Palm owners have long had the ability to “beam” things to each other, especially business cards. The rising proliferation of other handheld computing and communication devices means a rise in opportunities for personal data transfers of this type.
But not everyone owns a Palm. Emerging technologies like Bluetooth and Personal Area Networking (see links) represent non-Palm-compatible alternatives.
This will inevitably lead to an awkward “negotiation phase” where the two participants discover what common protocols their dissimilar devices support. This time-consuming negotiation will partially negate the time savings of automated transfers.
Enter Body-Chalking: the personal-area version of war chalking (see link).
A “body chalked” carrier of personal data equipment will mark themselves in a manner that clearly indicates what methods of personal data transfer they support. The businessman's form of this would probably be the appropriate standards organization logos on pin(s) attached to the users shirt (see links for one).
For non-business use, the hipper forms of this could be:
Palm: a palm logo or IrDA graphic dangling on a piercing somewhere visible.
IBM Personal Area Networking: there's no logo for this, but since this involves hand-to-hand contact, how about a tattoo of an RJ-45 network connector on your wrist or hand.
Bluetooth: a blue cap on one of your teeth. This has the advantage of only being visible when the user smiles, a likely predecessor to data transfer.-- krelnik, Oct 28 2002 WiFi WarChalking http://www.warchalking.org/The inspiration for this: marking WiFi APs with chalk signs. [krelnik, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 05 2004] Bluetooth Business Card Exchange http://www.palowire...utorial/k11_opp.asp [krelnik, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 05 2004] IBM Personal Area Networking http://www.almaden....s/user/pan/pan.htmlTransfer a business card with a handshake [krelnik, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 05 2004] IrDA http://www.irda.org...dards/standards.aspInfrared standard used by Palm et.al., logo at bottom [krelnik, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 05 2004] IR business card http://www.halfbake...R_20business_20cardrelated bakery idea [krelnik, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 05 2004] Data transfer kiss http://www.halfbake...a_20Transfer_20Kissrelated bakery idea [krelnik, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 05 2004] Two-Visors-Crashing holds up his Palm and says 'How. Man-With-Blue-Teeth, come, we have powow with elders from the nation of Linux.'
I'm waiting for the internet to collapse under the weight of freebies, and then the digital world to organize itself into primitive tribal communities based upon the technologies they use...
(BTW, your idea is MUCH funnier than what I was expecting from the title...)-- RayfordSteele, Oct 28 2002 Can we have those little rank buttons on our collars, the way they do on Star Trek: The Next Generation ?-- 8th of 7, Oct 29 2002 You mean YOU don't have those already?-- Zircon, Oct 29 2002 [Zircon] "We are the Borg. Resistance is Futile." Once you've been Assimilated, you don't need stuff like that - your whole TechnoExoskeleton is a fashion statement.-- 8th of 7, Oct 29 2002 krelnik, did you used to be in academia? You're Captain Footnote, mate.-- General Washington, Oct 31 2002 Very Neal Stephenson.-- snarfyguy, Oct 31 2002 Hmmm, Captain Footnote. Might make a good addition to culture:superheroes a-f.-- krelnik, Oct 31 2002 random, halfbakery