We’ve all forgotten our credit card or mobile to pay for things at one point or another – usually when we’re in the queue at the supermarket – and it can be very embarrassing. But over in the Netherlands, Patrick Paumen has no such problem because he pays for his pot noodles via a microchip which is inserted into his hand.
All Patrick has to do when he wants to pay in a restaurant of shop is place his hand near the contactless reader and the payment is made.
“The reactions I get from cashiers are priceless!” Mr Paumen, a security guard, told the BBC.
The tiny chip, which is ‘injected’ into the hand can be used anywhere in the world where contactless payments are accepted. The founder of tech developer Walletmor, Wojtek Paprota says, “The chip, which weighs less than a gram and is little bigger than a grain of rice, is comprised of a tiny microchip and an antenna encased in a biopolymer – a naturally sourced material, similar to plastic.”
The chip is completely safe and has regulatory approval, so there’s nothing dodgy going on! As soon as it’s ‘injected’ it works immediately and doesn’t use a battery or any other power source. The company has now sold in excess of 500 of the chips.
It sounds a bit like having a tracker in your pets, but Mr Paumen calls himself a “biohacker” – someone who puts technology into his body to improve his performance. He now has a staggering 32 implants dotted around his body including chips and magnets. We’re not exactly sure why he has magnets implanted in the tips of his fingers, but he must be pretty useful to have around the house when you’ve lost a paperclip!
“Technology keeps evolving, so I keep collecting more,” he continues. “My implants augment my body. I wouldn’t want to live without them.”
If you’d rather go for a piece of traditional tech rather than something injected into your body, browse Ebuyer’s range here.