thumb with a hammer.
12:50 - press return.
...don't chew your fingernails.
-- haaz.
Capacities are said to be up to 5 mega bits and the stored data lasts for 6 months - the length of time it takes a fingernail to be completely replaced.
i admit i didn't read the article, but what about when the nail is partially being replaced?
Err.. the nail fully replaced... I mean, when the nail is half replaced, half of the data is lost. Does it implie that you should not cut your nails ?
\u262D = \u5350
I see another spy/action movie with bad dialog in the making...
My sig sucks.
The article goes on: "Criminals are said to be stocking up on pliers and practicing their nail-pulling skills."
Serving your airship needs since 1995.
Pretty nifty idea though.
I'd rather keep it on my toenails, they (seem to) grow slower and thus, I don't clip them as often.
After weeks of stealth and subterfuge, the double agent finally arrives in Moscow. As he's anxiously waiting in the lab for the equipment to decipher the data on his left index finger, he absent-mindedly bites off the data on his right finger.
D'oh!
rooooar
Damn it! I broke a nail. There went my passwords!
I love how they reported the results in megabits. So is that 5000000 bits? Whee! I usually do my data in bytes.... Divide by 8, no?
Linux - because it doesn't leave that Steve Ballmer aftertaste.
Shit, I just bit off the end of my thesis!
Maybe it's just me, but seems like a bit of a sketchy idea.
Oh no... it's the future.
I wasn't sure what the measure femtosecond equated to so I Googled it.
femtosecond - one quadrillionth of a second; one thousandth of a nanosecond.
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/femtosecond
They will steal your fingers instead.
Good move guys!
the team is now developing a system that can write data to a fingernail which is still attached to a finger.
Yeah, I wasn't really looking forward to having my fingernails peeled off...
A new sense of the term "data retrieval". 2005: Computing can now be equated with torture
I've been doing this for a long time! I have part of a speech I made on my fingernails...lemme see if I can find it...
Ah
Good morning. I'm
here today to tell
you about the new
\--_______________--/
Well crud, it looks like I DID clip my nails last week.
AccountKiller
Will it support raid-5-fingers ?
\u262D = \u5350
Now we finally understand the full meaning of Bill Gates' quote "640K ought to be enough for everyone".
The AACS key is NOT 0xF606EEFD628B1CA427BEA93A9CA9773F
after 3.5 inchs floppy, we have 1 inch floppy.
nice
one bug, one crash
I'll bet we start seeing guys with all of their nails at 7 inches long. How else are you going to fit all of your porn onto them?
/. ++
Gives a new meaning to "thumbnail"...
Things to think about:
Girls break a nail, loose last month's vacation pictures!
Would you back up some of your nails on others? Perhaps you could use your toenails as "offline storage"
Sounds like fingernail polish would "erase" the storage. So then could you write to them again? Are nails only WORMs?
What would the readers look like? Would you stick your hand inside your computer? Gee. Hope there isn't any moisture in there.
Long Distance Tax Overturned. You May Be Due a Refund. But Good Luck Getting It.
There is a theory that says that it is possible to store any amount of data on a finely-machined metal rod.
First, take any data (for example the text to Moby Dick) and turn each character into a digit. A=01, B=02, etc. Then string them all together into one long stream of digits. Once the text is translated into this long number, add a decimal to the front of the string.
Now you have a fractional number. 0.0301...
Measure out *exactly* that length in relation to the length of the metal rod and machine a line at that offset. Voila, you've stored the entire text on a metal rod.
Jesus saved me from my past. He can save you as well.
And with no display, could Apple sue for prior art with the Shuffle?
Don't anthropomorphize computers: they hate that.
There should be continuous data loss as the nail grows. I would assume that the 5mb that they mention would be the entire nail, but part of that data would be lost as soon as you cut or bit your nails, or if they broke off.... Not really sure what you would use this for other than biometric identification, but you would have to be sure that the person did not allow the nail to grow out completely and then cut it off and use the nail as an overlay later.
I reject your reality
remember the receptionist in that movie?
what she was doing to her fingernails?
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
Now we'll see men crying when they break a nail
So what happens when this technology is more commonplace? Will you have to place your hands under a filtered xenon arc lamp when you leave work to make sure you didn't steal any sensitive info?
