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Man gets smartphone-unlocking NFC chip implanted in hand ‘to satisfy his curiosity’

Callum Tennent
October 23, 2014

Just how serious are you about unlocking your phone? Or about biometrics? You think that using your fingerprint to unlock your iPhone is cool? You’re a casual, get the hell out of here – this guy loves connectivity so much that he went and got an NFC chip implanted in his hand.

It may sound dumb, and frankly it is. This NFC chip allows the hero of our story, one Robert J. Nelson, to unlock his 2013 Motorola Moto X, and not a lot else. Because of the nature of the NFC chip it can only have one assigned function, meaning that if Nelson wished to ever do anything else via permanent sub-dermal implant he would need to get another one.

The cost of this procedure? Only $99, and the permanent scorn of rational society. Nelson purchased a chip implant kit from a website called DangerousThings (of course!) which comes with the NFC chip contained within a bio-compatible glass casing. It’s then pre-inserted into an extremely large, extremely intimidating medical syringe, ready to be injected into your body part of choice.

NFC chip insertion

 

 

Nelson got a close friend with a background in medicine to perform the procedure, and he highly encourages anyone considering the procedure themselves to do the same. If you don’t happen to have any practising doctors for friends then we’re not sure how you bring this sort of thing up with your GP, but we’re sure it’ll be a fun conversation to have.

It does seem like a relatively simple process, fairness. There does seem to be a bit more blood than usual, but then again you are shoving an entire turkey baster under your skin. After the deed is done you simply get it all cleaned up, disinfected, and then don’t do too much with your new cyborg hand for a while.

Nelson even addresses the question on every sane person’s mind: why exactly would you do this? In his own words, “The why is the hardest part to answer. And to be perfectly honest I am not sure I have a good answer. My best response would be to satisfy my curiosity.”

Ah. Of course.

To read Nelson’s story in full, and to see lots more rather uncomfortable photos, do head over to his article here. Special thanks to Connectedly.

About the Author

Callum Tennent

International playboy/tech journalist.

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