A couple of weeks ago, Mindshare held a full day event called Huddle at our office. If you were one of the 300 people that were here, you experienced the building being full of cool speakers, workshops and debates (Huddles) and different touch/try/do activities (Cuddles). One of the Cuddles gave people the opportunity to insert an NFC chip into your hand.
NFC stands for Near Field Communication and is a technique that that lets two units communicate with each other by holding them close together. My intentions on Huddle day wasn’t to insert one, but my curiosity took overhand and suddenly I found myself sitting in that chair. Jowan from BioHax International did a quick (but I would not call it entirely pain-free) job on my left hand, and then it was there – I was a Cyborg (along with 20 clients, media partners and colleagues).
According to Wikipedia, a Cyborg is a short for Cybernetic Organism, meaning a being with both organic and bio mechatronic body parts. So what could I do with the implant? The guys at BioHax set me up with my contact details so that I at least have my business card on it. I googled and realized that the gym chain SATS had memberships cards that I could transfer to the chip. They looked at me like I was crazy but assisted me with activating the chip in my hand and watched me closely as I tried it the first time. They were amazed.
The main reason why I inserted the implant at Huddle, was to potentially get away from grumpily having to put down stuff that my hands are full of, locating and sliding that old key card every time when entering the office. So my next mission is to make sure we get the key card system changed – ASAP.
In the (near) future, I hope that I can use the chip when…:
- …riding the subway or bus. SL (Stockholm local transportation) are not at all negative to this.
- …making payments. PayPal, for instance, are already dealing with NFC.
- …unlocking my bike.
- … identifying myself when making bank errands (instead of using my mobile bank ID)
- …personalizing stuff – for instance when unlocking our family car, the seats and mirrors would be adjusted to my preference just by touching my hand to the panel
- … checking my blood pressure and other activity data.
I found it pretty contradictory that I, a woman too scared of getting a regular tattoo, inserted a chip into my hand, before it has a 100 % clear purpose and usage potential. What some of us do for the future… 🙂
So, to sum up. At present, I can only use the NFC chip to enter my gym or share business card details with Android phone users, but I will keep my eyes open and inform you on the progress. My life as a Cyborg has just started and I hope that the chip isn’t too old before I can use it to do something else that will make my everyday life easier.
Here is a video of my colleague from Oslo who also inserted a chip at our Stockholm Huddle.
Clara Grelsson
Director, Solution
070-1685861
Twitter: KirranG
Clara jobbar på Mindshare, en mediebyrå som genom Adaptive Marketing bidrar till tillväxt och ökad lönsamhet i våra kunders affär. Vi tror att allt börjar och slutar i media.