Ignorance is not a crime; neither should it be a way of life
Congress control $ = inmates run the asylum
Everyone! Quick! Put on your tin foil gloves so they can't read your fingernails!
"Hey Jim can i get that TPS report from you....." "Yeah sure thing Doug, ill come over to your office and you can pull my finger" "er..."
...to visit the nail salon!
Oh, I'm just backing up some data...
Is clipping your finger nails going to be the new way to loose your data?
Great. Now some luser will break a nail and it will be our fault.
At least she might be hot.
"A government is a body of people, usually notably ungoverned." - Shepard Book Quoting Malcolm Reynolds
"Just defragmenting my disk"
And why would it be secure?
Because they'd have to take your fingers to get it.
can they read the data through a nice set of nail polish?
To err is human, to really foul up requires a computer
Great, so my data lasts until I work on something that chews up my hands.
Will this survive being GoJo'ed after I change my oil? Or being scraped up working in the yard?
What will the bit error rate be after I've painted the fence and scrubbed the paint off my hands?
So now I'll have to wear gloves anytime I do anything remotely physical? Better hope I don't break down and don't have my gloves with me.
www.eFax.com are spammers
5 Mbits is about 625 MBytes (5e6/8) so its more like a 0.5 inch CD-RW :)
Move Sig, for great justice.
How much do you think this guy could hold?
No sig for you! Come back, one year!
i got 10 nails, so 50 mb in my hands...yuuuuhoooo Imagine using winzip with it: please insert package # 4....
...Industrial Espionage See Rise in Rates of Hangings by Fingernails
News at Eleven.
Coming to a nail salon near you soon... :)
Fuck, that's gross :O
The AACS key is NOT 0xF606EEFD628B1CA427BEA93A9CA9773F
Now that's what I call "digital" storage! The article says that they're currently only working with fingernail trimmings. They have yet to work on fingernails which are "attached to a finger," raising issues due to natural movements. Go to the local Wendy's of Tokyo ("Wenudisu"?) to find an extra couple megabits in your ramen. No, it's not an official promotion, either.
[
I have visions of data thieves, coming after me with pliers!
What I think is the most important question that we must ask is : Is this technology "hit resistent"? I mean, is it like a CD/DVD (a scratch, data is lost)? If they could write the data deeper into the nail, maybe it could withstand a couple of stratch and hits, wich is daily life. If it can't I cannot see the utility of this.
I wouldn't mind you in my head, if you weren't so clearly mad -Lews Therin Telamon
What does this give me that an SD card and some superglue does not?
OLPC Australia
It's like Johnny Mnenmonic, but with more polish
Irritable, left-wing and possibly humorous bumper stickers and t-shirts
Why stop at 5 megs? Just grow your nails longer and quit cutting them.
Anyone know how much ram the woman in the guinness book of world records can store in her nails?
SearchIRC - Now with live chat directory!
No, the other one...
there's no replacement for displacement
so then, does cutting your nails qualify as backups?
You can't handle the truth.
I still don't understand all the fuss about putting data in or on my body. Rather than tatoo data on my hand, or embed it under my skin, why not just make the devices I already carry more useful?
.375 revolver / 1 gigabyte pen drive?
To whit: Why can't I get a combination
Trying to use sarcasm in text-based forums does not work.
One finger conveys enough information already without laser etching or anything else.
The problem with socialism is that they always run out of other people's money. - Margaret Thatcher
Okay, that's just a bit Frankensteinian.
Ya, I got your data right here!
It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
Here's someone who's already doing this. Granted, she can't store very much data currently, but it's a start...
I like my women like my coffee... pale and bitter.
From TFA: Initial experiments were carried out on a small piece of human fingernail measuring 2 x 2 x 0.4 mm^3
That's 1.6 nontic millimetres. Plenty of data storage space there!
Ydco co
... is a Linux distro that fits on your thumbnail.
Note to ACs: I usually delete AC replies without reading them. If you want to talk to me, log in.
Well their slogan would be something like this "Nail your Data" or
"Grow your nails, Save your Data"
What does your Credit Report look like?
