It makes sense. More and more young people get tattoos, and most live hooked on their mobile. So why not create tattoos that connect to smartphones, tablets and other gadgets and allow you to control some of their functions?
That's what DuoSkin is all about, a project by the MIT Media Lab and Microsoft that turns very fine gold sheets into body ornaments with three possible uses: one of them is to transmit data through NFC (a short-range wireless communication technology) to smartphones, computers and other devices; another, to serve as a touch surface to interact with the mobile (as can be seen in the photo), like a trackpad ; and finally, transmit information with its color changes. An example: it would light up when you receive a digital notification of any kind.
Why gold leaf? Because this metal is an excellent conductor of electricity and layers of chips or led lights can easily be added to it.
It is no more than a project, but it opens the way to a future of electronic body interfaces that will turn our own skin into a communication tool. And with style.
Here you can see a demo.
