14 DAY TRIAL // One of the weirdest cell phone concepts ever is the "Digital Tattoo Interface" imagined by Jim Mielke, and I'm not sure under what category should it be classified: funny, creepy or innovative? The concept entered the "Greener Gadgets Design Competition" initiated by Core77 and Greener Gadgets, and although it didn't win, it was featured among the most notable entries.
The "Digital Tattoo Interface" wants to be a mobile phone / digital computer implanted in your arm and it should work with your own energy, i.e. your blood. It uses an e-ink display tattooed on your skin, a display that appears, disappears and changes itself according to what you need it to do. So it's a green concept that is actually more red and blue.
Anyway, you'll probably ask yourself how exactly would this phone/computer get powered? Well, Jim Mielke says that "two small tubes are attached from the implanted device to an artery and a vein. A coin sized blood fuel cell in the implant converts the blood's glucose and oxygen from the artery to the electricity required to power the device." It doesn't really seem doable to me. But, after all, who knows what technology's progress can bring in the future?
Jim Mielke's device is also Bluetooth enabled and can detect blood disorders, alerting the owner when a health problem is discovered. Very Sci-Fi-like, indeed, and it will surely be a long way until this sort of concept can actually become reality. However, today people "implant" lots of things in their bodies, from tiny earrings to weird piercings and other metal or non-metal objects; also, we make tattoos with almost any theme (Angelina Jolie, for example, has a Khmer prayer tattooed on her back), so why not tattoo a mobile phone that also works? It doesn't seem like a crazy idea after all. It would at least solve the "lost phones" problem. You can't lose your arm that easily, eh?