Ay, but a 2d-bar code like this could easily be printed in the center of the nail, as to be less susceptible to damage. Keep a copy on the other hand, for backup! This could easily be used as an access key for doors, computers, etc; a person's password could be the barcode itself, or some combination (right index, followed by left pinky, or some crap like that) of them. You don't WANT those keys to stay around forever anyway, so nail growth would enforce password changes!
A computer without Microsoft is like ice cream without ketchup.
Jimmy, don't bite your nails especially if you haven't backed them up first.
or
Try our new nail polish colors. They won't currupt your data.
or even
Oh no, I broke a nail. Please help me find it because it wasn't encrypted.
With all the gunk stunk in my coworkers nails, he should easily be able to store a terabyte.
How practical is this? Since this is optical technology, wouldn't a scratch or dirt on my nail interfere with retrieval? Then there's fingernail polish.
You can have my data when you pry it from my cold, dead hands.
Because if you took it while I was alive, damn, that would just be torture.
MORTAR COMBAT!
You could use your toenails, they grow about 4 times slower than your fingernails.
But toenails have their downside too. When that cute secretary asks you for your expense report and you whip out your stinky foot next to her laptop, you just lost all your chances with her.
For those interested, here is the link to the published Optics Express article. Best of all, the full article is free to read.
Download my free songs!
I'm thinking espionage. You can smuggle your secret spied data around, even past a full cavity search...
Real Daleks don't climb stairs - they level the building.
Surprised there have been no references to the great Outer Limits episode. Of course, Robert Culp had the entire human race encoded in his finger.
Slashdot "libertarians": Small government for me, big government for those I disagree with. -1, I disagree with you
You've touched on a real problem with the idea of using it as a biometric id. Forget nail-pulling - just take the whole finger.
Reminds me of the scene in Blade Runner where he identifies the snake scale by the serial number etched into it at microscopic level.
Could be a useful and non-permanent way of providing identity or other pertinent info while keeping open the option to remove it if necessary (no, not by pulling the nail but rather by filing the top surface down a little).
Visceral Psyche Films
I guess, I have one more reason not to pick my nose.
"Don't let fools fool you. They are the clever ones."
...even more reasons for organized criminals, state torturers, and other miscreants to pull your fingernails out.
Never mind your wife's addiction to nail polish.
"I don't care what a deal they cut you it was! The mortgage records were on those fingers!"
Hmmm... Fake nails, chips inserted, stylish data carrying mechanism... Back off! Prior art!
Just try patenting that Bezos!
If my grammar and spelling are off, I am [distracted/tired/careless] (take your pick)
Wow, write all the data on one finger (say the thumb since its bigger), then setup parity nails just in case something happens.
"I like my pockets fat not flat!" abstrakone
Not for those who live behind content filters that block all URLs with naughty words like sex in them.
"Data stored in a fingernail can be used with biometrics, such as fingerprint authentication and intravenous authentication of the finger."
- from the article
What the hell is "intravenous authentication of the finger" -- ?!
Scary!
-kgj
-kgj
Well, the data loss would be constant because even if the nail is not completely replaced, a part will still be missing. Maybe using toe's nails would be a better idea, they are a lot larger and grow much slower than hand nails. But then again, i find this thing to be pretty silly.
Just last night I saw the episode of TNG where a Klingon was stealing Star Fleet records and encoding them into amino acids, which are injected into the blood stream to smuggle data off the ship. They thought it was amazing that the human body was used as the conduit of information. If only the Klingons had this technology, perhaps they would not have been caught.
A slashdotter who didn't build his own computer is like a Jedi who didn't build his own lightsaber.
How many "bytes" in a fingernail?
--
make install -not war
I hereby post this to a public board to prevent money-grubbing corporate types from patenting this idea and preventing others from producing it.
I think I've come up with the perfect use for fingernail storage. Substitute it for passcodes, door codes and biometrics. This has all the advantages of biometrics and fewer drawbacks. Here's how it works:
Imprint a code onto a fingernail. At a secure door, you have a fingernail scanner. Insert finger. Code is read off the finger and processed much like a door code or pass card. Door is opened. After a period of time, your code expires or if it gets stolen (logically or physically [ouch!]), disable the old code and imprint a new code onto another fingernail. The old fingernail grows out and can be reused.
