Couple's implant
chips take love to a new level
CTV | 2-15-06 | CTV.ca News
Staff
Posted on 02/15/2006
3:59:48 PM PST
Grand gestures of love take many
forms on Valentine's Day -- flowers, chocolate, romantic dinners -- but a
tech-savvy couple has taken it to a new level.
Jennifer Tomblin and Amal
Graafstra have made the most modern declaration of their affection for each
other, with implanted electronic chips that allow them unfettered access to
each other's lives.
It's called Radio Frequency
Identification, or RFID. Both have had a small electronic chip embedded under
their skin that grants access to each other's front doors and home computers.
The system works like a
key-card. A simple swipe of the wrist across an electronic sensor, and they're
in.
The couple sees the decision as
a modern declaration of love that also happens to be functional.
"It's convenient and all of
that. But it's definitely neat to have access to each other's things. nobody
else has that, definitely," Tomblin told CTV's Canada AM.
Tomblin, 23, lives in Vancouver,
while Graafstra, 29, lives in Washington.
Graafstra got interested in RFID
several years ago, and began researching the possibilities. He works in remote
server management, so it was a natural step to order his first chip, have it
implanted by a cosmetic surgeon, then begin writing software to go along with
it.
"I got interested in RFID,
essentially, as a way to replace my keys," Graafstra said.
He had a second chip put in
later, and after witnessing his successful experiment, Tomblin followed suit
and got her own chip about six weeks ago.
"He was writing a book and
he was building all these really neat projects, and he'd get into his house and
car and computer with it, I decided if I could do something like that too. It
would be really neat," Tomblin said.
The chip itself is just two
millimeters by 12 millimetres, and can be inserted under the skin with an
injection needle.
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20060214/technological_love_060214/20060215?hub=Canada
Graafstra's interest has continued
to grow, and he has now written several pieces of software to go along with the
chip. That interest has developed into a book project called RFID Toys, which
comes out later this month.
The book will include the RFID
programs he has written, and will reveal his self-implanting method.
Graafstra's work has made him
somewhat of a pioneer in the field. Though another researcher working on a
different project had a chip put in his forearm, Graafsta was the first to
implant a chip in his hand, and the first to plan to teach others how to follow
suit.
The chip is embedded in a tiny
glass tube, and once implanted it is invisible.
The chips are surprisingly
inexpensive, not much more than a few U.S. dollars, and can easily be ordered
online. The hardware ranges from $30 up, and software is still difficult to
come by -- Graafstra wrote all his own programs.
Graafstra obtained his first
RFID tag from www.phidgetusa.com. The site has a variety of inexpensive options
for various uses, but the glass tube-style tags on the site come with a warning
against doing what Graafstra and Tomblin did.
"We do not advise or
encourage users to implant the RFID tags we sell into humans or animals in any
way," reads the warning. "These tags are not sold as medical products
and are NOT sanitized for medical use. Phidgets USA and Trossen Inc … strongly
advise against any such use of the tags we sell."
However, the trend is likely to
gain momentum as Canadians seek new ways to implement technology into their
daily lives, and just maybe, to demonstrate their love for each other.
Like a tattoo, Tomblin said,
it's a unique way of connecting with her significant other.