back to article Nokia invents teeny throbbing tattoos to make your skin crawl

Nokia has filed a patent covering magnetically induced vibrating particles to be embedded in clothing or, more interestingly, under the skin in the form of a tattoo. The idea behind US Patent Application number 20120062371, spotted by Unwired View, is to use an induction coil on the phone to excite the vibrating particles, …

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  1. JDX Gold badge

    MRI + metal tattoos

    They did this in House where someone had got a tattoo in prison using dodgy ink.

    1. Mostly_Harmless Silver badge
      Boffin

      Re: MRI + metal tattoos

      There was an old episode of Mythbusters (old enough to still have the tattoo-covered Scottie in the build team) where they tested the MRI+tattoo story.

      Verdict was "Busted" IIRC. the only way they got anything remarkable to happen was when they mixed up some ridiculously metal-heavy ink and put a container holding a couple of pints of the stuff into the MRI scanner.

      1. Tel Starr

        Re: MRI + metal tattoos

        Why do people keep quoting a non-science program like 'Mythbusters' as 'proof'?

        Most of the time they don't even attempt to go into any details of the physics involved and a lot of the 'simulations' are nothing like the actual situations they are trying to prove\debunk. You always get the impression that they have decide the result in advance, and are fitting the tests to match.

        It's an entertainment program, thats all.

        1. miknik
          Thumb Down

          Re: MRI + metal tattoos

          IIRC the myth was tattoos explode in MRI scanners. They put a heavily tattooed woman in an MRI scanner and her tattooes didn't explode, then they made some different inks and tattooed some pork belly and scanned that too.

          Details or no details they still got a result. Maybe not proof enough in your eyes, but certainly enough for me not to worry about my tattoo in an MRI scanner.

        2. JDX Gold badge

          Re: MRI + metal tattoos

          Mythbusters may not dive deeply into the theory, but many of the forerunners of science learned through such empirical experiments.

        3. John Robson Silver badge
          Boffin

          Re: MRI + metal tattoos

          They're actually alot more rigorous behind the scenes. But you are right - they are an entertainment show - scientific rigour doesn't make for good TV.

          The Myth they actually debunked was "will your tattoo explode if you are given an MRI"

          http://dsc.discovery.com/videos/mythbusters-exploding-tattoo-minimyth.html

          The results were that they managed a little excitement with bottles of doped ink - but nothing from any normal (or doped) tattoo.

          Therefore they "busted" the "myth" that a decorative tattoo always explodes under MRI - not whether they could be heated slightly.

        4. stanimir

          Re: MRI + metal tattoos

          The medicine on House is worse than the science on Mythbusters.

      2. Efros

        Re: MRI + metal tattoos

        burns have been reported with tattoos and MRIs, doesn't have to be iron, other metals react to strong magnetic fields. http://www.ajronline.org/content/187/5/W556.long

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      can

      They be stuck anywhere?????????????

  2. PyLETS
    Devil

    Tattooing

    Didn't this practice originate with marking slaves as the property of their owner ?

    Brings on a whole new set of technological possibilities for controlling those in bondage ...

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Bondage

      Ooo-er, missus.

    2. Intractable Potsherd

      Re: Tattooing

      No, tattooing goes back a long, long way. For instance, Otzi (the mummified man found in the ice in the Alps) has several tattoos (quick reference: http://anthropology.net/2009/07/21/otzi-icemans-tattoos-were-born-in-fire/), and there is no evidence he was a slave - much the opposite, so far. However, tattooing *has* been used in various times and places as a way of marking slaves and "undesirables" as well. My point? Tattooing is value neutral, and in this day and age, seemingly normal!

  3. Morphius

    I wonder

    Would the level of vibration be dependant on the power provided by the NFC tech? If you were to increase the power significantly would you be able cause the person/limb to shake?

    I imagine that going near the Oyster card machines could also be interesting.

    This could open new doors for the BOFH

    1. h4rm0ny

      Re: I wonder

      Anything with sufficient force to move the body would (with particles as small as those in ink) almost certainly cause the particles to pull out of your skin which would probably sting. Do this thought experiment - if you took hold of areas of skin the size of a particle of ink and yanked it hard enough to move the arm, would the arm move or would you pull off the skin? It would have to be some pretty major tattooing to counterbalance that by the number of particles.

      Separately, whilst the nails are cool, I do have to wonder which member of the Register editorial team is dating the owner of Sephora for that ad placement! ;)

  4. Anonymous Coward 15
    Paris Hilton

    There's a teledildonics angle there for sure.

  5. Usually Right or Wrong
    Happy

    All well and good...

    "...but sign us up for a pair of vibrating pants when Nokia gets round to making them, just for testing, of course"

    but don't forget to take them off before an MRI scan, even minor burns down there would be eye watering.

  6. Steve Evans

    "The coil doesn't have to be hand-drawn, but it works better that way"

    Chortle.

    That is all.

  7. frank ly
    Happy

    I have a strange urge .....

    ..... to start wearing swirl-effect nail polish. That's the power of advertising on El Reg !

    Note: I would not use the demonstrated technique. I would use a small neodymium magnet to form unique self-customised patterns, thus identifying myself as unique and special.

    1. Intractable Potsherd

      Re: I have a strange urge .....

      I had the same thought about using a suitable magnet to produce individual patterns - the way shown in the video is quite tacky, really.

  8. TRT Silver badge

    You could...

    go one step further and have carefully controlled vibrations directed into the jawbone from some cybernetic implant. Derive power for it from one of those glucose fuel cells that snails had fitted to them the other week, an audio pick up as well and you could have a fully functional and discrete communications device. Yes, encapsulated in blue ceramic and shaped like a tooth, this kind of idea could work.

    1. Ru
      Terminator

      Re: You could...

      Oh joy, the chance to experience the terrible security so beloved of the sort of people who designed the bluetooth protocol, in a means that is surgically implanted and self powered!

      I am totally certain that nothing bad could ever come of such a decision.

  9. Jeebus

    I didn't ask for this.

  10. Anonymous Coward 101

    Or you could have small electronic gadgets which emit a noise or vibration when a message comes in. No tattoos necessary!

    1. Jimbo 6
      Facepalm

      March Of The Cretins

      Given that you would still need to actually pick up the associated phone to receive any incoming message...so you probably wouldn't leave it that far away from your own location in space (especially if it had a high fondle-rating)... are that many people so *stupid* that they actually need a vibrating tattoo to tell them when a text message arrives ? Or when the phone needs recharging ?

      Oh, right, bit of a silly question really.

    2. I think so I am?

      I hear some might even have flashing lights

    3. Someone Else Silver badge
      Facepalm

      ...which, of course, could be shut off when desired...or necessary...

  11. Captain Hogwash
    Alert

    Make them glow

    When it's time to go on carousel.

  12. min

    vibrating pants?

    reg hacks do not need to wait for Nokia to make them. your local sex shop should suffice. much better than the sporadic vibrations offered in this guise anyhow, i'd wager.

  13. Crisp
    Boffin

    Does the tattoo function like a magnet implant?

    I've always wanted to be able to feel electrical fields and current flow.

  14. I think so I am?

    Think of the pacemaker endowed people

  15. Bodger
    Go

    Giving me excitations

    I wager within nanoseconds of this becoming available some miscreant will have this linked to their <insert social media flavour of the day /> accounts giving a whole new meaning to the term good vibrations.

  16. TeeCee Gold badge

    Patent application?

    Doesn't St Vitus have prior art here?

  17. amanfromearth

    Get with the Viz mate

    Should be:-

    unfeasably large magnets

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