Unless it is physically stolen, in which case you have 9 more! Okay, some drawbacks of biometrics are still there.
But why is the rum gone?
This would be great for IDs and checks that you have to renew occasionally.
If you don't check in to renew your visa on time then leaving and re-entering the country becomes much more difficult. If you don't get re-etched every time you visit your parole officer it is obvious when you are next checked.
Put the etching closer to the tip for shorter periods of time.
Use it for "buy ten sandwiches, get the next free!" promotions.
Etch a new credit card number on every month - you know if someone physically stole the nail, and if they only got the number then it won't be valid after a few weeks if you don't notice right away.
Could be coupled with fingerprint scanners. The fingerprint would not be stored in a big DB - it's encrypted on your fingernail. The scanner checks that the info on the finger and the print match so it's more difficult for someone to copy - they need both the fingerprint and the numbers, and the fingerprint never leaves the scanner. No need to worry about some corporation "losing" your fingerprint like they "lose" other personally identifiable information - they never store it in the first place.
Then add a PIN and you've got a reasonably secure system - something you are, you have, and you know. Don't want it anymore? A quick swipe of the nail file and it's all gone.
-Adam
"to receive a mark in their right hand"
;-)
So make sure you only use your left hand!
"By the pricking of my thumbs, Something wicked this way comes." --From Macbeth (IV, i, 44-45)
With sensitive data would you have to destroy the old fingernails, or just risk just tossing them out? or maybe more people are going to start biting their nails... =]
I love random hex numbers! Just like this one, 09f911029d74e35bd84156c5635688c0.
"to receive a mark in the right hand.."
;-)
Make sure you only use your left hand
pricking of my thumbs,
Something wicked this way comes."
--Macbeth (IV, i, 44-45)
There's no explicit statement of the capacity per area, but I assume they talk about storage on their 2x2x0.4 mm^3 fingernail piece.
Then you could burn the information on the youngest part of the nail and have the full 6 months of lifetime.
Although the initial experiments have concentrated on small pieces of nail, the team is now developing a system that can write data to a fingernail which is still attached to a finger.
I'd rather walk around with cash and credit cards than with a pocket full of nail clippings.
Uncopyrightable: The longest word you can write without repeating a letter.
Soon to be available in the a storage capacity to meet your needs. Sample ad here.
...what with all the nail salons in the US. Imagine a lax CIA operative leaving Langley with anti-terrorism plans on her "thumb" drive stopping off for a manicure.
Or worse yet -- waking up in a bathtub in Mexico filled with ice. A small note pinned to your shirt -- "Your toenails have been removed. Seek immediate medical assistance. Not for the toenails. We took a kidney too."
IronChefMorimoto
they have to remove your fingernails as they are evidence.
Now the geeks with really long, feminine fingernails will be the envy of everyone... and everyone will be buying those fake plastic fingernails.
but will my fingernail run Linux?
How easy will it be for us clumbsy people to damage the data?
Will this method of data storage be used by terrorists?
How many illegal ways will this be used?
I don't see a whole lot of positive things about this invention.
No, there should be continuous data loss as the nail is damaged or cut. You should be smart enough to offload your data before cutting your fingernails, then re-image it.
A better question, though, is how the data will actually hold up on an attached fingernail. Their tests were with a piece of fingernail, which was not changing in shape or undergoing any stress. We might learn something interesting and unexpected about how fingernails grow with this - perhaps it's not as uniform as one thinks. At the sizes they're talking, you might be lucky that your data is still arranged properly at the end of the day, let alone 172 days later.
cyn, free software and *nix operating systems enthusiast.
Wow, and I thought OUR company's filters were annoying!
Download my free songs!
This is only 625K, less than that of a low density 3.5" floppy disk and this is exciting news? Sure, technically it is cool but functionally?
come on fhqwhgads
Just keep your Fingernails after you cut them! They'd make a cool substitute for common FlashMemoryCards! (We need a NailDrive Nail-Reader though...)
EOF
Hollywood has always dreamed of having Media that automatically expires...
