This is pretty cool, though I wonder if the networking would react badly to those with pacemakers. Still, being able to share your business card via a funky handshake would be cool as well. Lenght of contact could determine the amount of data sent/received.

10Mb/s through skin. NTT DoCoMo have released a paper on the use of human flash as a networking medium:

A device attached to a PDA can send and receive weak electrical signals through people, with human bodies as communications circuits, the paper said, citing sources close to the companies.

Apparel and handbags have their own conductivity, allowing an electrical connection to a PDA that can remain in one's pocket, the paper said.

In this way, people can exchange e-mail addresses, names and phone numbers while shaking hands, with the data automatically written into both their PDAs, the paper said.

Link Discuss (Thanks, Alan!) [Boing Boing Blog]

12:16:50 PM