For Motorola, the "touchless control" used on the Moto X could be just the beginning.
If a just-published patent application from Google-owned Motorola Mobility is any indication, the company is actually more interested in devices that you're always touching, like permanently. The patent, filed in 2012, details a wireless microphone that can be tattooed onto the throat.
According to the application:
The electronic skin tattoo can include an embedded microphone; a transceiver for enabling wireless communication with the MCD (mobile communication device); and a power supply configured to receive energizing signals from a personal area network associated with the MCD. A controller is communicatively coupled to the power supply. The controller can be configured to receive a signal from the MCD to initiate reception of an audio stream picked up from the throat region of the body for subsequent audio detection by the MCD under an improved signal-to-noise ratio than without the employment of the electronic skin tattoo.
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So if I sit through a long inking procedure to turn my neck into a wirelessly powered and tethered microphone, the only major benefit I'll see in return is improved signal-to-noise ratio? I didn't even think a fancy bone-conducting Bluetooth headset was worth the extra expense. Would I at least get to choose my own tribal design for the tat?
What do you think? If this guy is willing to install his own Bluetooth health monitor sans anesthesia, does it make sense that we'll all soon be having our new smartphones installed by the local tattoo parlor?