Imagine if Hollywood could charge you for burning DVDs onto your finger nail- In 6 months, your copy of the movie would automatically expire!
*mind explodes*
Now they can offer data backup and recovery services to go along with manicures and pedicures!
So now instead of, "gimme the watch and the wallet man and nobody gets hurt!", it'll be..."ok, this is gonna hurt you a whole lot more than it'll hurt me....*YANK*".
And could you get L&I insurance or disability insurance claim for a torn fingernails now? =)
And a whole new movie plot method of hiding the secret informtaion....encode it on the parrot's toenail!!!!!
So now we have to watch for people digging through our trash, not only for confidential papers... but fingernail clippings as well. Either that or we need to burn/shred our nails. Hmmm, new patent idea?
I'll believe in corporations having personhood when Texas executes one... - advocate_one
Make each finger a drive in a RAID-5 array. Still not enough for you? add in your toes as well.
Can I get a USB version?
Then: We will pull out your fingernails to get the information we want.
Now: We will pull out your fingernails to get the information we want.
First we had the man who had his finger cut off to get past his cars biometric locks (see The Register for details...
;)
And now "the bad guys" (tm) are going to start pulling out my finger nails "just in case" I've had some important data encoded on them.
So thanks very much you Japanese whizz kids... Now all you need to do is figure out how to encode data using my nerve endings, penis & teeth so I can really sleep soundly
(actually that's given me some good ideas... "What do you think you're doing with my wife ?" "Er... just duplicating some sensitive information for the office - honest")
Sky subscribers are morons. They pay to be advertised at !
My wife is a podiatrist and removes quite a few ingrown toenails. Wonder if she should add a "not responsible for lost data" clause to her standard waiver?
Dewey, what part of this looks like authorities should be involved?
So if you clip/bite your nails and you collect them, is that considered backing your data up?
-- Yes, I work for the government, and yes I am watching you.
cheap labor conservatives - they want to keep you hungry enough to be thankful for minimum wage.
Sweet! Does this make anyone else think of Johnny Mnemonic, where data was stored in a courier's brain?
<keanu>Whoa!</keanu>
-Rich
I will never understand why eye popping grosses some people out. When I see it, it just looks ridiculous. I'd say the fingernail thing is far worse because the guy has disfigured hands and has lost his hearing in one ear as a result. The eye popper just pushes her eyes back into their sockets and she's back in business. I have to imagine she's got really good peripheral vision though... ;P
-"...bad old ideas look confusingly fresh when they are packaged as technology" - Jaron Lanier (Digital Maoism on Edge.o
great, now when someone try to rob me at the ATM, they might want to chop off my figer too.
Consider this factor to capacity: how large is your nail bed? (i.e. compare the length of freshly trimmed big toe & pinky toes)
Aside from all that, the only real application I can see from this is art. Imagine etching precise patterns into nails, kinda like hena for nails.
-MrLogic
A few days ago, I saw something strange happening at the office. A secretary was sitting in front of my boss with her panties off, and the damn guy had put his finger into her ... er ... you know ...
I was a bit perplexed.
But now I understand that he was just doing a backup.
The problem with Slashdot memes is that YOU INSENSITIVE CLOD!
Does this mean that we will need an alternative method for disposing our fingernails, like we do receipts and old paperwork? Trash digging for fingernail clippings is an all new low in data/identify theft. Also very interesting, there's less anonymity when disposing of the fingernail clippings... Better make sure your fingernails are encrypted.
Simple:
Data you wrote there six months ago is destroyed. Data wrote more recently remains unaffected.I'd think that if you were interested in any kind of long-term storage, the parts of the fingernail that were written to would be close to the nail bed.
Unless you chew your fingers down to the first knuckle, thereby eliminating all traces of fingernail, biting your fingernails shouldn't affect anything recent.
Now, for women, colored nail polish is probably the greatest threat. And manicures are probably number two, what with the sanding and polishing of the nail surface. But depending on the depth the data is written, maybe it would survive a manicure...
they say it takes 6 months for the fingernail to be completely replaced? am i just a freak with fast growing fingernails? a while ago, i cut a little notch in the base of my thumbnail, and i'll be damned if it took more than two months to grow all the way to the edge...
