Brave idiot transhumanist pioneer self-implants a computer into his arm — video included
by James Plafke
ExtremeTech
November 1, 2013
With a retail Google Glass on the horizon, and the modern man and woman being glued to their smartphones 24 hours a day, the world is moving ever closer toward literally being attached to their mobile devices. Tim Cannon, a biohacker in the German town of Essen, implanted a small computer and battery inside his arm — without the help of a doctor or even anesthesia.
We’ve seen do-it-yourself tech implants before, such as the guy who shoved magnetic headphones into his ears, and the artist who implanted an RFID chip into his hand to store an animated GIF. This time around, Tim Cannon went much further, and installed a computer chip sealed in a box with a wirelessly chargeable battery into his forearm. As you can see from the above image, Cannon won’t be able to sneak the implant past airport security. Rather than having a doctor perform the procedure — or even using some kind of anesthesia — Cannon had a fellow biohacker, Steve Haworth, jam the rig underneath his skin.
Built by Cannon’s company Grindhouse Wetware, the subdermal implant — dubbed the Circadia 1.0 — won’t turn Cannon’s forearm into Leela’s Wristlojackimator, but instead will read and record his biometric data and send it off to any Android-powered mobile device. In true (bio) hacker fashion, the Circadia is fully open source, and users can manipulate the data however they wish.
At the moment, this model of the Circadia can only gather basic biometrics, such as body temperature, but it can transfer the data in real-time via Bluetooth. The device also features three LED lights that not only act as status indicators, but illuminate Cannon’s forearm tattoo from underneath his skin — obviously the best use for a subdermal LED.
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