Innovation of the week

Google’s innovative spirit appears to have spread to its Motorola Mobility subsidiary, which has filed a patent application titled “Coupling an Electronic Skin Tattoo to a Mobile Communication Device.” Essentially, it’s a Bluetooth headset “designed to be tattooed onto your throat,” said Steve Dent in Engadget.com. Instead of being housed in a phone, the electronic tattoo’s microphone and transceiver capture vibrations directly from your larynx, freeing up your hands and theoretically lending your calls greater clarity. It’s worth noting, however, that Motorola has a reputation for playing “fast and loose” with the definition of a tattoo, said Chris Velazco in TechCrunch.com. An earlier “electronic tattoo” from 2011 turned out to be a “thin, pliable device that adheres to a user’s skin that could be replaced on a weekly basis.” So perhaps there’s no need to freak out just yet.

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