Intel talks up self-powered sensors that do just about everything

If you're gonna dream, you might as well dream big huge, right? Intel's not only looking to blanket vast rural areas with WiFi, it's also looking to spread self-powered sensors, um, everywhere. Dubbed the wireless identification and sensing platform (WISP), the initiative could eventually place remarkably efficient microchips in human bodies, on mobile phones, public infrastructures, at airports and practically anywhere else where information needs to be gathered. The highly flexible solution is currently being perfected in the Intel labs and isn't apt to hit the commercial realm for at least three to five years; which is great, since we're still learning to deal with the world's obsession with CCTV.

[Image courtesy of Berkeley]

[who? @ Dec 7th 2008 10:57AM]

Coolio.

[Dopefish @ Dec 7th 2008 11:22AM]

Yeah it is pretty cool, Wireless Sensor Networks are quite a hot topic at the moment...

[Pokoleo @ Dec 7th 2008 3:25PM]

Wait... Anyone think that this is like Sun Microsystem's sunspot?

[superhobo @ Dec 8th 2008 4:36AM]

I hate intel's business practices and being a huge corporation blah blah.
But this is cool

[John @ Dec 7th 2008 11:02AM]

And WHERE exactly do you suggest I put THAT?!

[Patriks7 @ Dec 7th 2008 11:40AM]

Ask a girl.. they should know more about that..

[ProjecT TimeZ @ Dec 7th 2008 11:04AM]

Wait, what?

[Jamie M @ Dec 7th 2008 1:36PM]

Agreed.

Can't help but feel that the author's summary here could be better - for almost the first time ever on Engadget I had to hit up the read link to understand exactly what was going on...

[Flashpoint @ Dec 7th 2008 11:05AM]

If the Big Brother was really serious about tracking everyone, they'd eleminate cash entirely and make everything payable through special credit cards with biometric chips, or through implanted chips with non-local decryption.

I've got no problem with citywide wifi, but Intel should focus on power saving circuitry rather than information collection.

[HyperHacker @ Dec 8th 2008 12:27AM]

"If the Big Brother was really serious about tracking everyone, they'd eleminate cash entirely and make everything payable through special credit cards with biometric chips, or through implanted chips with non-local decryption."
If they could. That'd be too difficult and too obvious.

[Veraxus @ Dec 8th 2008 11:31AM]

@HyperHacker:
I give it less than 2 generations, and possibly following a streak of particularly successful terrorist attacks (and likely further governmental globalization - such as the US or Canada joining the EU).

[Strange Quark Star @ Dec 7th 2008 11:07AM]

Yay for biofeedback monitors.

[iEye @ Dec 7th 2008 11:09AM]

The problem with big brother technology is that is it always used to monitor law abiding citizens, and never the criminals and religious terrorists...

Don't forget Bad/Drunk drivers...

[KarlW @ Dec 7th 2008 2:19PM]

Yes, because bad drivers are pretty much on the same level as terrorists.

Good thing we've got iEye to smoke em out of their caves.

[Oli D @ Dec 7th 2008 5:26PM]

i would love to se the definition of a religious terrorist.
Oh OED doesn't have it, i'll go:

Someone who perpetrates terrorist actions thoroughly and regularly.

or

Someone who supports a particular company so wholeheartedly, that they are prepared to injure Microsoft employees as a result of their fanaticism.
Such as the infamous Ivan Eyeastokovitch

[strider_mt2k @ Dec 7th 2008 11:20AM]

I'll wait for the hackaday article on how to subvert them for our own needs.

-and they called me mad. MAD!

[protozoider @ Dec 8th 2008 9:21AM]

Yeah, an article reading something like... "Today's hack: Keanu Reeves left arm". This will bring a new meaning to "hack the planet". Let's put them in migratory whales too or how about glaciers. There's no limit!

[Aaquib @ Dec 7th 2008 11:34AM]

Robots. FTW.

[Crayola @ Dec 7th 2008 11:38AM]

dang! there goes my idea of a self powered flexible display that you flex to generate power.

[plwh888 @ Dec 7th 2008 11:40AM]

sounds like Skynet birth

[ProfessorKaos @ Dec 7th 2008 11:52AM]

The day I can turn on my TV with a simple hand gesture from my hand is a glorious day indeed.

But, one has to ask, what happens when you get in an accident (car, skateboard, etc), and this chip is crushed in your arm/hand etc.? Good luck digging out the transistors lol.

[tha-don @ Dec 7th 2008 3:24PM]

so what'll happen when you...um...you know? are the channels just gonna constantly change?

[vigilante.killer @ Dec 7th 2008 4:26PM]

I make hand gestures with me feet, you know.

[regulluz @ Dec 7th 2008 12:24PM]

This is not news. My christian neighbor has been preaching that thing for years... He'll say "The end is coming"
They should call this the Orwell Chip.

[Oli D @ Dec 7th 2008 1:36PM]

Intel i1984

[Veraxus @ Dec 8th 2008 12:04PM]

What's funny is that the "mark of the beast" is actually a pretty intriguing idea and, as I see it, a technological eventuality. A chip that can monitor your vitals at all times and alert medical personal of your condition and location immediately in an emergency? Great idea. Add subcutaneous modules for dispensing potentially life-saving medication automatically for certain individuals (such as insulin for diabetics or asprin for those at risk of heart attack). A remotely-encrypted identifier that can give you access to all of your credit and financial accounts anywhere at any time? Brilliant. Just add the following features: Self-destructs (erases it's ID) if it is ever removed, completely eliminated identity theft. Virtualizing all transactions, bank accounts, and currency with a permanently implanted chip just about eliminates any money-related crime from the civilization that would employ it. Police agencies could poll records of suspects, with appropriate warrants, to confirm alibis.

I could keep going on all the benefits something like that could offer. What's the trade-off, though? Liberty, most likely. The government could track you anywhere at any time... they'd know everything about you. Behavior patterns. When you're aroused. When you're asleep. What you buy and where. What people you hang around with. This kind of technology could make fascism so convenient that people buy into it, anyway. Guaranteed security. Guaranteed convenience. You just have to give up your privacy... although we're well on our way there anyway. Reality TV, social networking, court cases that declare that the right to privacy is not guaranteed by the Constitution, we're well on our way there. Religious or not, people had better get used to it... because this is going to happen. If not in my lifetime, almost certainly in my kids'.

[MRLN @ Dec 7th 2008 12:43PM]

This brings new meaning to "information at your fingertips."

[redjade @ Dec 7th 2008 1:02PM]

'could eventually place remarkably efficient microchips in human bodies'

after they ask permission, i assume?

[Rick @ Dec 8th 2008 8:22PM]

permission? governments don't need permission.

[Stellar Developer @ Dec 7th 2008 8:59PM]

Seriously... I'm pretty sure that I don't want any electronics being embedded anywhere in my body. *let alone 1st gen technology.

[GETYOID @ Dec 7th 2008 7:12PM]

Wifi? Wifi is NOT secure. They havent secured WIRED connections yet, there is no way I will ever use wireless connections. Screw that. People are so lazy.

[thedesolate1 @ Dec 7th 2008 9:35PM]

Dont we already have enough to worry about with RFID tags?
Now this?