In these times phones are an inseparable part of our life and we use them to call and write messages but they are also like small computers because we are able to do everything that we do on laptops. However, they were not invented many years ago because the first phone appeared in 1876 thanks to Alexander Graham Bell. After that almost one hundred years later in 1973, Dr. Martin Cooper made a public mobile phone call on a device that weighed 1.1kg and the wold’s first SMS message was sent in 1992 by Neil Papworth to his boss who was enjoying his office Christmas party which said ‘’Merry Christmas’’. Despite this, the appearance and functionality of our phones are due to more people. Thanks to Finland’s Radiolinja in 1998 the first downloadable ringtone was available and the first Emojis were invented by Shigetaka Kurita in Japan in 1999. However, in 2003 phones’ development was stopped because of the internet which was introduced to phones but it also started kicking off the age of mobile internet. The ability to call and send messages via the internet appears in 2009.

 

From this time in every year inventors have created different apps, they improved cameras, changed phones shape and size, just to make them better and better. Moreover, scientists have been trying for several years to introduce new technologies that will be found in our bodies. This may sound quite shocking and unreal but it is already being put into everyday life and the best example can be a story about New Yorker artist – Anthony Antonellis. This young man has a digital tattoo in his arm which was grafted under his skin. We as normal people or anybody else can see nothing only a small scar but if we will hold a phone against the incision we will have access to his all masterpieces. ‘’The effect is produced using a radio frequency identification (RFID) chip, around the size of a grain of rice, and equipped with a tiny antenna’’ [1]. This device stores up to 1kb of data and it is readable by compatible technical equipment also we can use it from distance of about 1 to 2 cm and the best thing is fact that it does not require a battery. Although it seems to be unbelievable ‘’RFID is used in our everyday lives to, for instance, get in and out of buildings securely, but Mr. Antonellis believed it could be a useful technology for keeping his art with him all the time’’ [1].

 

Now when we know about this story it should not be a surprise that researchers work on embedded sensors that will change our bones into living speakers. Another brave man Rich Lee is from Nevada, U.S. and he made some shocking decisions to get rid of earphones thanks to having small magnets implanted directly into his ears. ‘’In his latest stunt, he embedded small magnets into his tragus – a small piece of cartilage just outside the ear – and built a coil to be worn around his neck. He claims that this creates a magnetic field that causes the implant to vibrate and make a sound’’ [2]. He told that this makes a magnetic field thanks to this implant vibrates and creates a sound, which is not as great as sound from traditional earphones but it also has many advantages. Rich Lee is a human who can listen to music everywhere and always, moreover, his ‘headphones’ are invisible. ‘’To listen to music, Mr. Lee has to plug his phone into a tiny amplifier which is connected to the coil around his neck to create a magnetic field’’ [2].

 

Other ideas to use this new technology are incredibly interesting for example he is going to connect this implant to his shirt’s microphone to be able to listen to all conversations in the room or he plans to connect it with an ultrasonic rangefinder so that it hums when he gets closer to an object. Unfortunately, Rich Lee is afraid that in the near future he will lose his sight that is why he is trying to link the implant with GPS on his phone to make it able to give him directions where to go and he thinks that it will be helpful to people who cannot see. We need to remember that different scientists are working on eye implants or a system that can display images through artificial skin so Rich Lee and Anthony Antonellis are people who started it, however, future technologies are just beginning to be created.