In what sounds like one of those April Fools articles media outlets enjoy — ones with implausible premises like, oh, Karl Rove turning out to be the source for the outing of a CIA agent or George HW Bush’s ne’er-do-well son becoming president instead of Jeb — The Times of London is reporting that NTT in Japan has discovered that the human body’s electrical field is a superb conductor, suitable for downloading data:

NTT, the Japanese telecoms group, and the team of scientists that invented the Red Tacton system, envisage a future in which the human body acts as a non-stop conduit for information. Wireless networks — often hampered by intermittent service — will eventually be replaced, NTT says, by “human area networks”.

…

With Red Tacton sensors miniaturised and built into every type of device and product, the list of potential uses is endless, Hideki Sakamoto, of NTT, said during an exclusive demonstration for The Times. By simply touching an advertising poster, for example, product information and an order form could be sent to your laptop. Shake hands with a new contact, and every detail that would normally appear on a business card will leap across your arms and download itself to your mobile phone.

Oh, great, the very first example they can think of is spam. [Thanks to John Maloney for the link.] [Technorati tags: RedTacton Tacton]

Categories: Uncategorized dw