sloth unleashed

(via Put Your Phone, or Skin, on Vibrate | Medgadget)

This week Nokia filed a patent that may lead to the development of magnetic tattoos that vibrate when triggered by, say, a phone call. In legal IP speak, the patent – titled ”Haptic Communication” summarizes the invention as follows:

According to a first aspect of the present invention, an apparatus comprises a material attachable to skin, the material capable of detecting a magnetic field and transferring a perceivable stimulus to the skin, wherein the perceivable stimulus relates to the magnetic field.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, an electronic device configured to generate a magnetic field, the magnetic field having at least one characteristic related to digital content stored on the electronic device.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, a method comprises detecting a magnetic field using a material attached to skin and causing a perceivable stimulus to the skin by magnetically manipulating the material.

While these tattoos may not hit the market for many years, technologists are abuzz with ideas for how they may be applied…