Engraving a person's ID or even his entire medical chart can help prevent mistaken identity later on.
I can also see it for Dementia patients who are prone to wander.
There's also a ready-made market for paranoid parents, who will engrave their kid's names and emergency contact numbers on their nails every 6 months.
1) Scare parents
2) offer a panacea
3) PROFIT!
Speaking of profit...
If anyone but these researchers try to patent the ideas presented in this post, it flunks the obviousness and if the "invention" date is after today, prior art tests.
Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
So when will people be able to get a manicure and have copies of their favorite books or periodicals, or even blogs, inscribed on their fingernails? Nail Salon.com, anyone? Although truth be told, some materials are more deserving of a place of honor on one's toenails, down among the grunge and fungus. Matt Drudge and Rush Limbaugh come to mind.
Not only do I have to burn them to shield my DNA but I'll have to shred them really really tiny to shield my, uh, corporate data.
... We can't go to Montenegro anymore. I just broke that nail. How much was there in that back account?"
I'd hate to have to get finger printed. All the pits would show up. You'd have to encode them with PGP. Has to be another way...
Have your S.O. keep track of your unlisted bank account numbers under a layer of glossy pink.
Just watch her go nuts when she gets a hangnail. "Oh dear
MSBPodcast.com The opinions expressed here are my own. If you don't like 'em... Think up your own stuff.
Now there's a guy that would get a lot out of this tech!
I attended a talk about this work about three weeks ago at the Optical Society of America's topical meeting on Information Photonics in Charlotte. There are two things about this work that I wanted to emphasize. First, this wasn't done using a nail on a person. Rather, a piece of nail that had been trimmed off and subsequently polished before being written was used. They hadn't demonstrated this with a growing nail attached to a living person. Second, they were able to write three different layers at different depths in the nail, which I thought was very cool. Anyway, it was very interesting work.
this person can hold more than 5 meg. I would love to see her work a keyboard or telephone.
What?
Seems like if you can do this with the keratin of a fingernail, you could probably also inscribe information on a single hair. This raises all kinds of ideas for future spy novels -- data smugglers carrying nothing visible, but the hair on their scalp holds all the source code for Microsoft's entire product line....
We'll just use some parity bits. It works for CDs.
...the finger nails YOU.
Note the media size they're talking about: 2mm square by 0.4mm thick. That's teeny. So for everyone fretting about biting your nails and losing your data, each finger could probably contain multiple backups of its own data (or better yet, copies of all of the other fingers' data).
Mittens.
Will identity theives go dumpster diving for clipped fingernails? Probably.
Yea that's all I need know is to have some wackjob cut off my finger so he can use my identity to break into some top secret area and use what's their to destroy the world!
Remember, try to keep away from emotional knee-jerk reactions. They had plenty of those when interracial marriages was allowed or slavery was abolished.
"Creepy" is not a rational word.
Transcend Humanity. Please.
If you are a spy and you are caught by the enemy, should you bite off your nails or wait for your captors to take care of that for you?
Here is the link to the technical paper: http://www.opticsexpress.org/abstract.cfm?URI=OPEX -13-12-4560
Enjoy!
A good reason to leave my clippings lying around!!
RAID 5.
Stripe checksum data across all 5/10 fingers, for when you lose some.
Ohh! I broke a nail!
There: Something at a specific location.
Their: Owned by someone.
Please make sure your english compiles.
FINGERNAIL OPTICAL DATA STORAGE:
Pros:
5 megabits of data
Lasts 6 months
Information can be encoded
Cons:
I can't scratch at my fingernails
Probably prevents use of nail polish
Requires laser to write/read (expensive)
Where am I going to find laser?
STRING AROUND FINGER:
Pros:
Does not require lasers
String is cheap
Securely encoded using memory encryption
Cons:
I have to have this string around my finger
I don't like having string around my finger
Requires string to write
Where I am going to find string?
Requires memory to read
Encodes very little information
Lasts only as long as I keep unsightly string tied around my finger
WRITING ON MY HAND:
Pros:
Does not need a laser
I usually have a pen with me
Requires no special device to read
Cons:
Can only store 5 megabits with very very small handwriting
My handwriting is terrible
Washes off
Not secure: Other people can read it
WINNER (until I get a laser):
Writing on Hand
Erik
YOU ARE SAYING IMPUDENCE TO ME! THAT IS IMPUDENCE!
Land on your hand awkwardly, lose you presentation.
How does this data hold up in the shower?
Gives it a whole new meaning...
-- This sig for rent.
Okay, since flavored gelatin dessert items are, essentially, the same suff as plain old fingernails (plus some flavoring), does that mean that this system could be applied to, say, a Jell-o cup? Since you have a larger volume, you could potentially store multiple layers of data.
Keep in a cool, dry place out of reach of children. And if anyone tries to confiscate your data, just eat it.
Alternatively, if the "jiggly drive" isn't stable, you could increase the gelatin saturation to a more solid point, and encase the whole thing in a hard, transparent, sealed shell (like acrylic). Oh, and leave out the sugar and flavoring.
Happiness is relative, Based upon the way we live.
One possible application would be to etch the parents names on a newborns finger or toe nails just after birth. Could be a failsafe to keep from having a mixup.
No matter where you go, there you are.
I suppose the data last avg. 3 months, after which fresh unfragmented storage space is available
I'm still trying to figure out what people mean by 'social skills' here.
"But my fingernail clippers ate my homework"
http://illhostit.com/ - Webhosting
I can see the conversations now;
"Black Nail polish, you must work in a high security company"
"No, I went to a Goth club last night and forgot to take it off."
Reminds me of a Gibson's Iduro, Blackwell who had been a Toe Cutter I will let you look it up.
Sorry about the writing. Robot fingers, you know? Cliff Steele in DOOM PATROL #23
How many cameras see your fingernails each day?
People will find a way of taking high enough resolution pictures to read the data off your thumbnail without you ever knowing. Forgive me if I decide to carry around my CD-RW (in its case) instead.
What if my sister likes to wear nail polish?
Will she lose the data she stored on her thumb the previous day?
I don't know if the status quo has changed since then, but the last time femptosecond lasers were mentioned on slashdot (in an article about storing a TByte in a 1cm^3 cube of glass), a researcher confirmed that they took up most of a room sizewise.
You aren't going to see this in use anytime soon, if ever.
Even people that believe in pre-destiny look both ways before crossing the street.
Lee Press-On Data Nails
Now you can store your Nine Inch Nails MP3s on your nine inch nails... =o
Oh! I just cut it off this morning!
Find a job you like and you will never work a day in your life.
"Don't bite your fingernails! Make a backup first."
Find a job you like and you will never work a day in your life.
Haha, very funny comment on the "thumbdrive", only a "dilbert type" might get it, but funny nonetheless!
o ld=-1&commentsort=0&tid=109&mode=thread&pid=129737 23
:)
(And, it dovetails into this from 1-2 days ago about "King Billy saying 'NO' to implants... & the point I was trying to make - nanotech's the way, in addition to possibly having augments of various kinds built into clothing you wear...)
http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=154725&thresh
* This is a whole NEW twist on it though... lol, we'll start seeing GUYS with nailpolish on (normal guys, geek types), with printed circuitry!
"Pretty FLASHY"...
APK
So, they've developed a storage medium that works on fingernails *not attached* to a finger... If this is going to be used for authentication purposes, I for one hope the final implementation of readers includes measures to ensure the finger is currently alive. Surely it wouldn't be too hard to include sensors to monitor for a pulse and warmth. Don't those dodgy love tester machines work off a similar principle?
cause I have a bad habit of biting my nails.
Whe knew the day would come when girls no longer hold monopoly for moaning about broken nails...
Wow! That's great! Right up until a mugger removes your fingers (better get them all, don't know which one has the codes).
It's one of those "seems good until you stop to think about it" ideas.
Unless you chew your fingers down to the first knuckle
Guess there's no reason to worry about anyone recovering your data.
This sig isn't original enough, it's time to come up with something witty...
Here's a preview of what it will look like!
~J.
Or perhaps anyone who's been in a Best Buy, Circuit City, OfficeMax, Staples, etc. in the past 2 or 3 years?
I see even classic Slashdot is now pretty much unusable on dial up anymore.